Keynes on uncertainty
By Mark Vernon on Thursday, September 17 2009, 08:05 - In the news - Permalink
The Archbishop of Canterbury's appearance as part of a very thorough Newsnight, looking at the aftershock of the credit crunch, received loads of attention in the press, as he 'called' for the City to repent. That this is what was reported spoke volumes, I thought. A priest is bound to call people to repent, all people.
Much more interesting were his remarks about how we were intimidated by the supposed expertise of economists, who presented their knowledge as an exact science. Then, we were all deluded by what counts as wellbeing, thinking it is reducible to figures on a screen. And we've missed Keynes stress on uncertainty as something utterly unavoidable; mitigating risk won't remove it.
I'm glad to see 'uncertainty' has copious entries in Robert Skidelsky's new book on the great economist. I'm buying it immediately.










Comments
Mark wouldn't you say that Williams's emphasis on uncertainly might not be his way of reminding us of humility, a necessary prerequisite for repentance.
I have joined this with the spat over Krugman's NYT Magazine article in http://senseorsensibility.com/blog/...