How economics needs to change to keep pace with the
twenty-first century and the digital economy Digital
technology, big data, big tech, machine learning, and AI are
revolutionizing both the tools of ...economics and the phenomena it
seeks to measure, understand, and shape. In Cogs and
Monsters , Diane Coyle explores the enormous problems-but also
opportunities-facing economics today if it is to respond
effectively to these dizzying changes and help policymakers solve
the world's crises, from pandemic recovery and inequality to slow
growth and the climate emergency. Mainstream economics, Coyle says,
still assumes people are "cogs"-self-interested, calculating,
independent agents interacting in defined contexts. But the digital
economy is much more characterized by "monsters"-untethered,
snowballing, and socially influenced unknowns. What is worse, by
treating people as cogs, economics is creating its own monsters,
leaving itself without the tools to understand the new problems it
faces. In response, Coyle asks whether economic individualism is
still valid in the digital economy, whether we need to measure
growth and progress in new ways, and whether economics can ever be
objective, since it influences what it analyzes. Just as important,
the discipline needs to correct its striking lack of diversity and
inclusion if it is to be able to offer new solutions to new
problems. Filled with original insights, Cogs and Monsters
offers a road map for how economics can adapt to the rewiring of
society, including by digital technologies, and realize its
potential to play a hugely positive role in the twenty-first
century.
This essay focuses on three themes that emerge from Elizabeth Popp Berman’s Thinking Like an Economist: How Efficiency Replaced Equality in US Public Policy: the concept of efficiency in economics; ...the politics of the rise of economistic efficiency; and the changes in the discipline of economics itself during the past three decades or so. The book is a historical and institutional account of how a broad spectrum of policies set in Washington DC became—from the 1960s on—increasingly determined...
For many, Thomas Carlyle's put-down of economics as "the dismal science" rings true--especially in the aftermath of the crash of 2008. But Diane Coyle argues that economics today is more soulful than ...dismal, a more practical and human science than ever before.The Soulful Sciencedescribes the remarkable creative renaissance in economics, how economic thinking is being applied to the paradoxes of everyday life.
This revised edition incorporates the latest developments in the field, including the rise of behavioral finance, the failure of carbon trading, and the growing trend of government bailouts. She also discusses such major debates as the relationship between economic statistics and presidential elections, the boundary between private choice and public action, and who is to blame for today's banking crisis.
The world's leading economies are facing not just one but many crises. The financial meltdown may not be over, climate change threatens major global disruption, economic inequality has reached ...extremes not seen for a century, and government and business are widely distrusted. At the same time, many people regret the consumerism and social corrosion of modern life. What these crises have in common, Diane Coyle argues, is a reckless disregard for the future--especially in the way the economy is run. How can we achieve the financial growth we need today without sacrificing a decent future for our children, our societies, and our planet? How can we realize what Coyle calls "the Economics of Enough"?
Abstract
Many countries are proposing major public infrastructure investment, addressing the net zero imperative and need to recover from the pandemic. Yet the investments will deliver on these ...policy goals only if appraisals take account of strategic complementarities in determining the future path of the economy, including technological choices. Cost–benefit analysis as currently applied is unable to do this, even when incorporating wider economic benefits. Furthermore, in purporting to be a technical tool, it fails to acknowledge the inevitable political judgements and distributional consequences involved in selecting projects. There is a need for an approach to appraisal that identifies when major projects have transformational potential, and an approach to policy that ensures complementary investments occur, by tackling coordination failures either among different policy actors or between private- and public-sector activities.
The need to make objectives explicit may expose policy trade-offs that had previously been implicit and obscured
There is a growing demand to be able to “explain” machine learning (ML) systems' ...decisions and actions to human users, particularly when used in contexts where decisions have substantial implications for those affected and where there is a requirement for political accountability or legal compliance (
1
). Explainability is often discussed as a technical challenge in designing ML systems and decision procedures, to improve understanding of what is typically a “black box” phenomenon. But some of the most difficult challenges are nontechnical and raise questions about the broader accountability of organizations using ML in their decision-making. One reason for this is that many decisions by ML systems may exhibit bias, as systemic biases in society lead to biases in data used by the systems (
2
). But there is another reason, less widely appreciated. Because the quantities that ML systems seek to optimize have to be specified by their users, explainable ML will force policy-makers to be more explicit about their objectives, and thus about their values and political choices, exposing policy trade-offs that may have previously only been implicit and obscured. As the use of ML in policy spreads, there may have to be public debate that makes explicit the value judgments or weights to be used. Merely technical approaches to “explaining” ML will often only be effective if the systems are deployed by trustworthy and accountable organizations.
The Governance of the BBC Coyle, Diane
The Political quarterly (London. 1930),
January/March 2024, 2024-01-00, 20240101, Letnik:
95, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
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The governance of the BBC has been a subject of political debate for the past two decades, which have brought two major upheavals in the corporation's governance structure. Yet, governance reform was ...not the best way to address the editorial and cultural crises that led to demands for change; and the current model is not adequate to protect licence fee payers’ interests and the BBC's independence, particularly in the context of continuing ideological assaults on public service broadcasting.
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