In her New York Times Economix Blog earlier this month, UMass Economics Professor Nancy Folbre light-heartedly proposes “a new taxonomy of economic approaches based on temperament.”
By NANCY FOLBRE
[excerpt]Is this Gloomynomics?Maybe our view of the world is too dismal even for the dismal science. It is a bit discouraging to believe that markets don’t work very well on their own and that government often makes their problems worse rather than better.
It is also a bit discouraging to believe that we are getting deeper and deeper into a terrible mess — not just a global recession, but a form of ecologically and socially unsustainable economic growth.
On the other hand, this perspective generates a pretty urgent research agenda. And there’s some evidence that negative moods promote more careful thinking than “what, me worry?” optimism.