Economism and its Limits

Abstract

This article addresses the difficulties that the phases of economic evaluations give rise to in theory and practice. It provides a brief outline of the meaning of economism — as a term and a concept — and then explores the issues that are related to the measurement and monetary valuation of the items to be included in economic evaluations, otherwise known as the valuation problem. The article also deals with the commensurability problem and the intrinsic value problem. Finally, some of alternatives and recommendations that can help avoid the pitfalls of economism are discussed.

Drowning the Deadweight in the Rhetoric of Economism: What Sport Policy, Free Swimming, and Ema Tell Us About Public Services After the Crash

“…As part of this package of funding changes the decision was taken to end the previous administration's Free Swimming programme. This decision is particularly interesting as it illustrates the continuity of a specific form of economistic rationality (Wolff and Haubrich 2008). It can also be seen to reflect the longer term trend towards a more active and managerialist form of central government (and specifically Treasury) control of public service delivery, as discussed in the previous sections.…”

“…In light of this form of analysis, it is worth being cautious about the impact of the crisis on public service provision and recognizing continuity pre‐ and post‐crisis. The following sections suggest the crisis will have the specific effect of continuing the growth of ‘economistic’ decision making (Wolff and Haubrich 2008) along with a trend towards using economistic rhetoric to justify other, clearly political decisions.…”

“…There are obvious critiques of this method of decision making, along technical and philosophical grounds (Wildavsky 1966, Hanley 2001). More generally there is a much broader limit to decision making based on what Wolff and Haubrich (2008) refer to as ‘economism’. Economism has an ideological aspect and is not simply the application of economic tools to political decisions, but rather views economic efficiency and the primacy of the market as the framework within which to view politics.…”

“…This is clearly related to the NPM and neo‐liberal governance context in the UK. Wolff and Haubrich (2008) are explicit on why this is problematic, both technically and morally. Discussing health policy, they claim economism ignores and excludes key aspects of human values and life which emphasize the process of decisions, rather than the outcomes of decisions and those things that cannot be reduced to price, for example trust.…”

“…Discussing health policy, they claim economism ignores and excludes key aspects of human values and life which emphasize the process of decisions, rather than the outcomes of decisions and those things that cannot be reduced to price, for example trust. Economism thus dissolves the differences of persons and objects into a single financial metric, stripping them of their unique characteristics (Wolff and Haubrich 2008) and providing a technical rhetoric for what are ultimately political decisions (Wildavsky 1966). The case study that follows will demonstrate the importance of understanding economism and its uses.…”