This is the fundamental question . . .

This seems to me to be one of the fundamental questions facing society. The answer would appear to spring more from belief systems than analysis of costs and benefits. Or more accurately, one's analysis of costs and benefits is so shaped by beliefs as to render faith the overriding concern.

Douglass North and others attempt to understand the role played by informal institutions in shaping the evolution of social order. Beliefs play such a prominent role that a better understanding of belief formation and learning might illuminate the road (path) ahead.

Should the Government Invest, or Try to Spur Private Investment?
Michael Cragg, The Brattle Group
Joseph E. Stiglitz, Columbia University


Summary
The U.S. economy clearly needs stimulation, but the Obama administration’s plan for accelerated depreciation is an ‘old economy’ approach to stimulating aggregate investment and unlikely to ease the Great Recession, according to Michael Cragg of Brattle Group and Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University. The authors suggest alternative policies consisting of carefully designed carrots and sticks.


http://www.bepress.com/ev/vol8/iss2/art1/