John
Ruskin was many things - artist, philosopher, antiquarian - but he was
not an academic economist. Indeed, Ruskin held that greatest of
economic heresies - that there is a difference between value and price,
or, in PJ O'Rourke's words, "that a thing is worth something other than
what someone is willing to pay for it." His purpose in this short book
is to establish economics as a moral rather than a practical science.
This economics is less concerned with media of exchange and more
interested in things with intrinsic value - goods that sustain and
enrich life.
Since Ruskin was writing in the late
nineteenth century, there is a great deal of disconnect between the
specific issues and debates of his day and ours - Keynes was only eight
years old when the book was first published. The greater issue, on the
other hand, to what extent the world should be ruled by markets and to
what extent by governments, endures. Few of Ruskin's positive proposals
can be taken seriously - it is unimaginable that we could realign the
electoral system to give greater weight to votes based on age - and some
passages might provoke outrage - particularly his discussion of slavery
- but his contribution to the quest for a more human economy is
significant nonetheless.
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