Collective Production -- the Way Governments Produce
This event is open to IIPP's students and faculty only
Collective Production -- the Way Governments Produce
30 Oct 2024, 14:00 – 15:30
Hosted online by UCL IIPP on Wednesday 30th October 2024 from 14:00 - 15:30 (GMT) for a talk by June Sekera.
More than a century ago, economists understood government as a producer whose work yielded economic value. That view was erased during the 20th century with the rise of an economics that demoted “the state” to a status of burdensome “intervenor” in markets. From the perspective of today’s dominant market-centric economics, building codes impose an unwarranted burden on the market, unemployment insurance taxes distort the market, and security standards for financial instruments are an obstacle to efficient markets – until a major earthquake strikes, or countries suffer from widespread unemployment, or capital markets crumble. Empirically, government is a producer. Through collective production, it furnishes things societies need and want. In this session, the lecture offers a pragmatic analysis of how this system works, and in a structured discussion session students will apply the ideas to real-world problems and needs, drawing on their own experience and work.
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