Adnan highlights the unique status of economics as the only social science with a Nobel Prize, giving it significant authority but also the responsibility to avoid societal harm when theories fall short. The talk criticizes mainstream economics for its obsession with quantification, especially prices, which undermines the intrinsic value of non-quantifiable aspects like love, compassion, freedom, dignity, and nature. This focus leads to absurdities and distorts these invaluable aspects. Aside from several episodes abroad, Adnan’s life has been mostly tied to his native Sarajevo – an endless source of inspiration, wonder and frustration.
He holds a BA and PhD in economics from the University in Sarajevo and a MSc in Psychology of Economic Life from the LSE. He has been teaching macroeconomics for a decade and has worked as an economic adviser for local governments and numerous international institutions.
Struggling to accept things as they are, social change has been his primary preoccupation for years. Never an expert and forever a generalist of a hopelessly curious nature, Adnan always preferred to see the forest rather than the trees. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
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We need to build a global grassroots worker co-op and union driven democratic economy that serves the needs of our🌎and the working class💙Ⓐ🇵🇸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Everything can't be quantified and evaluated. Example: Love of Mother 👩 True. – Dr BM Hegde
Yet, We need to know, Prof. David Hawkins have measured Level of Love Consciousness 500 (Power vs Force … hidden determinant of human behaviour)
Thanks God someone saw it the same way I saw it.. 🥺💦 I mean this is the same thing I told my friends today. Like we were busy discussing about the nature that we lose as people and the benefits that we think we can get from that beautiful environment which is also leading us to clobal-warming . We start experiencing extreme temperatures here in SOUTH AFRICA 🇿🇦
Some things have unreasonable prices, but have very little true value.
Like most cell phones are over priced by 350% yet have a shelf life of 3 years due to new models. 🤔🧐
The price game goes back to the 50’s and the “keeping up with the Jones’”.
Or we can just start with something doable, expose economics textbooks for what they are. They teach one narrow perspective called 'neoclassical economics'. The obvious overlooked secret is in chapter 1, it starts with a few different definitions of economics but does not say why these are different, the secret is that these come from different perspectives but the textbook only covers one.
did you know that there's more trees in the northern hemisphere now than there were 100 years ago
You can simply focus on the prosperity of creation, sharing and distribution, and sustainability instead of greed and not care anymore
As someone who really loves donating blood I feel saddened to hear that people would rather to give up their blood for money😢 where is the humanity?
That is not really how (urban) economists would argue expansion decisions should be made. The value of nature (to nearby residents) is reflected in the value of land in the city. A truly economic way of deciding expansion would weight the loss in land values from losing access to beauty and nature with the potential gains from expansion. And among those "economic benefits" are a relief to the housing crisis that most disproportionately affect the poor. Anyone has to recognize that there comes a point where the trade-off between preserving some nature and avoiding construction tips in favour of building.
What is often not included, although recognized, in these calculations is a environmental assessment of the loss of biodiversity and climate change contribution. And that is why we designate national parks and keep land free for city parks.
The decision making process behind all this is still largely inefficient. Many of these decisions are influenced by local landowners who veto a lot of development as well as a lot of bureaucracy. This propably one example, where more measurement could streamline the process, and make us find a balance between nature and development that we can agree on the logic on.
But the solution is not to listen to economists less, but to understand it more so that it can receive a proper critique for economists to address. There's a whole field of environmental economists working on policy solutions for preserving nature.
"Fully rational"? Strawman alert.
The line of thought to calculate the price of everything quckliy leads to putting a pricetag on life.
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Hit 401k today. Appreciate you for all the knowledge and nuggets you had thrown my way over the last months. Started with 24k in July 2024…