Categories:
Economic and Political Philosophy
Economic Education
My former colleague Robert Tollison has passed away. I still remember the tour of Carow Hall he gave me when I was interviewing in 1997. Though we only overlapped at GMU for one year, he was an unforgettable personality. My strongest memory: At a Liberty Fund in Bozeman, Montana in the summer of 1997, someone expressed despair at economists’ inability to improve the world. Tollison responded with this aphorism, which I’ve repeated ever since:
“We’re all part of the equilibrium.”
His point: It’s a huge world, so no individual can reasonably expect to make a visible difference. But each of us pushes the world just a smidge in his desired direction – and our small efforts add up. In the end, Tollison inspired my paper on how economists can (and do) change the world.
Farewell, Bob. I’ll miss you.
READER COMMENTS
ShaneL
Oct 26 2016 at 10:13am
“It’s a huge world, so no individual can reasonably expect to make a visible difference. But each of us pushes the world just a smidge in his desired direction – and our small efforts add up.”
Absolutely! This is why I vote and encourage others to participate in the political system too.
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