THE POLITICS OF POLITICAL ECONOMISTS: COMMENT.

The article comments on the article "Politics of Political Economists," published in the November 1959 issue of "Quarterly Journal of Economics" on the views pertaining to the generation of radical political viewpoint by quantitative economics. In the first place, statistics are desperately needed for any sort of government planning of the economic system. In a free market economy, the individual business firm has little or no need of statistics. It need only know its prices and costs. In short, statistics do not have to be developed originally for politico-economic ends; their own autonomous development, directly or indirectly, opens up new fields for interventionists to exploit. Each new statistical technique, whether it be flow of funds, inter-industry economics, or activity analysis, soon acquires its own subdivision and application in government. Another reason why statistics and political pragmatism are mutually congenial is that the very hallmark of the pragmatic approach is to begin by looking for problems or "problem areas" in the society. It appears that the economic discipline, per se, imposes a rightward shift in ideological belief.