I was listening to a CBC Ideas replay of an episode from Sept 2015 called It's the Economists, Stupid. It's amazing how they present economics in such a relate-able fashion and somewhat frightening to dig further into how things are valued in our world today.
I've taken three things away that I'm going to try to keep top of mind.
- Be very wary of anyone inciting fear. Fear is the shallowest of all the motivation techniques we have at our disposal as humans. You can tell a lot about a person or a movement though by the tactics they choose for motivation. Be very suspicious of anyone who is using fear. They are often hiding something behind it.
- Challenge economists on their assumptions. The math that is used in economic models is complicated. However, the crux of an economic model is the assumptions that are being made which anyone should be able to understand. Ask what assumptions have been made, economists should be forthcoming with this information and if they are not there is reason to be suspicious. Don't let complicated mathematical models make you feel like you can't be an authority in or debate economics.
- Many economic models incorporate a person's life as being worth $0. If you didn't buy the good or service you produce, it doesn't count. A parent staying at home to care for their children has no economic value in our current model, however if you paid someone to do the same service we would value this. So much is backwards about that. Most of the jobs that aren't accounted for are those that would typically be associated as "women's work".
I think fear will continue to be something that lesser leaders gravitate to long beyond my lifetime. However, I think that progress is being made and we'll hopefully see some substantial change in the coming years on items two and three. I have even more faith if amazing shows like Ideas on CBC keep sharing ideas and offering Canadians an equal opportunity to learn and better ourselves and the world around us.
Being a Force for Good 