chresmatics

Chresmatics
related: buzzword bingo, economy

Quotes
Aristotle made a distinction between Chresmatics and Economics. The latter comes from oikonomia, which, in turn, comes from oikonomos, a compound word from oikos (house) and nomos (managing). If A buys a piece of land and sells it at a profit later without doing any thing to improve it, that is part of Chresmatics. If A plants new trees in the land and sells it for a profit, that is part of Economics. The financial sector, to a great extent belongs to Chresmatics. The debate on regulation will be made more meaningful if we can separate Chresmatics from Economics. Sad to say the standard text books, or even dictionaries, do not mention Chresmatics. It is time we took a critical look at the fundamentals of economics. Ethics, politics, and economics are irrevocably connected After all, Adam Smith was professor of moral philosophy when he wrote his Wealth of Nations. []