A Framework for Policy

Today in the Principles of Environmental Science, Cal DeWitt described a framework for the course that has wider application.

The framework involves three related considerations: science, ethics and praxis. From the policy perspective, to put something into practice, the framework suggests that the science and ethics of the policy also need to be considered. For example, if one believes that forests should be economically productive, forest biomass can be used as an energy source. However, the science tells us that forests need the biomass (dead trees, rotting vegetation, etc.) for their own survival, thus returning to the ethical dilemma.

As a result of the subprime mortgage crisis, debate over this framework has started within economics. N. Gregory Mankiw, a Harvard economist, recently wrote a paper on The Macroeconomist as a Scientist and Engineer. He argues that the current disagreements in macroeconomics are between the economic scientists (neoclassical, neoliberal, free market) and the economic engineers (Keynesian). If the goal of science is defined narrowly as figuring out how the world works, the subprime mortgage crisis pointed out the weaknesses in economic science. The framework above also points out the weaknesses of the ethical foundations, not withstanding welfare economics.