Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Moneyball
With this week's release of Moneyball it is good to take notice of the old versus new. Moneyball is a movie about how a baseball team, the A's, attempt to do the "impossible" by using less money and succeeding using a method that has never been done before, and had been scoffed at. Not only do the A's succeed in making the playoffs, but they get the record for most consecutive wins. Instead of following the old method of paying large amounts of cash for proven players, they use statistics to try to make a great team. The A's were less than 1/3 the Yankees' salary and they were the team with that record. The A's employed a new way of thinking. Just like how, currently, there are the old economists with their views versus the new economists who are saying "wait a minute... we were... erm... mostly right, perhaps we should have a chance here!". Just as the A's were revolutionary with their ideas and they took a chance that caused other teams to follow their moneyball ideals, like the Red Sox, perhaps we should take another chance with this experiment that was started back in 1776 with democracy and capitalism. Take another chance and get rid of the old and in with the new.
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2 comments:
By "get rid of the old and in with the new", do you mean get rid of capitalism and substitute it with another new economic system? I don't think capitalism itself is necessarily the problem, although it has obviously played a role in our current financial crisis and the economic inequality that so pervades our nation. I know this sounds very "freshwater", but using advanced mathematics, just like the A's did (as you mentioned), could be very effective in studying the problems that have arisen and may arise from our capitalistic system. We just have to accept the fact that there's no such thing as a perfect economic system, and also acknowledge that capitalism is probably the best system for a modern society such as ours.
I concur with Jeremy, and just to add to his point, I seriously doubt there exists an feasible way to switch from an economic system such as ours without a major disruption to the marketplace, with an accompanied drop in stock value. If change was truly desired of our system, a switch would require a massive upheaval of all we know and understand, as well as an enormous amount of time. Change can come, but only with time. And conversely, Billy, if by “out with the old and in with the new” you are perhaps referring to a desire for a change in general economic policy, I would tend to agree with you. Stubbornness and willful ignorance of new facts that act counter towards one’s beliefs has pervaded economic circles to this day, as exemplified through the division between the “freshwater” and “saltwater” economists. Historical trends reveal that our best approach to economics is constant revision, and that we learn best through our mistakes. If we are willing and open to new ideas, then incorporating novel concepts into our current market models could seriously help steer investment into the right direction, and possibly prevent catastrophe.
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