Samfelagsbúskapur er ikki privatbúskapur

-- og almenna fíggjarlógin er ikki eitt vanligt húsarhaldsbudgett.

Robert Shiller skrivar í grein í The New York Times:

one of the most dangerous analogies in political economy: “families have to tighten their belts in tough times, so the government should too.”

Jared Bernstein leggur aftrat á sínum bloggi:

“Dangerous” not just because it’s so very wrong—the opposite is true—but because it sounds so right.

Sum eg havi verið inni á so ofta, skal man vera sera ansin at brúka metaforar í kjaki, tí fólk sum ikki skilja upprunaliga problemstillingin, skilja sjáldan heldur, at metaforurin gevur góða meining.


Hvat er tað Robert Shiller og Jared Bernstein tosa um? Jú, tað er paradoksið, sum John Maynard Keynes lýsti sum The Paradox of Thrift:.

For although the amount of his own saving is unlikely to have any significant influence on his own income, the reactions of the amount of his consumption on the incomes of others makes it impossible for all individuals simultaneously to save any given sums. Every such attempt to save more by reducing consumption will so affect incomes that the attempt necessarily defeats itself. It is, of course, just as impossible for the community as a whole to save less than the amount of current investment, since the attempt to do so will necessarily raise incomes to a level at which the sums which individuals choose to save add up to a figure exactly equal to the amount of investment.

Fyribrigdið var kent og brúkt innanfyri búskaparfrøðinga frammanundan, men í dag er tað ein týdningarmikil partur av keynesianskari hugsan, og Keynes hevur givið tí navn.

Tað var kanska ikki The Paradox of Thrift, hann sipaði til, men at munur er á samfelagsbúskapi og privatbúskapi pointeraði Adam Smith, tí hann skrivaði:

What is prudence in the conduct of every private family can scarce be folly in that of a great Kingdom.

Longu í 2009, tá krepputosið byrjaði í Føroyum, við ávaring frá Landsbankanum sum bleiv til viðgerð av ólavsøkupakka v.m. skrivaði Hermann Oskarsson eina fína lýsing av hesum, so her kann lesast føroysk lýsing av fyribrigdinum.