Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: Thoughts on CataloniaI am writing in the aftermath of the violence that accompanied the recent referendum on Catalan independence.Like most Europeans, I am bemused by what appears to be an astonishing own goal by the Spanish government.Instead of allowing the referendum to go ahead, and either accepting the result, or ignoring it on the basis that it was illegitimate, it has handed Catalan nationalists a major public relations coup.We will have to wait and see what the long-run effect will be on public opinion in Catalonia.But on the face of it, the Spanish government seems to have behaved quite irrationally.Irrational behaviour poses a problem for economistsour theories tend to assume that people make choices based on well-informed decisions about what is, or is not, in their interests.The passions underlying both separatist movements, and the reactions by central authorities to them, thus seem beyond the scope of traditional economic analysis.And yet, economists have not been entirely silent on such matters.To begin with, is a desire for national independence really irrational?It all depends on how you define rationality.To the neoclassical economic theorist, being 'rational' just means maximising your own well-being, or 'utility' as they call it.And there's no accounting for taste.Why should people not derive enjoyment from seeing their own country's flag flying over government buildings in their own capital city, or having their own country's schools teaching their own country's history?De gustibus non est disputandum: who are we to say that a preference for such things is irrational? 1 Indeed, introspectiona source of evidence unavailable to a mere physicisttells this Irishman that it is not irrational at all.Perhaps obtaining one's own state will prove to be economically costly does that not mean that pursuing separatist goals is irrational?No, says neoclassical economicsutility is the end of economic behaviour, and GDP is merely a means to achieving that end.It may be perfectly rational to give up a certain percentage of GDP in order to obtain the psychic benefits of nationhood.This point was made by Harry Johnson in a famous article published in 1965. 2 Johnson also argued that if the
Source: Critical Quarterly
DOI: 10.1111/criq.12373
Author: Kevin Hjortshøj O'Rourke
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2793872246