DUBAI: The title of this book, a wonderful pun on Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility,” sets the tone for the playful exchange of thoughts that is to come.
“Cents and Sensibility: What Economics Can Learn from the Humanities” is a written duel between Gary Saul Morson, a professor of the arts and humanities, and Morton Schapiro, the president of Northwestern University and a professor of economics. The entertaining intellectual spat is fought in a friendly, humorous and witty way and, despite their differences, both authors tend to agree on key issues.
The back-and-forth exchange signals two important trends. The first is that the humanities are in crisis. Subjects like history, geography, literature and languages are no longer popular. Fewer students are enrolling in arts and humanities courses because they offer limited jobs. It is not so much the case that students only care for money, but that students want to study subjects that will help them find employment.
The other, rather obvious, trend is that economic reasoning dominates our lives. Media outlets rely heavily on economists to explain worldwide events and offer their views on everything, from financial meltdowns to political crises.
The authors believe that, rather than saving the humanities by dehumanizing them, economics could benefit from understanding people better. Academics in the humanities enjoy reading stories, but economists do not, according to the book. In the humanities, the authors believe that stories inspire and teach empathy while in economics, they distract from the analysis of data.
In the book, Schapiro remembers the incident that made him appreciate the importance of incorporating humanities into economics. When he was in Cairo in 1981, the Egyptian government had finally given way to the pressures of international agencies and agreed to reduce the subsidies that had kept the cost of bread well below its market price. Schapiro recalls how he sat with economists who were thrilled that the government was going to interfere less in the domestic market. It seemed to be a success story until someone mentioned the number of people who lost their lives in the riots caused by the high cost of bread and another person evoked the possibility of widespread malnutrition.
On another occasion, the former Chief Economist of the World Bank Lawrence Summers signed a memo that suggested dumping toxic waste in third-world countries with a high incidence of mortality and low wages. Although Summers went on to claim the memo was sarcastic, this 1991 incident provoked a huge debate. The minister of environment in Brazil was particularly scathing and wrote: “Your reasoning is perfectly logical but totally insane… Your thoughts provide a concrete example of the unbelievable alienation, reductionist thinking, social ruthlessness and the arrogant ignorance of many conventional economists concerning the nature of the world we live in.”
One of the supposed problems with economics, according to the book, is that its restrictive thinking often undermines its usefulness. Furthermore, can economists really predict the future more accurately than those in the humanities and therefore implement more effective policies? It is a question that remains to be answered.
There are times when a political leader must decide which policy to follow and a formula that can be calculated mathematically will simply not do. Uncertain situations require sound judgment. Scientific knowledge cannot provide an adequate solution, but wisdom can prevent us from falling into a pit, the authors opine.
Famous Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy explained the difference between wisdom and science in the context of the Battle of Austerlitz, depicted in his literary epic, “War and Peace.” Before the battle, most Russian generals believed that French leader Napoleon was in an impossible situation. The novel’s hero, Prince Andrei, thought he had mastered the science of warfare and was convinced that Napoleon did not have a chance and was doomed to lose. General Kutuzov did not share Prince Andrei’s high hopes, which were pinned on scientifically-based plans. Experience had taught him not to expect any certainty in a battle. Indeed, the Battle of Austerlitz turned out to be Napoleon’s greatest victory.
In recent years, “the hubristic claim that economists (or experts in some other discipline) have arrived at hard scientific knowledge, capable of successfully guiding development, has led to disaster after disaster,” the authors wrote. In his book “Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed,” author James C. Scott noted that it is difficult to understand why so many people have lost their lives because of schemes that were originally intended to improve their living conditions.
For example, in 1973, farmers and nomads in Tanzania were taken away from their homes and relocated along main roads so they could better access public services and replace traditional agricultural practices with modern practices. The result was an ecological disaster, which caused a severe famine.
“Time and time again, supposed experts backed by massive force, put into practice development plans that (do) not take into account the peculiarities of particular belief systems, the importance of local experience with conditions varying in no predictable way, the role of tacit knowledge that no one can specify but that can make all the difference and, above all, the need to proceed step-by-step to check whether one change has worked before implementing the next,” the authors wrote.
Another question often regarded as a puzzle for economists is why and how some countries develop faster than others, despite having similar levels of per capita income. In the mid-1960s, Ghana had rich reserves of natural resources, including oil and precious metals, while South Korea did not. However, 50 years later, who would have imagined that citizens in South Korea would be almost 20-times richer than those in Ghana?
According to the book, there is still no solid answer to this question, which perhaps shows that assessing issues from a purely economic standpoint may not always work.
Economics, which is suffering from its uniformity of approach, can learn the importance of empathy and the complexity of ethical issues from thinkers in the humanities.
It has also been suggested that reading great literature will help economists implement better policies, according to the book.
“If economists want to base their recommendations on a grasp of the cultures and peoples they desire to help, if they want to have a deeper sense of how economic questions like inequality actually affect human experience and if they want to take into account those aspects of experience that require narrative explanation, it may pay to study great literature” the authors state.
Literature teaches humility, a virtue that economists could benefit from, according to the book. The world today needs people who have the ability to think and communicate clearly and one great way to grow these skills and develop empathy, creativity and curiosity is through studying the arts and humanities.
Cents vs. sensibility: A duel between economics and the humanities
Cents vs. sensibility: A duel between economics and the humanities
REVIEW: Kuwaiti Palestinian author looks at women and disability in a transformative, speculative memoir
JEDDAH: Kuwaiti Palestinian writer Shahd Alshammari’s new speculative memoir “Confetti and Ashes” is a bold departure from her previous work “Head Above Water,” which was longlisted for the Barbellion Prize in 2022.
Alshammari’s layered meditation on the disabled body as both a site of loss as well as endurance is propelled forward by sharp observations and a quiet brilliance that had me turning pages well into the night.
Her first memoir, “Head Above Water,” offered an unflinching look at navigating multiple sclerosis as an Arab woman teaching literature in Kuwait. Her latest, however, ventures into a realm where memory and personal narrative intersect with poetry, imagination, and otherworldly presences.
The voices of ghosts and Zari, her qareen — the jinn-companion assigned to each person in Islamic belief — transform Alshammari’s personal narrative. It becomes a dialogue, a captivating dance between the seen and unseen worlds.
This inclusion shakes up the conventional memoir structure to broaden the scope beyond Western frameworks of storytelling. It also offers readers a visceral look at the ways living with disability and chronic illness can disrupt and reshape an individual’s perspective and worldview.
The dreamlike and omniscient voice of the qareen also mirrors the disorientation and internal struggles that come with living with chronic illness and disability.
Alshammari astutely draws parallels between the disabled body and the female body in the social and cultural context of Kuwait. In a world of able-bodied norms, she reflects on their intersecting experiences of marginalization, scrutiny, and resistance.
She rejects predictable storytelling, and not just in her writing, but also in life. Her body rebels, yet she defies societal stigmas — including concerns voiced from other women with MS.
She explores holistic wellness practices and eventually takes up squash, expanding her social circle and pushing her limits to build her mental and physical endurance.
In capturing her dual journeys of illness and wellness, the author invites readers to reflect on the disabled body not as a burden, but as a site of poetic possibility.
In “Confetti and Ashes,” Alshammari presents a profound reclamation of the self and cements herself as a vital voice in reimagining the female disabled experience.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Whale: The Illustrated Biography’ by Asha De Vos
Whales are the majestic giants of the ocean, yet much of their world remains a mystery to us. The routes of their vast oceanic migrations are largely elusive, as are the intricacies of their behavior and social dynamics.
This narrative biography takes you out beyond our shorelines and into the depths, providing an up-close exploration of the life of the whale.
Written by internationally acclaimed expert Asha de Vos, “Whale: The Illustrated Biography” blends engaging profiles of the best-known species with stunning illustrations to tell the story of these magnificent creatures in all their diversity and complexity.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Measure of Progress’ by Diane Coyle
The ways that statisticians and governments measure the economy were developed in the 1940s, when the urgent economic problems were entirely different from those of today.
In “The Measure of Progress,” Diane Coyle argues that the framework underpinning today’s economic statistics is so outdated that it functions as a distorting lens, or even a set of blinkers.
When policymakers rely on such an antiquated conceptual tool, how can they measure, understand, and respond with any precision to what is happening in today’s digital economy?
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Stranger in the Village’
- Baldwin’s narrative transcends mere anecdote, evolving into a meditation on the legacy of Western colonialism and slavery
Author: James Baldwin
James Baldwin’s 1953 essay “Stranger in the Village,” from his seminal collection “Notes of a Native Son,” is a searing exploration of race, identity, and the weight of history.
Baldwin juxtaposes his experience as the first Black man in a remote Swiss village — where villagers gawk, children shout racial epithets, and his presence sparks both fascination and fear — with the entrenched racism of America.
Through this contrast, he dissects the paradox of being perceived as an exotic “stranger” in Europe while remaining an oppressed outsider in his homeland.
Baldwin’s narrative transcends mere anecdote, evolving into a meditation on the legacy of Western colonialism and slavery.
In Switzerland, the villagers’ “innocent” othering lacks the violent history of American racism, yet Baldwin reveals how both contexts dehumanize Blackness.
He argues that white America, built on the subjugation of Black people, cannot escape its past — a past that distorts both the oppressor’s and the oppressed’s sense of self.
“People are trapped in history,” he writes, “and history is trapped in them.”
The essay’s power lies in Baldwin’s ability to weave personal reflection with incisive social critique. His encounters in the village mirror the broader African American experience: the exhaustion of being perpetually “seen but not seen,” and the rage born of systemic erasure.
Yet Baldwin resists despair, asserting that acknowledgment of this shared history is the first step toward liberation, even as he questions whether true equality is achievable.
Stylistically, Baldwin’s prose is both lyrical and unflinching, blending vivid imagery with philosophical depth.
The essay’s enduring relevance lies in its piercing examination of otherness and its challenge to confront uncomfortable truths.
Published over seven decades ago, Baldwin’s call to reckon with history’s ghosts remains urgent, a testament to his unparalleled vision and moral clarity.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Elephants and Their Fossil Relatives’
Authors: Asier Larramendi & Marco P. Ferretti
Today, only three species of elephants survive—the African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana), the African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), and the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus).
However, these modern giants represent just a fraction of the vast and diverse order of Proboscidea, which includes not only living elephants but also their many extinct relatives.
Over the past 60 million years, proboscideans have evolved and adapted across five continents, giving rise to an astonishing variety of forms.
