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A review by sbenzell
Looking Backward: 2000-1887 by Edward Bellamy
4.0
What do you think the world will be like 120 years from today? Not just in terms of new technologies but in terms of new political organizations? The book leans on the Rip Van Winkle trope to transport an upper middle class/lower upper class Bostonian 1887ite to the utopia of THE YEAR 2000, and we get his views on the superiority of the society he was transported to.
The US is governed as an almost complete command economy, with almost all workers serving as part of the "industrial army" at the command of the president. The wage for all occupations is equal, paid on a credit card, with equilibrium achieved by varying the hours of different jobs (i.e. if being a doctor was more fun than being a coal miner, the former would serve longer hours). The author (who was later lionized in "Bellamy Clubs" for those enchanted by the vision) assumed that efficiencies from scale and national organization would be tremendous, and offset any reduction in effort and individual initiative. Of course, the piece ignores the Hayekian arguments for the superiority of decentralization, which in my opinion are essential to understanding the failures of real-life socialism. The other big flaw in the economics I see is the ability of individuals to get "bought out" of the industrial army to work on creative careers (this is how e.g. Newspapers and books are supported). However, I wonder whether to the extent that individuals can be "bought out" and paid a different amount for there services, whether this could create selection on the industrial army, and only leave them with the worst workers. I worry this minor deviation from a command economy might unravel the whole thing...
There are some great metaphors for inequality and socialism. Society before socialism is like a cart on a broken road. Society without socialism is everyone carrying an umbrella for themselves -- society with socialism is one giant umbrella for all the streets of the city. Society without socialism is like a desert country with mismanaged water. And so on.
Some of the most interesting stuff is the view on which technologies will be particularly important. A national credit card system + big box stores with one stop shops are mooted as extremely pleasant and efficient for both consumer and distributor. However, the "greatest increase in human felicity" comes from a system of piping in music (or speech-audio like sermons -- BTW no one goes to church anymore they just listen to sermons naked at home IDK) on demand into homes. This is a good book for reminding one not to take for granted these things!
It's a bit of a slog (most of it is quite didactic), with a superficial plot. It's got some very silly economics. Still I really appreciated this insight into how exciting socialism must of sounded in 1887 (just after the death of Marx) in context. I also want to point out some cool Boston connections, in particular the very Emersonian (but of course not nearly as good as Emerson) construction of the Sermon- 3.5 stars rounded up for being weird and different.
The US is governed as an almost complete command economy, with almost all workers serving as part of the "industrial army" at the command of the president. The wage for all occupations is equal, paid on a credit card, with equilibrium achieved by varying the hours of different jobs (i.e. if being a doctor was more fun than being a coal miner, the former would serve longer hours). The author (who was later lionized in "Bellamy Clubs" for those enchanted by the vision) assumed that efficiencies from scale and national organization would be tremendous, and offset any reduction in effort and individual initiative. Of course, the piece ignores the Hayekian arguments for the superiority of decentralization, which in my opinion are essential to understanding the failures of real-life socialism. The other big flaw in the economics I see is the ability of individuals to get "bought out" of the industrial army to work on creative careers (this is how e.g. Newspapers and books are supported). However, I wonder whether to the extent that individuals can be "bought out" and paid a different amount for there services, whether this could create selection on the industrial army, and only leave them with the worst workers. I worry this minor deviation from a command economy might unravel the whole thing...
There are some great metaphors for inequality and socialism. Society before socialism is like a cart on a broken road. Society without socialism is everyone carrying an umbrella for themselves -- society with socialism is one giant umbrella for all the streets of the city. Society without socialism is like a desert country with mismanaged water. And so on.
Some of the most interesting stuff is the view on which technologies will be particularly important. A national credit card system + big box stores with one stop shops are mooted as extremely pleasant and efficient for both consumer and distributor. However, the "greatest increase in human felicity" comes from a system of piping in music (or speech-audio like sermons -- BTW no one goes to church anymore they just listen to sermons naked at home IDK) on demand into homes. This is a good book for reminding one not to take for granted these things!
It's a bit of a slog (most of it is quite didactic), with a superficial plot. It's got some very silly economics. Still I really appreciated this insight into how exciting socialism must of sounded in 1887 (just after the death of Marx) in context. I also want to point out some cool Boston connections, in particular the very Emersonian (but of course not nearly as good as Emerson) construction of the Sermon- 3.5 stars rounded up for being weird and different.