From: CK
Sent: Saturday, September 10, 2016 1:00 PM
To: wblock@loyno.edu
Subject: Economics as practiced by animals
Hi Dr. Block. I enjoy your postings on Lew Rockwell’s website. You seem to enjoy fielding esoteric questions involving economics, so here’s one for you, that has my interest. Occasionally one hears someone say that economics has no basis in science. I suggest that non-human animal behavior does exhibit instinctive adherence to some primal principles of economics. A trout may position behind a rock to conserve energy in a stream near a good source of food. A squirrel may store a supply of nuts in a tree. A bear may hibernate during the winter. To my mind this suggests that, at a minimum, economics is rooted in the biology of animal populations and thus a legitimate subject for scientific inquiry. What do you think?
Dear CK:
You sure have a weird mind. Lovely! I’m certainly open to research along these lines, but, don’t fish operate mainly, only?, on instinct? If so, economics deals with purposeful action under scarcity, which might rule this out. But, I’m not sure. Confession: I haven’t really devoted much thought to this issue. I suggest you run this by experts in the field, such as editors of journals like BioEconomics or Biology and Economics or Economics and Biology.
