BUSINESS MEN ON BUSINESS DECISIONS
| Published date | 01 October 1955 |
| Author | G. L. S. Shackle |
| Date | 01 October 1955 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9485.1955.tb00740.x |
BUSINESS MEN
ON
BUSINESS DECISIONS
1
UI.INC;
invited
to
give an after-dinner address to a society
of
business
iiieii
engaged
in
engineering production and commerce
on
Merseyside,
I
had
the
idea
of
trying
to
convey to them very compactly some notion
of the kind
of
questions about business which interest economic
tlicorists and on which the theorists are anxious to get direct testimony.
I
accordingly composed the explanatory remarks and the list
of
suggested answers
'
to
a
number
of
such questions which here follow.
At
the end
of
my explanation
a
copy of the list of suggested answers
was
given
to
each person, and he was asked to allot marks from
0
to
10
to
each answer. The results are summarised and commented
on
along
with the list of suggested answers.
I1
If
there is one question more than another which causes economists
to
stanimc'r
in
confusion and tie themselves up in verbal knots, it is
*
Wliat
is economics about?' Now, when
I
started
to
write this paper
I
Iiad
211
inspiration. Economics is about business. That answer.
gciicrously interprcted, really covers everything. We must understand
'
business
'
to
include the housewife devising her household budget
so
as
to
get
the
most out of
a
given expenditure. the bread-winner
sccLing
that
particular type
of
job where
his
aptitudes will be most
ixlu;ible
tu
{lie
community and therefore best rewarded, the business
IIIJII
iii
the
more
ordinary and restricted sense trying to discover
or
iiiiciit,
and produce
as
cheaply
as
possible, something which will
plc;ise
aiitl
satisfy the public and
so
give
him
a
profit, and the Govern-
iiient,
which, regrettably
as
some
of
us think, has been taking over
iiiorc
aid
iiiore
the
functions
both
of the consunier and of the enter-
Ivibcr.
But
liere
I
want
to
use the word business to mean the special
acti\ilies
uf
those
who initiate and organise production and marry
tlii.iiiscli.es
for
better
or worse
to
the
hazards of so doing. We can,
I
l!iiiik.
liiid
;I
single heading under which
all
these special activities
ionic.
it
ii;iiiic
for
the
whole
of
the business
man's
business:
it
is
clc~risiorr-mtr
/(i)/g.
Business decisions ought surely to be one of the
13
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