These are available as a PDF (97 MB) from either
Dr Brent Wheeler
P.O. Box 12057
Maori Hill
Dunedin 9010
or
Dr Joe Atkinson
C/- Political Studies Department,
University of Auckland, PB 92019,
AUCKLAND
Dr Brent Wheeler
P.O. Box 12057
Maori Hill
Dunedin 9010
or
Dr Joe Atkinson
C/- Political Studies Department,
University of Auckland, PB 92019,
AUCKLAND
Reviewed by Keith Wignall.
Note: This article was published in the Christchurch Press in May 1999
To explain the title of his latest book, Jesson refers to Herman Melville's Moby Dick. In that story, Captain Ahab directs the resources at his disposal (his ship and its crew) in pursuit of the object of his obsession, the eponymous whale. His methods are rational and efficient - only his purpose is mad, and inexorably leads to disaster. Jesson argues that today's managers use their resources (the markets for financial instruments such as shares, bonds and foreign currency) in pursuit of profit. Their methods are rational and efficient, but their purpose results in the destruction of the productive economy and the people who work in it.
Jesson's depth of knowledge of political and economic history is evident in this book. He examines New Zealand's colonial past in order to understand how and why our current institutions evolved. His explanations of complex financial processes are lucid, but not always accurate. For example, he defines monetarism as the belief that inflation is the greatest economic evil and therefore the most important target for monetary policy, whereas monetarism is actually the belief that inflation is the only economic outcome that monetary policy can affect in the long run.
An irritating feature of the book - one which does its author no credit - is its tendency to dismiss, rather than address, opposing arguments. To those who suggest that the undesirable features of our current situation are due not to what was done but to what was left undone, Jesson replies "excuses, excuses". He describes economists' distinction between public and private goods, which is central to the user-pays debate, as "relatively arcane economic theory"; in fact, it is simple enough that it is taught in high schools.
Jesson also takes many of his arguments only half way: he asserts that X is bad because it causes Z, but just assumes that we will agree that Z is bad. For example, he cites increased inequality of wealth distribution as an outcome of the financial transformation, but it is not at all obvious to me that it is better to be equally poor than unequally rich. He accuses money of destroying any sense of intrinsic worth, causing pornography to be worth more than Shakespeare; a great many people would prefer to watch pornography rather than Shakespeare, and to say that they are wrong is a kind of intellectual fascism.
The fundamental thesis of the book is that, since 1984, New Zealand firms have been pursuing the wrong objective, that of maximising profit for their shareholders. Jesson waits until his final chapter to propose alternative objectives, and then does so in extremely vague terms with no indication as to how firms would be required to pursue them. He acknowledges that those opponents of current policy who do produce detailed alternatives are often eccentric, which is a polite word for crazy. One is left with the impression that he made his prescription deliberately nebulous in order to avoid being tarred with the same brush.
Note: This article was published in the Christchurch Press in May 1999
To explain the title of his latest book, Jesson refers to Herman Melville's Moby Dick. In that story, Captain Ahab directs the resources at his disposal (his ship and its crew) in pursuit of the object of his obsession, the eponymous whale. His methods are rational and efficient - only his purpose is mad, and inexorably leads to disaster. Jesson argues that today's managers use their resources (the markets for financial instruments such as shares, bonds and foreign currency) in pursuit of profit. Their methods are rational and efficient, but their purpose results in the destruction of the productive economy and the people who work in it.
Jesson's depth of knowledge of political and economic history is evident in this book. He examines New Zealand's colonial past in order to understand how and why our current institutions evolved. His explanations of complex financial processes are lucid, but not always accurate. For example, he defines monetarism as the belief that inflation is the greatest economic evil and therefore the most important target for monetary policy, whereas monetarism is actually the belief that inflation is the only economic outcome that monetary policy can affect in the long run.
An irritating feature of the book - one which does its author no credit - is its tendency to dismiss, rather than address, opposing arguments. To those who suggest that the undesirable features of our current situation are due not to what was done but to what was left undone, Jesson replies "excuses, excuses". He describes economists' distinction between public and private goods, which is central to the user-pays debate, as "relatively arcane economic theory"; in fact, it is simple enough that it is taught in high schools.
Jesson also takes many of his arguments only half way: he asserts that X is bad because it causes Z, but just assumes that we will agree that Z is bad. For example, he cites increased inequality of wealth distribution as an outcome of the financial transformation, but it is not at all obvious to me that it is better to be equally poor than unequally rich. He accuses money of destroying any sense of intrinsic worth, causing pornography to be worth more than Shakespeare; a great many people would prefer to watch pornography rather than Shakespeare, and to say that they are wrong is a kind of intellectual fascism.
The fundamental thesis of the book is that, since 1984, New Zealand firms have been pursuing the wrong objective, that of maximising profit for their shareholders. Jesson waits until his final chapter to propose alternative objectives, and then does so in extremely vague terms with no indication as to how firms would be required to pursue them. He acknowledges that those opponents of current policy who do produce detailed alternatives are often eccentric, which is a polite word for crazy. One is left with the impression that he made his prescription deliberately nebulous in order to avoid being tarred with the same brush.
A review of Only Their Purpose is Mad by Bruce Jesson
Dunmore Press, $27.95, ISBN 0 86469 343 5.
Note: This article was published in New Zealand Books, Vol. 9(4), September 1999, pp. 19-20.
Written during the horror of the early 1940s, Karl Polanyi's famous book The Great Transformation sought to explain why nearly one hundred years of relative liberalism and peace had collapsed into an era of totalitarianism and global warfare on an unprecedented scale. Polanyi argued that the origins of the cataclysm was to be found in a fundamental contradiction, between the utopian vision of a self-regulating system of free markets and the reality of the devastating effects such a system has on social relationships.
In particular, Polanyi claimed that imposing a market economy on a society reduces human beings and their natural habitat to the status of exploitable market commodities (Labour and Land). But it also gives rise to counter-movements-trade unions and protective laws, for example-as people organise to defend themselves against the ensuing personal and social degradation. The interference in the market mechanism caused by such interventions is in turn opposed by those with market power.
Polanyi concluded that this conflict would be resolved in one of two ways. Either countries became fascist, so that the free market system might be maintained by force, or countries would discover socialism, under which citizens might voluntarily resign some individual freedoms in order to produce social justice for all.
Bruce Jesson's book Only Their Purpose is Mad, published shortly before his death earlier this year, explicitly draws on Polanyi's theory to analyse the economic transformation in New Zealand after 1984, but in a way that is impressively Jesson's own. This can be illustrated with two examples where Jesson goes beyond Polanyi's analysis to address important features of the New Zealand experience.
Dunmore Press, $27.95, ISBN 0 86469 343 5.
Note: This article was published in New Zealand Books, Vol. 9(4), September 1999, pp. 19-20.
Written during the horror of the early 1940s, Karl Polanyi's famous book The Great Transformation sought to explain why nearly one hundred years of relative liberalism and peace had collapsed into an era of totalitarianism and global warfare on an unprecedented scale. Polanyi argued that the origins of the cataclysm was to be found in a fundamental contradiction, between the utopian vision of a self-regulating system of free markets and the reality of the devastating effects such a system has on social relationships.
In particular, Polanyi claimed that imposing a market economy on a society reduces human beings and their natural habitat to the status of exploitable market commodities (Labour and Land). But it also gives rise to counter-movements-trade unions and protective laws, for example-as people organise to defend themselves against the ensuing personal and social degradation. The interference in the market mechanism caused by such interventions is in turn opposed by those with market power.
Polanyi concluded that this conflict would be resolved in one of two ways. Either countries became fascist, so that the free market system might be maintained by force, or countries would discover socialism, under which citizens might voluntarily resign some individual freedoms in order to produce social justice for all.
Bruce Jesson's book Only Their Purpose is Mad, published shortly before his death earlier this year, explicitly draws on Polanyi's theory to analyse the economic transformation in New Zealand after 1984, but in a way that is impressively Jesson's own. This can be illustrated with two examples where Jesson goes beyond Polanyi's analysis to address important features of the New Zealand experience.
Inventory of Bruce Jesson Papers In New Zealand and Pacific Collection of the University of Auckland Library
The Jesson Archive in the New Zealand and Pacific Collection of the University of Auckland Library contains the papers from Bruce Jesson's study, left in 1999. The Trustees of the Bruce Jesson Foundation are eager to hear of further materials relevant to Jesson's life and times. It may be possible to add these to the Archive, or to undertake some other method of preservation. Information and suggestions can be sent to:
Andrew Sharp
Professor of Political Studies
University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019
Auckland
New Zealand
Compiled by Simon Hope, summer 2002-03
The Jesson Archive in the New Zealand and Pacific Collection of the University of Auckland Library contains the papers from Bruce Jesson's study, left in 1999. The Trustees of the Bruce Jesson Foundation are eager to hear of further materials relevant to Jesson's life and times. It may be possible to add these to the Archive, or to undertake some other method of preservation. Information and suggestions can be sent to:
Andrew Sharp
Professor of Political Studies
University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019
Auckland
New Zealand
Compiled by Simon Hope, summer 2002-03
This is a preliminary bibliography of Bruce Jesson's writings. A number of items are certainly missing, and some may be recorded incorrectly. The compilers would welcome further information or corrections. These could be sent to the Foundation at brucejesson@hotmail.com or to Professor Andrew Sharp, Department of Political Studies, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92010 Auckland.
A Bruce Jesson bibliography of published pieces in rough chronological order
Compiled by Simon Hope and Andrew Sharp: 26 March 2004.
A Bruce Jesson bibliography of published pieces in rough chronological order
Compiled by Simon Hope and Andrew Sharp: 26 March 2004.
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