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HIRSCHMAN*
* Institute for
Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ 08540.
343
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MAY 1994
That a behavior which is originally resisted and acquired only under the influence of extrinsic (positive or negative) incentives can become irreversibleis also well
renderedby the expressionthat the behavior eventuallybecomes "second-nature."A
good deal of learningconsists in fact in this
mysteriousprocess throughwhich a behavior acquired under duress (because it goes
against "first-nature") becomes secondnature.It has not been widely realized that
this process-the replacement of extrinsic
incentives toward a certain behaviorby intrinsic ones-is the exact opposite of the
"crowdingout" of intrinsicmotivationas a
result of the introductionof extrinsic(usually monetary) rewards.1 The becomingsecond-nature process appears to have
aroused less interest than the crowding-out
one, perhapsbecause it is auspicious,rather
than worrisomeand dismal.
Returningfrom ordinarylanguageto social science,the term "disjunction"has been
used by Daniel Bell (1976) to describe how
the culturaland artisticlife of modern societies no longerreflectsthe evolutionof society and economy in general. The term was
meant to convey dissent from those sociological thinkers, from Karl Marx to Emile
Durkheim and Talcott Parsons, who cultivated a vision of society as an integrated
whole. In the Marxianscheme, for example,
culture, the "superstructure,"is supposed
to correspond somehow to economy and
society (the "infrastructure").So, from the
point of view of that scheme, when culture
takes on a "life of its own," it seems fair
enough to speak of disjunction:something
that was supposedto be controlledby something else, acquiresautonomy.Curiously,in
spite of his solid non-Marxistconvictions,
Bell saw this autonomyas somethingvaguely
abnormaland threatening.
This negativeinterpretationcomes to the
fore in a fairytale or myththat reflectsonce
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Two remarks are in order. Such a constructionassumesthat all that is needed for
economic growth to happen is some set of
political prerequisites such as peace and
secure property rights. With that set in
place, it is the economy that is expected to
acquire"a life of its own,"with no need for
further interaction between economic and
political forces. But such interaction obviously exists on a continuingbasis and needs
to be understood.Secondly,the usefulness
of the propositionsabout the political prerequisites of economic growth is doubtful.
The exhortation to countries lacking "democracy"or "peace" to get their act together and procure such blessings is not
notably helpful. If a country is unable to
end its civil war to stop the killing, is it
likely to do so to achieve a better rate of
growth?
I do not wish to be whollynegative.Comparativestaticsdoes have its uses. An example is AmartyaSen's (1983, 1994)point that
a countrylike India with a reasonablyfree
press, able and willingto denounceintolerable conditions and abuses, has a better
chance to avoid faminesthan an authoritarian countrylike China.If nothingelse, such
a finding packs a considerable hortatory
punch.
Yet, the main task of political economy
remains to provide a better understanding
of the ongoing interactionsbetween politics
and economics. Not to attempt the construction of building blocks here is in fact
an evasion of a real opportunity,in view of
the very characteristicsof a pluralistmarket
society. As this society creates new wealth,
it also generates problems of emerging inequality and regional or sectoral decline
that are often unjustor felt as such. Hence
there arise, in the political domain, demands for reform and political action. In
turn, these reforms and actions have economic consequences.
Political economists have not come forward with many generalizationsor conjectures in this field, perhapsfor good reasons.
What indeed can one say about the likely
consequences of democraticand social advances for economic growth? Without detailed knowledge about the nature of the
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347
theoryof consumerbehavior.Cambridge,
MA: HarvardUniversityPress, 1949.
Frey,BrunoS. "Tertium Datur: Pricing, Reg-
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MAY1994