Evaluation of Example 6: Morici on Hurricane Economics
Passage:
“Peter Morici [states] his view that
Hurricane Irene would lead to positive outcomes … due to the
rebuilding, [and] ‘the capital stock that emerges will
prove more economically useful and productive.’ This inspires
Boudreaux to offer to come over and destroy Morici's house and car,
since newer versions will surely be ‘more economically
useful and productive.‘”
Gene Epstein, “Assume a Pen: An Economist's Epistles,”
Barron's 92 no. 49 (3 Dec. 2012), 39.
Analsyis:
Not an ad hominem but, in
practice, a
fallacy of division. Morici's personal circumstances of
house and car are not used as a personal attack so much as an example
in the economic argument. If it were true that public
rebuilding after a hurricane boosts the construction sector
such that the resultant capital stock is more economically
useful and productive, it wouldn't necessarily follow that
one instance of Morici's private spending for a new house and car
would increase his productivity more than the loss caused by
to the destruction of the old house and car.