Emma Tyler, Chapter 3, Question 7

In chapter 3 of Naked Economics, Wheelan discusses the topic of the necessity of government in the market system. While there were many examples in the book that discuss incentives (the SUV vs. Honda Civic dilemma) and externalities (fits within the SUV debate too), I found one of the most interesting topics in the chapter to be the philosophical aspect of economics. Wheelan specifically mentions that there are some things that come up in economics that cannot be solved with an economic thought process. He brings up a question posed by Amartya Sen (1998 Nobel Prize winner)  about having only one job to offer and three men up for the job who are equally qualified. In an economic sense, the employer would want to "make the world a better place by hiring the man who needs the job the most" (76)- Externalities!- but if the one man is the poorest of all three, the other is newly poor and not accosted to his new lifestyle, and the other has a chronic health problem. Who gets the job? Shouldn't the answer be an economic one? But it's not! This is the line where economics and human morals/philosophy come in. Additionally, the government aspect rears it's ugly head again. Economic questions (at first glance) of the world come up and then the question of whether or not the government should get involved in some way, and then another huge question comes up: "should government protect people from themselves?" On another note, I am extremely interested to see the opposing argument on government involvement in the next chapter because this chapter's argument for government was very strong.