The Knowledge Corrupters by Colin Crouch

Author:Colin Crouch
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2015-12-07T05:00:00+00:00

The Priority of Speed

A major advantage of the market over most other complex decision systems is speed. If all relevant knowledge is conveyed in the price, market actors can respond quickly without a need to make inquiries, carry out research and consult opinions. The financial sector in particular prioritizes speed in decision-making, as seconds can make a difference to the terms of a deal. This is the main advantage of the use of computers in finance trading, mentioned in the previous chapter. It was to a large extent the priority placed on speed that led dealers in the run-up to the 2007–8 crisis to fail to discover what was contained in the bundles of assets that they were selling, as every second's delay might make a trader lose out. Refusal to bother to acquire knowledge was thus a cause of the crisis, but that chastening experience has not dislodged the prestige of the financial sector as a model of efficiency that public services should imitate. This dismissal of the importance of considering evidence before making decisions chimes well with Hayek's suspicion of expertise. His main objection to the use of experts in government might have been his fear of a state socialist dictatorship, but its main practical use in neoliberal public-service reform has been in reducing the role of expertise. That may seem strange, given that modern governments seem more surrounded by advisors than ever before. But that is to ignore the very paradoxical change that has taken place in the nature of policy-relevant expertise under neoliberal reforms.

Probably the most important instance of this in recent years has been the rejection of all knowledge apart from the narrowly financial in the EU's treatment of Greece, discussed in the previous chapter. But other instances can also be found, prominently in English education policy. Until the 1980s, changes in the structure of English education (and most other policy areas) were carried out in a manner familiar in many countries: a committee or commission would be appointed with a chair selected for distinction in public or professional life and with no obvious biases, and with members representing a wide range of interests. The committee would commission research, and finally make its recommendations in a lengthy, argued report, which would then be extensively discussed in public. The process would take a number of years. Since the Thatcher government of the 1980s this has changed considerably. Commissions in the education field are rare, and if appointed often comprise one individual, usually with an existing known bias. More often a minister and her advisors announce a policy change in a short document with no prior consultation.

For example, in the early 1960s the Conservative government believed it might be desirable to increase the number of universities. It appointed a commission of thirteen members under the chairmanship of Lionel Robbins, a leading economist who would today be described as a neoliberal. The commission had a major research programme; during the two years that it sat it generated a

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