Il gattopardo is (I understand) Italian for leopard. It's important to appreciate this when reading this abstract from the Journal of the Macroeconomic Policy Institute:
Thomas I. Palley
Gattopardo economics: The crisis and the mainstream response of change that keeps things the same
Abstract
Gattopardo constitutes change that keeps things the same. Gattopardo is relevant for understanding the economics profession's response to the financial crash of 2008. This paper explores gattopardo economics as it applies to the issues of the macro-economics of income distribution; the global financial imbalances; and inflation policy. Gattopardo economics adopts ideas developed by critics of mainstream economics, but it does so in a way that ignores the thrust of the original critique and leaves mainstream analysis unchanged. Gattopardo economics makes change more difficult because it deceives people into thinking change has taken place. By masquerading as change, it crowds-out space for real change. That makes exposing gattopardo economics a matter of vital importance.
Oh boy, are we suffering from gattopardo economics that so far has only changed the spots.
And yes, we do need to expose it, often.
Hat tip: George Irvin
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I think its an allusion to The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa – not the leopard changing spots metaphor (perhaps Lampedusa alludes to this metaphor too).
The book concerns a Sicilian aristocrat (his heraldic banner a Leopard) and his family who bend with the times marrying his ambitious nephew to a wealthy family and despite the revolutionary times… more or less preserving the status quo. There is a semblance of change – his nephew becomes a revolutionary hero- a change of costumes but the aristocracy remain in charge of the new regime just liek the old.
It is a literary and political masterpiece- plus a great read.
I agree it is – but the spots metaphor underpins that I think
It is a consummate irony that Hayek’s book was called ‘The Road to Serfdom’ when that is the road (have we reached the destination?) we are now on. This Gattopardo concept is a further insight into the complexities of human freedom and how the security of ‘slavery’ might well be preferred because it is what we know. A massive voluntary downsizing of our lives would be a good start. Change is a bit like Woody Allen’s joke about death: It’s not that I’m scared of it, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.’
Guiseppe di Lampedusa’s famous novel, “The Leopard”, is, of course, “I’ll Gattopardo” in Italian. The “leopard” of the book is the Prince of Lampedusa, trying to navigate the storms of risorgimento Italy, with all the changes – including the demands of Garibaldi’s Red Shirts, and Italian re-unification, and so the disappearance of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, in which he is a Prince in his native Sicily. It’s a novel about change and survival, and the maintenance of continuity despite change, so is highly likely to be the inspiration for the concept of “gattopardo” economics. How HAVE yhe shysters and crooks and bandits that gave us Lehmann Brothers and Enron managed it? I suggest people read anothr literary work – Thomas Mann’s “Mario and the Magician” which explores how. Mussolini pulled the wool over the eyes of Italians to bring in Fascist rule and dictatorship.
“How HAVE yhe shysters and crooks and bandits that gave us Lehmann Brothers and Enron managed it?”
Because in the main people are greedy and ambitious.
If you’ve got any sort of savings or pensions you want them to grow – thus any CEO that didn’t deliver any sort of growth, well they’d soon be an ex-CEO if dividends at the ‘appropriate level’ weren’t paid to pensions funds etc. The pensions holders made sure of that.
The house owner that wants a house even though maybe they can’t afford it – well they’re just as guilty as the banks that worked with them to set the loan up.
Add in the politicians that said “Hell yeah….borrow…..it’s a one-way bet”, well they’ve got something to answer for as well. Remember Gordo the Ungreat telling the world he’d simply wished boom and bust away – actually he was borrowing huge sums – to in essence – p**s up the wall on ever larger state spending……
Imagine how long a CotE would have lasted if they had stood up and said at the Dispatch Box, “Well, to protect us all…..from now on…..no mortages with a LTV above 80%, no BTL mortgages with an LTV of 50%, minimum 10% deposit….”.
I’d say that at the time, any Cote, be it Blue or Red Mob would have been gone in hours.
Pensions are an inter-generational transfer at the time they’re paid, not when cash is saved
Pension saving is the biggest illusion of all time
I think the reference is to an often quoted observation to the Prince (‘the leopard’) by his much favoured and revolutionary nephew Tancredi. “For things to remain the same, everything must change.” For the Prince this means saving his wealth and privilege by reluctantly allying his ancient family with the rising vulgar rich, signally through the marriage of Tancredi to the local mayor’s daughter. He does so more in a spirit of resignation and weariness than of any cunning calculation. The reference is not entirely apt here.
Someone in a previous blog mentioned the book ‘The Spirit level’ which put forward a view that a polarised, inequitable economy was bad for everyone. The right wasted no time in trying to trash this as the book sold 36,000 copies, fear spread amongst then that the debate might go mainstream. The leopard’s spots are intact! See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/14/the-spirit-level-equality-thinktanks
Yes the Harpies were diligently guarding the feast from Phineus!
Surely there must be one “Pinball Wizard” amongst mainstream economists?