The Nobel Prize winner for Economics decided to equip himself with a hammer and an old iron to hold on his lap and breaking the shells of numerous walnuts while watching matches. «Shelling walnuts soothed the feeling of guilt caused by spending so much time in front of the television. The process of analyzing my psyche during and after this event began the study of the economic content of the work ethic. I was clearly bound by an internal ethical principle that made it very difficult to follow my preferences.”
The question is not trivial and only one of domestic economics: from that moment Buchanan wants to investigate and establish «whether those who are part of an economy are richer when they share an ethical commitment to work hard than when they are not. The title of the essay suggests that my answer is affirmative.” Contradicting neoclassical economic theories, the nutcracker believes that there is an externality between work and leisure. The individual's choice to work more benefits others. And “a long process of cultural evolution may have instilled in us an ethical norm that actually benefits us.”
On a superficial level it could be called the discovery of hot water, with all due respect to Buchanan. But if you look carefully at things, it is the Nobel's own prediction, namely that the new generations in his erathat is, today's parents, did not grasp the importance of this eraone can well understand how the process of Western economic growth has stopped.
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