Critical Infrastructures, High Reliability and Their Enemy, Economism. (28th April 2016) - Roe, Emery
Abstract : This Forum contribution explains why economism – a form of bad economics – has become the enemy of reliable critical infrastructures and what must be done to remedy this. The perspective here is critical, but moves beyond critique to recommendation and proposals. The suggestions centre around taking advantage of the unique expertise of reliability professionals in infrastructures to catch big mistakes before they happen in real time. While economists call for greater efficiencies in critical service provision (see especially the long‐standing New Public Management literature), the most underutilized resource we have as a society are these reliability professionals. Without their expertise we would not have the infrastructure stability necessary for markets to function in the first place.