Economy as matching

• Autor(a) principal: Steiner, Philippe
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Política & Sociedade (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/politica/article/view/2175-7984.2019v18n43p14

Recently, a new definition of the economy appeared in which matching is central stage. Matching means that there exist some specific issues related to the effective association of a given resource with a given person. Matching may thus appear an extension of the traditional issue related to the distribution of wealth; against this appearance, the present communication emphasizes that something else is at stake when it comes to understanding how matching is actually implemented. The first part of the communication is devoted to explaining what is meant by matching in the present state of the economy, with a special emphasis on the works of Alvin Roth. The second part is about the sociological underpinnings of the matching approach to economic issues, showing how different it is from the market. Finally, the third part connects economy as matching to Michel Foucault’s understanding of pastorate, focusing on the changes brought about by the huge amount of data and the technology necessary to implement a new form of governmentality, that in which, according to the old religious precept, the leader must govern the population as a whole and each individual in particular (“omnes et singulatim” in Foucault’s terms).