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smckk · 2022-08-15 · Original thread
Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One by economist Thomas Sowell[0] explores this in good detail, applying it to political and economic policies, in his book.

Housing policies, medicare and today's problem of defund the police can be better analysed if the framework of second-order thinking is used to view the pros and cons of such policies and their subsequent ramifications.

Second-order thinking is a great mental model to have and helps us address some of the cognitive biases that get in our way when making choices.

To me this form of thinking is evident in chess, the evaluation necessary to make a single move gets us to look at the consequences after the third and fourth move before a final decision is made.

I believe when the time allows for it we should really consider the future ramifications of our actions before making a move.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Applied-Economics-Thinking-Beyond-Sta...

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