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RISK POOLING: Combining the uncertainty of individuals into a calculable risk for large groups. For example, you may or may not contract the flu this year. However, if you're thrown in with 99,999 other people, then health-care types who spend their lives measuring the odds of an illness, can predict that 1 percent of the group, or 1,000 people, will get the flu. The uncertainty is that they probably don't know which 1,000 people, they only know the number afflicted. This little bit of information is what makes risk pooling possible. If the cost is $50 per illness, then an insurance company can insure your 100,000-member group against flu if they collect $50,000 ($50 x 1,000 sick people), or 50 cents per person. By agreeing to pay the cost of each sick person in exchange for the 50 cent payments, the insurance company has effectively pooled the risk of the group.

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FALLACY OF COMPOSITION:

The logical fallacy of arguing that what is true for the parts is also true for the whole. In the study of economics, this takes the form of assuming that what works for parts of the economy, such as households or businesses, also works for the aggregate, or macroeconomy. The contrasting fallacy is the fallacy of division.
The fallacy of composition is important to the study of macroeconomics. Many, otherwise intelligent-looking folks, commit this fallacy when the subject of macroeconomic policies arise. The macroeconomy, for instance, is not a business, it is not a household, it is not a family, it is NOT a microeconomic entity. It is THE ECONOMY. It has its own set of principles, its own set of rules, its own theories. Treating the macroeconomy like a business or household commonly leads to the fallacy of composition.

A common macroeconomic argument that makes use of the fallacy of composition is to treat the economy as if it were a household or a profit-minded business. An offshoot of this argument is to operate the Federal government (the "caretaker" of the aggregate economy) as a household or a profit-minded business. Some folks are prone to argue that economic ailments would vanish if only government operated like a business.

For example, during economic bad times (recession), the appropriate action of a profit-minded business is to lay off workers and reduce production. The reasonable action by a household is to reduce spending and set aside, or save, some income for the turbulence to come. Both of these actions, if undertaken by the macroeconomy, or promoted by government policies, would likely turn a modest recession into a devastating depression.

The macroeconomy is a complex system comprised of smaller components. An analogy is the human body. Individuals and firms make up the macroeconomy like cells and molecules make up the human body. Rules that apply to cells do not apply to the entire body. Rules that apply to firms do not apply to the entire macroeconomy.

What is true at the microeconomic level is not necessarily true at the macroeconomic level. What is true for the parts is not necessarily true for the whole.

<= FALLACIESFALLACY OF DIVISION =>


Recommended Citation:

FALLACY OF COMPOSITION, AmosWEB Encyclonomic WEB*pedia, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2025. [Accessed: July 6, 2025].


Check Out These Related Terms...

     | fallacies | fallacy of false cause | fallacy of personal attack | fallacy of mass appeal | fallacy of false authority | fallacy of division |


Or For A Little Background...

     | scientific method | economic thinking | political views | government functions |


And For Further Study...

     | seven economic rules | four estates | macroeconomics | microeconomics | sixth rule of ignorance | seventh rule of complexity | normative economics | economic science |


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