Will MOAB Trigger Protectionism? | 83 comments (83 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: But its more than just sacrificing at an altar (4.00 / 3)

Economic efficiency is both easy to define and identify in a clear, unambiguous way and easy to use to generate simple, formal, tractable models.

Its just that the term economic efficiency in the former and the latter mean different things. The problem is that once you go to the trouble of actually specifying your economic terms in ways that can be clearly and unambiguously identified, you can no longer hide from the fact that any simple, formal, tractable model of economic development is intrinsically and radically incomplete.

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Tue Jan 13th, 2009 at 10:15:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: But its more than just sacrificing at an altar (4.00 / 3)

And the model, to be manageable, must be simplified to a point far beyond mere Goedelian incompleteness and on to a point where the model becomes irrelevant and even nonsensical. There are simply too many vectors that can barely be identified, let alone measured or controlled for. Such exercises do show us, though, in stark fashion the firmness of the foundations of Logical Positivism and its "informed actor" and his "enlightened self-interest."

by rifek on Tue Jan 13th, 2009 at 11:23:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Veblen once remarked on the ... (none / 1)

... remarkable similarity between the supposedly Universal Homo Economicus and the particular habits of thought of upper middle class English merchants of the 1800's.

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 12:55:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Veblen once remarked on the ... (4.00 / 3)

And J K Galbraith makes the same point in the New Industrial State when he mocks (the then young) Milton Friedman and his ilk as hopeless romantic throwbacks to the petty merchant and manufacturer economy of the time of Adam Smith.

I suppose Miltie had the last laugh over Galbraith, unfortunately for all of us.

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 04:11:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Veblen once remarked on the ... (4.00 / 2)

He had a laugh over John Kenneth, but not, it may be be, the last one.

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 06:53:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Veblen once remarked on the ... (none / 1)

Well, they're both dead now.

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 06:54:46 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Veblen once remarked on the ... (4.00 / 2)

But madmen in power listening to voices in the wind are as often as not listening to the voice of a long dead economist.

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 01:38:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Veblen once remarked on the ... (none / 1)

We're still around to laugh, although rather bitterly...

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.

by Starvid on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 04:02:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Will MOAB Trigger Protectionism? | 83 comments (83 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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