Beinhocker: Origin of Wealth
p.13
"Many of the "big ideas" of the fielld are now well over a century old, and too many of the field's formal theories and mathematical models are either hamstrung by unrealistic assumptions or directly contridictd by real-world data. The point is not to denigrate the contributions of the past, but rather to say "economics can do better" and it is time to move on."
Traditional Economics "economics one finds in university textbooks, discussed in the news media, and referred to in the halls of business and government-- it is the mainstream view of academic economics." p.14
what economists call Neoclassical econom:
CRITICS of Traditional theory, Richard Nelson and Sidney Winter
Adam Smith from scotland 1723-1790
Classical period of Econ; educated at Oxford, most time at U of Glasgow
Physiocrats: "a group of intellectuals who held the radical idea that governments should limit their interference in the economy and let markets do most of the work."
population grows in relationship to labor
wealth related to increased productivity (requiring specialization) that is the theory
Hielbroner, Robert. Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times, and Ideas of the Great Economic Thinkers. 7th Ed.
vi: The Inexorable System of Karl Marx
impossible to stop or prevent:
(of a person) impossible to persuade by request
(136) "They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social relations. (!!!!) Let the ruling classes trembel at a Communist revolution. The proletarians [workers, working clas, regarded collectively, reference to Marxism] have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win." Manifesto
137) "As it was the uprisings were spontaneous, undisciplined, and aimless"
the capitalist (156) "owner-entrepreneur" racing against the others. competition
157 the commodity is labor power
Smith and Ricardo would agree: the value of a workman is the money he needs in order to exist." subsistence wage. But his value is not just what he requires to get by, how much is his time worth in creative standards? Does this worker add beauty to the world?
perhaps the net worth and value should be judged upon the beauty made in the world rather than the "profit" and exploitation made on someone else>
profit enters, according to Marx and Hielbroner by the capitalist taking advantage of the worker. they get paid for six hours, but work ten. its not hourly wage but a subsisitent wage order. Marx called this "surplus value" 157
"For there is more labor time embodied in his products than the labor time for which he was forced to pay." Is this the same principle around sweatshop, child labor camps? Now people just earn less for their work. Since the work pool is flooded by people, capitalists, i.e. the business men (and probably women) can afford to pay under wage, since if you don't take the job, someone hungry and desperate will. (Principle of Dismal science in effect) Malthus doctrine [Marx calls this "libel on the human race" (158)] and Ricardo.
libel: a published false statement that is damaging to a person's reputation. slander. misrepresentation.
Hielbroner 157 "capitalists monopolize on thing--- access to the means of production themselves"
Legal arrangement of private property: machines, equipment
"capitalists 'own' jobs". expand their scales of output.
Worker: poletariat
powerless. working for the man.
159) "cannot be so shortsighted as to dissipate its gains through mere unbridled (unrestrained) physical appetite."
creating unemployment through machinery. cut his costs and rescue his profits
(159) like a Greek drama/tradgedy "where men go willynilly to their fate, and in which they all unwittingly cooperate to bring about their own destruction."
Gabraith: Keynes
1930's the most innovative Gabraith says
drop in indust. and ag. prices
relief in public works and employment
old age insurance
4th year of New Deal (1936)
recession a depression within a depression (221) quote
p. 222 Ricardo: "the underconsumption--shortage of demand fallacy"
if a shortage of demand doesn't exist, public action won't have incentive to enhance the demand.
Keynes 183-1946
release antidepression policy from classical constraints (222) quote
there can be a shortage of demand
govern can and should take steps to overcome
essence of K: gov spending to sustain demand (and unemployement)
226: namely,
deliberate and concerned economic thought : Sweden 223
Knut Wicksell 1851-1926
classical and Utilitarian tradition, but "stronly independent and original mind"
pioneer advocacy of birth control
monopoly and competition were "at the extreme ends of the spectrum with many forms of market organizations in between." 234
Gustav Cassel 1866-1944 pillar of eco conservatism
deliberate use of govt budget to sustain demand and employment 225 quote
Swedes were thinking of this in the mid 30's. Really the swedish revolution, rahther than Keynesian.
middle of decade: Sweden well-developed social welfare system, consumer and farmer cooperatives, general tolerance of modification and amendment of classical rigor and the demand-sustainging budget. pictured as the middle way (quote 235)
ideas of Foster and Catchings. Who are these people?
