Re: Re: Critique of mathematical economi cs

[Doug Henwood]

Michael Perelman wrote:

>Justin, we have been over this before. The Austrians merely assert 
>that somehow in all of the entrepreneurs and will be able to 
>coordinate their decisions, even though many of these decisions 
>depend upon them being able to anticipate each other's plans in the 
>future. In a static world, prices could offer a signal to allow 
>coordination, but not in a dynamic world.

You're forgetting that entrepreneurs can fail - bankruptcy is one of 
the regulators of the system. The beautiful coordination of a market 
system you see at a distance is up close a chaos of rampant success 
and failure and lots in between. Even the occasional depression is 
part of its purifying beauty.

>Then you ask about incentives. The Austrian world is a world of 
>entrepreneurs. The capitalist world is a world in which the owners 
>are short-term stockholders. Their incentives are for a quick profit 
>rather than the long-term health of the company. What incentive do 
>the masses of workers have?

Not starving.

Doug