Re: Pie in the Sky
G'day Penners, Dennis is off on a week's vacation, so I am exploiting the opportunity to elaborate upon my reservations and speculate in shameless ignorance of whatever economic fundamentals are supposed to be. He writes: >Anyone want to bet when the business cycle is >going to turn? My crystal ball sez, it's already started, only in Asia >instead of California. But the plague appears to be spreading fast. Buy up >those undervalued Asian/European equities with overvalued US dollars/UK >sterling while you can! If the erstwhile tigers are the thin edge of the wedge - and this is a compelling idea just now - I suppose the question is, who will be the winners apre shakedown? Prospective winners would need to meet certain criteria: they might be diversifying by picking up productive capacity at 15c in the dollar in SE Asia as we speak; they'd not come out of this competing directly against hugely discounted salient SE Asian exports; if they're exposed, they'd need to be flogging the sort of stuff in the region that they can discount to meet revised local GDP/capita without threatening bottom lines; and they might need to be able to ride first world currency depreciations of the order of 20%. I reckon this points, inter alia, to large software peddlers (flogging digits if you like). Murdoch's programming pays for itself before Asiasat transmissions even make the ledger - Asia's still just cream. Gates has cornered the PC software market, and gets to exchange stuff that he reproduces at nearly zero cost for real value (and value extracted at unprecedented exploitative rates at that). We should expect information hardware to take a bath - excesses of chip production, slowing IT penetration and cancelled capital infrastructure programmes are all the go in Asia just now, and I imagine the likes of Cable and Wireless, the Baby Bells, Compaq etc are gonna feel that. Low earth orbit satellites (LEOs), reputedly the next big thing in delivery technologies, and all the more urgent in light of cancelled cable roll-out programmes, will be introduced from outside the region, sans Asian equity, leaving market power exclusively with the likes of western conglomerates of the Gates/Hughes/IBM variety. What I'm getting at, in my admittedly amateur way, is that there is the distinct possibility of some big (and readily identifiable) Anglo-Saxon wins in this tumult. We end up with less capital sloshing about, and a greater proportion than ever of what's left residing with A-S conglomerates, whose market power over a billion and a half people shall have been hugely enhanced. Japan has the potential to forestall this, I suppose - and western economists keep nagging at her to open up, but she may not be able to if half her banks suddenly turn turtle. The capital Japan might have committed to generating demand in the region would disappear in an orgy of corporate seppuku. This is probably all crap - but I've had nothing from PEN-L in more than a day so I thought some wild speculation might get the old strawberry pumping again ... Cheers, Rob.
ASSA session cuts
Barkley: Great letter. Is there any value in having more of us unwashed types write in support? If so can you post a name and address to write to? Thanks, Colin PS If AEA is busily stifling us hets is there any good reason to remain a member? I could easily manage without my own copies of its ubiquitous (& iniquitous) journals.
Re: Section 7(a)
Terry, your comments are very interesting but only lead me to further questions. If the Black Bill was the threat and the AFL was behind the Black Bill, why was the state scared enough of worker mobilization to give a damn about the AFL (we're talking 1932 and early 1993, I guess) OR was the Black Bill a bill that the state could be comfortable with as a means to control labor. All of this fits in a larger puzzle of the labor movement in general and I've found Victoria C. Hattam, Labor Visions and State Power: The Origins of Business Unionism in the United States helpful. Obviously, the AFL is business unionism. Tom Ferguson says that Baruch was behind 7(a). Do you know anything about that? Paul * Paul Zarembka, on OS/2 and supporting RESEARCH IN POLITICAL ECONOMY at ** http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/PZarembka On Thu, 19 Mar 1998, Terrence Mc Donough wrote: > Paul Z asks about section 7(a) of the National Industrial Recovery > Act, which guaranteed the right to organize in covered industries. > 7(a) was included in the bill in order to forstall the more radical > Black Bill which had been reported onto the floor of the house and > contained not only guarantees for organizing but a mandated 30 hour > week and tripartite board setting of wages. Labor had already shown > considerable political clout in passing the Norris Laguardia Act > which banned injunctions. Class struggle was being focussed for a > time at the level of the state. A wave of organizing and strikes > followed partly facilitated by the passage of 7(a) but also motivated > by the prospect of the politicization of labor relations which the > NIRA represented. Informal organization was often adequate to deal > with local shopfloor issues, but full scale formal unionization was > necessary to continue to play at this national level as the labor > backed success of subsequent legislative measures was to demonstrate. > > Terry McDonough >
Section 7(a)
Paul Z asks about section 7(a) of the National Industrial Recovery Act, which guaranteed the right to organize in covered industries. 7(a) was included in the bill in order to forstall the more radical Black Bill which had been reported onto the floor of the house and contained not only guarantees for organizing but a mandated 30 hour week and tripartite board setting of wages. Labor had already shown considerable political clout in passing the Norris Laguardia Act which banned injunctions. Class struggle was being focussed for a time at the level of the state. A wave of organizing and strikes followed partly facilitated by the passage of 7(a) but also motivated by the prospect of the politicization of labor relations which the NIRA represented. Informal organization was often adequate to deal with local shopfloor issues, but full scale formal unionization was necessary to continue to play at this national level as the labor backed success of subsequent legislative measures was to demonstrate. Terry McDonough
Celtic Tigger
I'm just catching up here. Someone asked for an account of the recent Irish boom. It has several sources. A list in no particular order: The legacy of peripheral development, including a high level of unemployment relatively low wages a relatively non-industrialized and therefor green (no pun) eviron. Receipt of massive EU subventions. Membership inside the EU common market English as the major language An education system which performed better than the society overall A reserve army of educated and experienced emigrants An active industrial policy to attract foreign investment which resulted in substantial high tech investment. The high tech character of this investment was probably luck as they also gave money to chemical plants and shirt factories. A tripartite system of wage, tax, and social policy negotiations which has replaced the party system as the generator of policy. This has in practice meant an increase in the profit share in return for explicit union influence in the policy process (this started in 1987 and would make a great PhD topic for somebody). Once the investment started the process was continued and accelerated by uneven development (Marx.), economies of agglomeration (neocl.) and a dynamic virtuous circle (inst.). The benefits have been slow to spread to the indigenous sector and inequality has been deepened. Ireland might be an interesting example of an export led growth strategy in the new economic order and thus different from the Asian tigers. This kind of highly uneven and nonlocally linked growth may be the best that can be done under capitalism under current conditions. Terry McDonough
Re: a proposed leading indicator
What about an index of the percent of the population on Prozac and the percent of children under 12 on Ritalin. Those are leading indicators ... but I'm not sure what they indicate. Gene Coyle >ILS, that's good, has a certain, je ne sais quoi. > >I would also like to propose an indicator -- the HQI. Or, the Head Queen >Index. As the head queen, I would look at the red sector, then the white >sector, then reverse them in the looking glass, THEN I would say brilliant >things like; 'retail prices are eerily quiet' -- expecting hushed reverence >from the court. In the mean time, the renegade princes in the back room would >be holding their own press conferences about the inflation which might yet >be.. > >maggie coleman [EMAIL PROTECTED]
One last pass at the Titanic
It is widely believed among Catholics in Northern Ireland that the number of the Titanic could in some way be read as "no pope" and the Titanic was sunk as divine retribrution for the lack of employment of Catholics in the shipyards. While subsequently Catholics were excluded from the shipyards, many worked on the Titanic as the employers viewed the firing of Catholic workers as demanded by Protestant workers as an interference with management prerogative. Terry McDonough
Re: PPP and QLI
Jim, Quite a few of the East Asian economies that have either crashed or experienced severe pressure looked better on PPP measures than on GDP measures before the crash, e.g. Hong Kong and Indonesia. They look even more so now, despite some undoubted declines of living standards in some of them. Barkley Rosser On Thu, 19 Mar 1998 14:37:15 -0800 James Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I wrote: >>I was referring to the fact that the actual exchange rates > fluctuate a lot; the PPP exchange rates wash out a lot of the noise. Maybe > a simple weighted average of all the actual exchange rates would do better. << > > Paul A. replies: >Doesn't this bring out the psychological trap represented > by GDP? It is supposed to measure the production of exchange values -- > nothing more. < > > Right. But it seems quite relevant to measuring a country's economic power > in a kind of society that defines power in terms of exchange value (i.e., > capitalism). (If I remember correctly, I was the one who linked GDP to > exchange value and GPI and similar indices of "true economic performance" > to use-value.) > > >Obviously this has limited use for international comparisons since the > amount of labor power on or off "the books" will very from country to > country. To the extent the GDP measure is useful for international > comparisons, is primarily to measure international purchasing capacity (or > to give a lead as to a national economy's ability to convert domestic > exchange values into international exchange values). For this purpose -- > measuring international purchasing capacity -- exchange rates are not the > "the noise". Rather, they represent the critical measure of exchange. < > > It's the _fluctuations_ in those rates (not the rates themselves) which I > termed "noise." > > However, as Barkley notes, it's possible that a big change in exchange > rates (as opposed to PPP rates) could actually _cause_ a shift in power > even though a simple averaging technique or PPP might wash out the > exchange-rate change. He's probably right; I'm the last one to deny the > path-dependence of economic & political processes. But isn't it possible > that the big shifts in exchange rates (for Japan and other East-Asian edge > countries) might be a result of adjustment of exchange rates toward some > underlying measure of economic power which might be roughly captured by PPP. > > >Of course your point is very valid: exchange-rate GDPs often leave us > befuddled. But I think it is important that people understand that the > confusion is due to the fallacy of the focus on exchange values when we are > trying to measure far larger issues.< > > that was indeed one of my points. > > > PPP appears to provide some rectification, but I believe this is only > because of a statistical coincidence. As it happens, PPP will add weight > to an economy where much labor power is used outside the market, but not > because it is actually measuring that labor power. Measuring a haircut in > Nairobi *as if* it could be given in New York does not to more accurately > measure the Kenyan economy (even if by coincidence it "corrects" for the > fact that much in Kenya is produced outside the market). The same is true > for the way PPP "corrects" for exchange rate fluctuations. Unfortunately, > I believe people will too frequently forget that they are using a proxy > measure that just happens to move the numbers in a more intuitive direction. < > > what are we trying to develop a proxy measure of? economic power? social > welfare? > > BTW, awhile back, I read a book by Arjun Makhijani, titled _From Global > Capitalism to Economic Justice: An Inquiry into the Elimination of Systemic > Poverty, Violence and Environmental Destruction in the World Economy_ (New > York: the Apex Press, 1992). One of his ideas is that the world economy > should be restructured in a way that in essence forces exchange rates to > equal PPP, benefiting poorer countries. Any thoughts? > > in pen-l solidarity, > > Jim Devine > [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://clawww.lmu.edu/1997F/ECON/jdevine.html > > > -- Rosser Jr, John Barkley [EMAIL PROTECTED]
ASSA session cuts
Dear John, I am writing to you in regard to the proposed cuts in sessions at the ASSA meetings that apparently have been announced in a letter that has come out over your name. I have not seen that letter, but I have been apprised of its contents by John Adams of ICARE and others and have seen a copy of his letter to you. Without getting into all the details of his rather lengthy missive, I would like to say that I broadly support most of his points and really think that whoever has made this tentative decision should do some serious rethinking. There are a lot of unhappy people out there regarding this. 1) I think John Adams is right that the question regarding the lack of input regarding a choice of higher hotel rates versus more sessions has not been posed to anybody. I don't know the exact tradeoffs involved, but I know that there are many people who would be willing to pay more to keep sessions. 2) I don't know how sampling of attendance at sessions was done, but somebody going around sticking his or her head into some sessions is not a statistical sampling procedure that would have led to a passing grade in Arthur Goldberger's econometrics class. There is a rumor that there was some kind of survey done, but I never saw it. Basing membership numbers on the boxes people fill out is not too useful as some groups have boxes, e.g. the AEA, and others don't, and many people who have multiple memberships often simply fill out an existing box out of laziness, not out of some statement that the AEA ought to have lots more sessions than anybody else. 3) There does seem to be a serious prinicipal-agent problem here vis a vis the relationship between the AEA and the ASSA. I don't that I fully agree with John Adams's proposal for dealing with this, but the perception that the AEA leadership is doing this to exclude the unwashed and more fully dominate the proceedings is now very widespread and the unhappiness regarding the lack of democratic input for procedures involved in this is also widespread. 4) This perception is heightened as it seems to be heterodox groups and groups reflecting minority groups that are receiving the more serious cuts involved here. There is considerable talk on some lists of something more serious than just email messages: lawsuits, protests, press conferences, secessions, etc. Do you and the AEA/ASSA decisionmakers really need or want this? Is the value of maintaining hotel room rates really worth it? Or is what is going on what the allegedly paranoid perspective perceives it to be? 5) As you probably know, I am someone who has over the years presented in both mainstream sessions (AEA) as well as non-mainstream ones (various groups now under fire). I want to let you know that there are indeed a lot of people upset about this. Please rethink before implementing this. Barkley Rosser Professor of Economics James Madison University - Rosser Jr, John Barkley [EMAIL PROTECTED]
FW:
-- From: owner-interfaith-alliance Date: Wednesday, March 18, 1998 4:04PM The Interfaith Internet Community Action Network (ICAN) http://www.tialliance.org Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Precedence: bulk RELIGIOUS "COERCION" AMENDMENT UPDATE Since our last alert, we have received hundreds of inquiries requesting more information about the status of this constitutional amendment. Below, please find the answers those questions. Now that it was passed out of the House Judiciary Committee, what's next? Currently the bill is not "scheduled" for a floor vote, but that could change any day. Some coalition observers speculate that leadership will bring this up in the next two weeks. What is the Actual Text of the Bill : ``To secure the people's right to acknowledge God according to the dictates of conscience, neither the United States nor any state shall establish any official religion, but the people's right to pray and to recognize their religious beliefs, heritage or traditions on public property, including schools, shall not be infringed. The government shall not require any person to join in prayer or other religious activity, prescribe school prayers, discriminate against religion, or deny equal access to a benefit on account of religion.'' What will this Bill really do? The true intent of the misnamed Religious Freedom Amendment, (HJR 78) is to promote state-sponsored school prayer by weakening the protections against state sponsored coercion in government institutions like public schools, the armed forces, and the criminal justice system. Where can I get a find out more about the legislation? On the Internet, visit the Thomas: US Congress on the Internet at http://www.thomas.loc.gov and enter in the bill reference number HJ Resolution 78. This site can provide will give you access to the most update and accurate information on the bill's status and supporters. What You Can Do: Call, Write, and Email your member of Congress, telling him/her to oppose House Joint Resolution 78 and all efforts to weaken religious liberty and undermine religious freedom. Organize a group of religious leaders with people of faith and goodwill to meet with your member in the district over the weekend To find your member of Congress, on the Internet go to the Zipper at http://www.voxpop.org/zipper/ Who Needs to Hear from You: The following Members of Congress have not yet decided whether or not they oppose the amendment. They need to hear from concerned people of faith and goodwill that this proposed constitutional amendment is a dangerous measure designed to undermine religious freedom. Baldacci- (D-ME) Berry (D-AR) Boswell (D-IA) Boyd (D-FL) Clement (D-TN) Cramer (D-AL) Danner (D-MO) Doyle (D-PA) Ethridge (D-NC) Gorton (D-TN) Hall, Tony (D-OH) Hamilton (D-IN) Hooley (D-OR) Kaptur (D-OH) Klezka (D-WI) Klink (D-PA) LaFalse (D-NY) Lampson (D-TX) Manton (D-NY) Mascara (D-PA) McKinney (D-GA) McNulty (D-NY) Menendez (D-NJ) Minge (D-MN) Moakley (D-MA) Murtha (D-PA) Obey (D-WI) Ortiz (D-TX) Pascrell (D-NJ) Regula (R-OH) Sandlin (D-TX) Skelton (D-MO) Tanner (D-TN) Turner (D-TX) Weygand (D-RI)
Re: a proposed leading indicator
ILS, that's good, has a certain, je ne sais quoi. I would also like to propose an indicator -- the HQI. Or, the Head Queen Index. As the head queen, I would look at the red sector, then the white sector, then reverse them in the looking glass, THEN I would say brilliant things like; 'retail prices are eerily quiet' -- expecting hushed reverence from the court. In the mean time, the renegade princes in the back room would be holding their own press conferences about the inflation which might yet be.. maggie coleman [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Pie in the Sky-??
It was my understanding (admittedly, shaky at best) that these earnings reports are real earnings which do not measure up to expected earnings. So, is the slow down in earnings really a slow down or just a let down of expectations?? inquiring minds want to know. maggie coleman [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: What went right -- once again
IMHO, it seems that declining living standards, or at least stagnating relative to productivity, represents the redefinition of what Marx referred to as the culturally-specific subsistence wage (CSSW). In Marx, the subsistence wage is defined socially. So here in the US, access to a car or health insurance would be considered part of the cultural subsistence wage. This would necessarily change over time as part of the development process. As this cultural subsistence wage is pushed down toward actual subsistence, or actual growth in cultural subsistence wage is less than its expected growth, the rate of surplus value (or, more narrowly, the profit rate) increases. With increasing profits come increased investment, lower unemployment, increased output, and etc All appear good. But why doesn't the population stand up against the relative reduction in the CSSW? A safety valve, perhaps, has been the growth of indebtedness. But indebtedness is not the only part of this. With the widening use of consumer debt and leasing, mainly autos (I think auto leases are not included in consumer debt?), broad consumption patterns have changed. I think the change over the years from a save-till-you-buy to a buy-now-pay(w/ interest)-later pattern has mediated the deleterious impacts of a lower (or stagnating) CSSW. This brings up a question, what is the impact on aggregate demand associated with a shift over time from savings-based consumption to debt-based consumption? In addition, if the capacity to add debt at an individual level can stabilize demand (assuming of course that the supply of debt is forthcoming), what happens when this option has been expended (or retracted all together)? I may be wrong, pointing to the smallest tree in the forest, or beating a dead horse. But that is not new. Jeff -- From: Michael Perelman To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: What went right -- once again Date: Thursday, March 19, 1998 12:25PM Louis Proyect said that he thought that I was being ironic with my original question. I was, but only to an extent. The economy looks so good from the top. The stock market is soaring. Business is in command. Even labor is doing a bit better in some ways. I don't think that this situation will last, but I never would have predicted that the economy would have been doing this well, this long [from the perspective of those on top]. We Marxists [even Chico Marxists] tend to see impending crises everywhere all the time. Maybe as Rob S. said, E. Asia is the thin wedge. Maybe not. Why have the capitalists succeeded? Some answered the redistribution of income and the defeat of labor [which I suspect is not unrelated to the fall of the USSR]. I also think of the opening of E. Europe, China, etc. to capitalism. I suspect that more is involved. I don't think that it will take much to prick the bubble, but still the economy has been more resiliant than I had expected. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 916-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: PPP and QLI
I wrote: >>I was referring to the fact that the actual exchange rates fluctuate a lot; the PPP exchange rates wash out a lot of the noise. Maybe a simple weighted average of all the actual exchange rates would do better. << Paul A. replies: >Doesn't this bring out the psychological trap represented by GDP? It is supposed to measure the production of exchange values -- nothing more. < Right. But it seems quite relevant to measuring a country's economic power in a kind of society that defines power in terms of exchange value (i.e., capitalism). (If I remember correctly, I was the one who linked GDP to exchange value and GPI and similar indices of "true economic performance" to use-value.) >Obviously this has limited use for international comparisons since the amount of labor power on or off "the books" will very from country to country. To the extent the GDP measure is useful for international comparisons, is primarily to measure international purchasing capacity (or to give a lead as to a national economy's ability to convert domestic exchange values into international exchange values). For this purpose -- measuring international purchasing capacity -- exchange rates are not the "the noise". Rather, they represent the critical measure of exchange. < It's the _fluctuations_ in those rates (not the rates themselves) which I termed "noise." However, as Barkley notes, it's possible that a big change in exchange rates (as opposed to PPP rates) could actually _cause_ a shift in power even though a simple averaging technique or PPP might wash out the exchange-rate change. He's probably right; I'm the last one to deny the path-dependence of economic & political processes. But isn't it possible that the big shifts in exchange rates (for Japan and other East-Asian edge countries) might be a result of adjustment of exchange rates toward some underlying measure of economic power which might be roughly captured by PPP. >Of course your point is very valid: exchange-rate GDPs often leave us befuddled. But I think it is important that people understand that the confusion is due to the fallacy of the focus on exchange values when we are trying to measure far larger issues.< that was indeed one of my points. > PPP appears to provide some rectification, but I believe this is only because of a statistical coincidence. As it happens, PPP will add weight to an economy where much labor power is used outside the market, but not because it is actually measuring that labor power. Measuring a haircut in Nairobi *as if* it could be given in New York does not to more accurately measure the Kenyan economy (even if by coincidence it "corrects" for the fact that much in Kenya is produced outside the market). The same is true for the way PPP "corrects" for exchange rate fluctuations. Unfortunately, I believe people will too frequently forget that they are using a proxy measure that just happens to move the numbers in a more intuitive direction. < what are we trying to develop a proxy measure of? economic power? social welfare? BTW, awhile back, I read a book by Arjun Makhijani, titled _From Global Capitalism to Economic Justice: An Inquiry into the Elimination of Systemic Poverty, Violence and Environmental Destruction in the World Economy_ (New York: the Apex Press, 1992). One of his ideas is that the world economy should be restructured in a way that in essence forces exchange rates to equal PPP, benefiting poorer countries. Any thoughts? in pen-l solidarity, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://clawww.lmu.edu/1997F/ECON/jdevine.html
Re: what's in a name?
At 05:36 AM 3/19/98 -0500, David Fasenfest wrote:
>It is certainly true that existing applied models of socialism has not
>successfully competed with capitalism even as we argue over whether it was
>a failure of socialism or its defeat by capitalism which explains that end.
> However, the discussion of Late Capitalism was not a wishful exposition of
>its waning years but an attempt to understand transformations taking place
>at that time in a heretofore nationally based system (Lenin's _Age of
>Imperialism_ is another example of such an examination).
My comment (WS): The issue of competition between capitalism and socialism
rests on a false assumption, namely that 'socialism' and 'capitalism' are
emprical entities rather than just mere labels without a clear empirical
meaning.
A standard approach to determine whether abstract concepts are empirically
meaningful categories or mere labels without much empirical content is the
comparison of the "between group variance" to the "within group variance."
The main idea here is that if elements grouped under one label vary among
each other to the same or greater degree that elements grouped under
different labels do - the labels do not represent an empirically
meaningful distinction.
It is my belief that differences among countries within the group labeled
as "socialist" are at least as great as the differences among countries in
the 'socialist' and the 'capitalist' camps. Take for example Sweden,
Japan, and the US. In the respect of social welfare programs, the
difference between Sweden and the US (both under the capitalist label) is
much greater than, say, between Sweden and her southern neighbour Poland
(under the socialist label). In the respect of government involvement in
economic strategic planning, Japan (nominally a 'capitalist' country) falls
much closer to centrally planned economies ('socialist' label) than to the
more laissez faire US.
Therefore, the distinction between capitalism and socialism is not very
useful empirically, because it fails to goup countries with similar
empirical features under one label, or to cenceptually distinguish among
counnries having different empirical features. The only usefulness of such
lables is purely mythological (or ideological): it organizes the world into
simple to grasp mental categories that are then used as actors in a grossly
simplified narrative of interantional relations. It is like ancient myths
of the struggle between Light and Darkness, Good and Evil -- captivating
story telling, but without much empirical reference. Yet another example
of the scribbling class' motto: "don't believe what you see, believe what
we say."
A more useful approach would be to ask how particular institutional
solutions to governance and the organization of production perform under
different historical conditions. Thus we may ask questions like that:
1. Did the central planning that relies on high centralization of
administrative authority accomplished the expected goal of building the
industrial infrastructure in the initial phase of modernization of the
country X in Eastern Europe. If not, why?
2. Did the same central planning regime accomplished the expected goal of
sustained econimic growth in later stages of mdernization of country X in
Eastern Europe. If not, why?
3. What is the vertical (historical) variation in the central planning
regimes? What is the cause of that variation? What is the impact of that
variation on economy and society?
4. What is the lateral (cross-national) variation in the central planning
regimes? What factors explain that variation? What is the impact of that
variation on economy and society?
To my knowledge few economists, sociologists or policy analysts ask these
types of question, as far as the great 'mental gap' of socialism vs
capitalism is concerned. It seems that the minds of the supposedly
empirical scientists are captivated by the mythology of the struggle
between Good and Evil.
As far as the rest of your post is concerned (I attach it because I post
this missive to another list), I agree. The mainstream social scientists
discussing Marxism are like Catholic priests discussing Judaism, or rabbis
discussing Catholicism -- it is unlikely that you will get anything even
remotely resembling an impartial evaluation. I think it was Marx (albeit I
cannot recall where exactly) who compared 'political economy' (or economics
and political science in today's lingo) to religion: everyone else's is
man-made, our own is god-given.
Regards,
Wojtek Sokolowski
>There are many (some among this list) who have equated the end of the
>socialist systems (whatever faults they may have had) with the failure of a
>Marxist analysis of capitalism. Whatever was or was not done in its name,
>Marx's analysis of the capitalist system is still the most insightful
>examination of how the system works, and we must apply those principals of
>investigation as we try to understand the era
PPP and QLI
At 08:40 PM 3/17/98 -0800, James Devine wrote: >I was referring to the fact that the actual exchange rates fluctuate a lot; >the PPP exchange rates wash out a lot of the noise. Maybe a simple weighted >average of all the actual exchange rates would do better. Jim: Doesn't this bring out the psychological trap represented by GDP? It is supposed to measure the production of exchange values -- nothing more. Obviously this has limited use for international comparisons since the amount of labor power on or off "the books" will very from country to country. To the extent the GDP measure is useful for international comparisons, is primarily to measure international purchasing capacity (or to give a lead as to a national economy's ability to convert domestic exchange values into international exchange values). For this purpose -- measuring international purchasing capacity -- exchange rates are not the "the noise". Rather, they represent the critical measure of exchange. Of course your point is very valid: exchange-rate GDPs often leave us befuddled. But I think it is important that people understand that the confusion is due to the fallacy of the focus on exchange values when we are trying to measure far larger issues. PPP appears to provide some rectification, but I believe this is only because of a statistical coincidence. As it happens, PPP will add weight to an economy where much labor power is used outside the market, but not because it is actually measuring that labor power. Measuring a haircut in Nairobi *as if* it could be given in New York does not to more accurately measure the Kenyan economy (even if by coincidence it "corrects" for the fact that much in Kenya is produced outside the market). The same is true for the way PPP "corrects" for exchange rate fluctuations. Unfortunately, I believe people will too frequently forget that they are using a proxy measure that just happens to move the numbers in a more intuitive direction.
Re: PPP and QLI
Jim, I think that we are basically in accord here. Of course some of the more dramatic developments in power relations are associated with these fluctuations of exchange rates, e.g. the current buyup in Asia by US companies coming with the strong dollar. The flip side of that was the freakout/panic in the US in 1989 when the Japanese were buying up Rockefeller Center and Pebble Beach just before their bubble burst. This led to such chauvinist outpourings as _Rising Sun_ and _Debt of Honor_, looking pretty silly today, but maybe not tomorrow... To Lou P: Economists do study income distribution, although there seems to have been a trend away from it, especially in more pro-laissez faire departments. This may reflect the fact that income distribution is getting more unequal in most of the countries in the world. Several of us have been pushing such things as QLI and HDI precisely because they capture stuff that shows up when you have lots of inequality, e.g. higher infant mortality rates, lower life expectancies, etc. Barkley Rosser On Tue, 17 Mar 1998 20:40:34 -0800 James Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > At 05:36 p.m. 3/17/98 -0500, Barkley wrote: > >Jim, > > My only disagreement is when you say that PPP measures > >long-run power. PPP generally shows poorer countries not > >as far behind richer countries as do official GDP stats. > > I was referring to the fact that the actual exchange rates fluctuate a lot; > the PPP exchange rates wash out a lot of the noise. Maybe a simple weighted > average of all the actual exchange rates would do better. > > >But that is because of the non-marketed component. > > Right. > > in pen-l solidarity, > > Jim Devine > [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://clawww.lmu.edu/1997F/ECON/jdevine.html > > > -- Rosser Jr, John Barkley [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Pie in the Sky
In 1928-29 one of the most rapidly rising stocks was of a high-tech company of the day, RCA. It also had no earnings throughout that period and thus that magically infinite P/E ratio. Barkley Rosser On Wed, 18 Mar 1998 11:26:31 -0500 Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Dennis R Redmond wrote: > > >My theory is, the bigger the speculative > >bubble (and Dow 8700 at a time when every corporation on the block, from > >Nike to Compaq, is reporting sluggish earnings and falling profit > >margins, surely qualifies as the most stupendous mania since the South Sea > >Bubble) the more there is to buy when the whole thing falls apart. > > Earnings, schmearnings. I just did a little piece for Wired magazine, of > all places, on the wacky valuations assigned high-tech stocks these days. > This excerpt will give a flavor of current Wall Street thinking: > >"As I write this, Procter & Gamble is valued at 29 times earnings, and > number that used to be reserved for growth stocks, not soap companies. Next > to that, Microsoft doesn't look too expensive at 56 or Cisco at 51. Richard > Smith, head of equity markets at NationsBanc Montgomery, says he doesn't > care about P/Es or other valuation measures. 'The market does the valuation > work for you.' Sure, he concedes, there are short-term irrationalities, but > over the long term, its valuations are the best measure around. People vote > with their money, every minute of the trading day. This is a Street version > of high efficient market theory, which though doesn't have the academic > prestige it once had, is always a comfort when prices are high. >Lots of hot stocks have no earnings, so their P/E is infinite. This is a > blessing, though, enthuses Paul Cook, portfolio manager for the tiny ($5.5 > million) Net Net Fund, which invests in Internet-related stocks. This > universe is rich with companies with no earnings, making them a 'safe > harbor' in Cook's words. Without earnings, you can't run conventional > valuation measures, and a company with no earnings can't disappoint you by > missing its target." > > Doug > > -- Rosser Jr, John Barkley [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Pie in the Sky
Well, there are now some people (Abby Cohen, prophet of a continually surging US stock market) and, a bit more trepidaciously, Robert Samuelson, who are declaring that on balance the Asian crisis is good for the US economy. 1) lower interest rates due frightened foreign investors sending their money into the dollar. Result, a construction boom now taking off. 2) lower inflation. higher dollar, lower import costs 3) lower oil prices. These help 2) and provide a supply-side boost. Part of the now around $13/barrel crude oil price is lower demand because of El Nino warm winter, part due to cheating on OPEC quotas especially by financially suffering Venezuela, but part is due to lower Asian demand for oil with their crisis. 4) The higher dollar also aids in US capitalists getting to pick up Asian assets at fire sale prices. Of course there will eventually be reduced exports to at least some countries, and this may yet spill over. The straw in the wind is the reduced profit reports of Intel and Compaq, but so far these have not rattled the UD stock markets at least. Barkley Rosser On Thu, 19 Mar 1998 21:51:16 +1100 Rob Schaap <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > G'day Penners, > > Dennis is off on a week's vacation, so I am exploiting the opportunity to > elaborate upon my reservations and speculate in shameless ignorance of > whatever economic fundamentals are supposed to be. He writes: > > >Anyone want to bet when the business cycle is > >going to turn? My crystal ball sez, it's already started, only in Asia > >instead of California. But the plague appears to be spreading fast. Buy up > >those undervalued Asian/European equities with overvalued US dollars/UK > >sterling while you can! > > If the erstwhile tigers are the thin edge of the wedge - and this is a > compelling idea just now - I suppose the question is, who will be the > winners apre shakedown? > > Prospective winners would need to meet certain criteria: they might be > diversifying by picking up productive capacity at 15c in the dollar in SE > Asia as we speak; they'd not come out of this competing directly against > hugely discounted salient SE Asian exports; if they're exposed, they'd need > to be flogging the sort of stuff in the region that they can discount to > meet revised local GDP/capita without threatening bottom lines; and they > might need to be able to ride first world currency depreciations of the > order of 20%. > > I reckon this points, inter alia, to large software peddlers (flogging > digits if you like). Murdoch's programming pays for itself before Asiasat > transmissions even make the ledger - Asia's still just cream. Gates has > cornered the PC software market, and gets to exchange stuff that he > reproduces at nearly zero cost for real value (and value extracted at > unprecedented exploitative rates at that). > > We should expect information hardware to take a bath - excesses of chip > production, slowing IT penetration and cancelled capital infrastructure > programmes are all the go in Asia just now, and I imagine the likes of > Cable and Wireless, the Baby Bells, Compaq etc are gonna feel that. Low > earth orbit satellites (LEOs), reputedly the next big thing in delivery > technologies, and all the more urgent in light of cancelled cable roll-out > programmes, will be introduced from outside the region, sans Asian equity, > leaving market power exclusively with the likes of western conglomerates of > the Gates/Hughes/IBM variety. > > What I'm getting at, in my admittedly amateur way, is that there is the > distinct possibility of some big (and readily identifiable) Anglo-Saxon > wins in this tumult. We end up with less capital sloshing about, and a > greater proportion than ever of what's left residing with A-S > conglomerates, whose market power over a billion and a half people shall > have been hugely enhanced. > > Japan has the potential to forestall this, I suppose - and western > economists keep nagging at her to open up, but she may not be able to if > half her banks suddenly turn turtle. The capital Japan might have > committed to generating demand in the region would disappear in an orgy of > corporate seppuku. > > This is probably all crap - but I've had nothing from PEN-L in more than a > day so I thought some wild speculation might get the old strawberry pumping > again ... > > Cheers, > Rob. > > > -- Rosser Jr, John Barkley [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: ECONOMICS FOR PHYSICISTS AND MATHEMATICIANS
I am basically going to second Michael P.'s observation with a few further emendations. This is a very mainstream bunch, by and large. If anything what is surprising is the number who really don't even do interacting particle systems or other kinds of funky Santa Fe kinds of stuff, e.g. Andreu Mas-Colell who also hangs out at Harvard, edits the _Journal of Mathematical Economics_ and is the author of two orthodox advanced micro texts with a strong emphasis on mainstream general equilibrium analysis. Some of those listed have done chaos theory stuff, e.g. Boldrin and Scheinkman, although the former has been identified with a very equilibriumist approach to it. Chiappori (of Chicago, surprise surprise) is an advocate or rational expectations. Some of the others are super-mathematical and ortho GE types, e.g. Araujo. Curiously the only ones that I am aware of having done much with the kinds of interacting agents stuff that they supposedly want to learn about from the physicists are Scheinkman and Blume, both of whom have strong Santa Fe connections. Maybe this is a scam to get the physicists to teach them about that stuff while getting a nice trip to Europe (for those not in Europe). Barkley Rosser On Thu, 19 Mar 1998 08:35:54 -0800 Michael Perelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > It looks like pretty standard general equilibrium/santa fe stuff. > > Dale Tussing wrote: > > > Some progressive friends of mine in the Physics Department here at > > Syracuse passed on to me an inquiry from friends of theirs in Trieste. > > Someone has organized a 4-week course at the International Centre > > for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, under the title "School on the > > Mathematics of Economics," with the course called "A Primer in Economics > > for Physicists and Mathematicians". The school seems to have the > > sponsorship of the International Atomic Energy Agency and UNESCO. > > > > The question the physicists are asking me seems to be, what is the > > political or ideological character of this school? In particular, > > I think they are concerned that the school may have some secret > > purpose, representing conservative or right-wing attitudes. > > > > My reading of the program is that it seems very mainstream. My > > guess is that it is no more and no less right-wing in its assumptions > > and purposes than the center of gravity of most economics today. > > That does not mean that it is innocuous; but it would not appear > > to be especially noxious in comparison with most received economics. > > > > However, I am not sure of that. I know some of the names in their > > list of speakers and lecturers, but I don't know most of them. > > Who ARE those guys? > > > > Can anyone help shed light on this course? What do you think of > > the topics? Do you know the faculty? We all know Kenneth Arrow, > > whose name lends a certain credibility to the whole operation. But > > what about the other people? > > > > Also, does anyone have any insight on why this is happening? Has > > such a course been offered anywhere else? Why economics for > > physicists and mathematicians? > > > > The announcement is copied below. What does anyone think? > > Dale > > > > A. Dale Tussing, Ph.D. > > Professor of Economics > > Syracuse University > > Syracuse, NY 13244 > > Voice: 315-443-2642 Fax: 315-443-3717 > > > > - > > > > SCHOOL ON THE MATHEMATICS OF ECONOMICS > > A Primer in Economics for Physicists and Mathematicians > > > > 31 August - 25 September 1998 > > Miramare - Trieste, Italy > > > > The International Centre for Theoretical Physics will organize a > > school in economics, from 31 August to 25 September 1998. The School will > > be directed by Professors M. Boldrin (Universidad Carlos III, Madrid, > > Spain), A. Mas-Colell (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain) and J.A. > > Scheinkman (University of Chicago, USA). > > > > PURPOSE AND NATURE > > > > This School and Topical Conference mark the beginning of a new programme of > > activities in the field of applied mathematics at ICTP. Our aim is to > > encourage young, qualified Mathematicians and Theoretical Physicists to > > broaden their horizon, learn new subjects and apply the sophisticated tools > > developed in mathematics and theoretical physics to the field of economics. > > > > Three weeks of the School will be devoted to introductory and tutorial > > lectures, where the multidisciplinary nature of the subjects and methods > > will be emphasized. > > > > The Mathematics involved in Economics Theory covers several major areas in > > a state of rapid development, such as Convex Analysis, Topology, General > > and Intertemporal Equilibrium, Game Theory and Dynamic Games, Nash > > Equilibrium. Moreover, some of the to
Re: Griliches & Poverty
Jay Hecht wrote: >Zvi vs a FRB Economist, with Zvi claiming no U-Turn in poverty rates (based on >consumption, not income) and the Fed guy responding that while not as "bad" as >census is reporting, poverty has been trending upward (possibly). Eh? Where'd this happen? Which Fed economist, where? >ZG concludes we have won the war on poverty!!! I've always liked Zvi's >"clever" econometrics - that's why he's at Harvard and I'm underemployed. >However, the contortions, oh, I mean "adjustments" that have to be made (e.g >inflation has been over-stated; the poor obtain many in-kind benefits that >income misses, etc) to argue that poverty is lower than 1973 is quite a leap. ZG told the Boskin Commission that he was "embarrassed for his adopted country" that they were contemplating a devious statistical manipulation to cut pension benefits. But that didn't stop him from lending his sterling name to the cause. More proof that Jim O'Connor is right that economics is a criminal enterprise. Doug
FWD: Palestinian Journalists shot by Israeli Army
I feel a special obligation to forward this to as many people as possible,
since I know the journalists who were shot, especially Na'el, who was shot
in the head and then shot again when he was already on the ground. I have
contacted the Committee to Protect Journalists in the hopes that they will
make a loud public protest. Any other ideas on how to make this as big a
scandal as possible -- or fadiha as they say in Arabic -- are welcome. -bob
naiman
= Original Message from LAW@SMTP {[EMAIL PROTECTED]} at 3/18/98 5:03
pm
>PALESTINIAN JOURNALISTS TARGETED BY ISRAELI ARMY
>
>EIGHT WOUNDED BY RUBBER COATED METAL BULLETS
>
>16 March 1998
>
>On Friday, 13 March, eight Palestinian journalists were shot and
>wounded by the Israeli army while covering clashes between
>Palestinians and the Israeli army in the Old City of Hebron, following
>the fatal shooting of three Palestinian workers at a checkpoint into
>Hebron. Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli soldiers intentionally
>targeted the journalists. The journalists state that they were 20
>meters from the soldiers, and some 200 meters from the demonstrators,
>when they were hit repeatedly by the rubber coated metal bullets.
>
>One journalist, Na'el Shiyouki, a sound technician for Reuters TV, was
>hit four times by the bullets. He was shot once in the head and,
>while down, video footage shows him being hit another two times, in
>the leg and stomach. The journalists say that they shouted, in Hebrew
>and English, that they were journalists and not to shoot. The Israeli
>soldiers continued shooting towards the journalists, and wounded
>another seven journalists, including several trying to aid the
>wounded.
>
>In a separate incident on the same day, photojournalist Khaled Zighari
>and Farid Arazem were also shot and wounded while taking photos of
>paramedics transferring wounded Palestinians.
>
>The Israeli army and illegal Jewish settlers in the Occupied
>Palestinian territories have increasingly targeted Palestinian
>journalists. An estimated number of 45 journalists have been wounded
>since the uprising in September 1996, several of them repeatedly.
>
>LAW expresses its grave concern at the serious deterioration in the
>Occupied Territories and the escalation of violence against
>Palestinian reporters and against Palestinian civilians. Opening fire
>on journalists represents a serious violation on the freedom of the
>press and an unaccepable use of force. LAW sees these recent events
>as further efforts to control or limit coverage of the serious and
>abusive situation on the ground in Hebron and elsewhere in the West
>Bank.
>
>LAW calls on the international community to voice its condemnation of
>this violence against Palestinian journalists and to call on the
>Israeli government to ensure the safety of journalists working in the
>West Bank. The Israeli army must end its practice of indiscriminate
>shooting of civilians and journalists, which has resulted in serious
>injury and in the death of one 13 year old boy and three workers in
>the past week. Write or fax the following to express your
>condemnation of these actions, and in support of the valuable coverage
>of Palestinian journalists in this area: Israeli Prime Minister
>Netanyahu (972) (2) 566 4838, Minister of Foreign Affairs David Levy
>(972) (2) 530 3506, Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai (972) (3) 691
>6940. Electronic mail to: Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED], the Office of the Prime Minister: [EMAIL PROTECTED],
>the Israeli Government Press Office: [EMAIL PROTECTED], and the Ministry
>of Foreign Affairs: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>_
> LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and
>the Environment is a non-governmental organization, dedicated to
>preserving human rights through legal advocacy. LAW is also an
>affiliate member of the Paris-based International Federation for
>Human Rights.
>
>LAW - the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights
>and the Environment
>PO Box 20873
>Jerusalem, via Israel
>Tel: (972) (2) 5812364/5824559
>Fax: (972) (2) 5811072
>email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>web site: http://www.lawsociety.org/
Re: PPP and QLI
>I was referring to the fact that the actual exchange rates fluctuate a lot; >the PPP exchange rates wash out a lot of the noise. Maybe a simple weighted >average of all the actual exchange rates would do better. > >>But that is because of the non-marketed component. > >Right. > >in pen-l solidarity, > >Jim Devine I have stayed out of this discussion because it has tended to be a bit technical, but it does occur to me that one of the liabilities of abstracting out "performance" criteria in the standard manner of professional economists is that they are completely inadequate to understanding questions of social justice. When Michael Perelman raised the original question of what US capitalism was doing "right", I interepreted the word ironically although I am not sure he meant it in this manner. To really get a handle on the questions that matter, it seems that a more systematic approach is required, one that very possibly falls outside the boundaries of the professional economics discipline. For example, do economics departments take up the question of income distribution, or is that a matter for "sociology"? In a sense, doesn't dividing the university into political science, economics and sociology "disciplines" make it difficult to answer these questions? By segmenting our understanding of society, it is easier to obfuscate the real problems. GDP certainly seems like a dubious measurement in itself. After all, the period of the steepest growth in recent Central American history was the 1970s when El Salvador and Nicaragua were being turned into cattle ranches to satisfy the beef market in a rapidly expanding fast-food industry. These "optimistic" figures disguised the misery of peasants who were being driven off their land and who streamed into Managua or San Salvador to scrape by as peddlers. The other problem with standard measurements of economic performance is that they fail to get to the heart of the system, which is of a cyclical nature. In the 1960s, Brazil was the country that bourgeois economist pointed to as the next entrant into the advanced capitalist ranks. It was the South Korea of its day. And it was true that Brazil was making great leaps in steel production, etc. However, the debt crisis of the 1970s wiped out many of these gains, just as is taking place in South Korea now. Louis Proyect
CONFERENCE (Binghamton): Work, Difference and Social Change
All, First, apologies for multiple postings. This is the program/author list for the Conference on Work, Difference and Social Change, to be held at SUNY-Binghamton May 8-10, 1998. There may be some last minute changes, but all the listed panels and panelists have been confirmed as of this posting. The flood of papers and registrations is gratifying but we now face some logistical problems, mostly around catering and preparing the conference Proceedings. Both the caterer and the printer have rejected the Just-in-Time production model. As a result, registrations received after May 1, including those made on-site, will not include lunches or the conference Proceedings, although we will have to charge the normal fees. Late registrants will be able to order the Proceedings for a supplemental charge. Unfortunately, the only (uncatered) food on campus that week-end will be in the usual assortment of vending machines. There is a Denny's nearby More information, including travel directions, suggestions for international visitors, and a printable registration form, can be found on our webpages: http://sociology.adm.binghamton.edu/work Or you can contact us at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or +1-607-777-6844 Hope to see you in May! For the conference committee, Phil Kraft Work, Difference and Social Change May 8-10, 1998 State University at New York at Binghamton Preliminary Program NOTE: Panels and participants have been confirmed as of March 18, 1998. The program, participants, times and locations are subject to change. Friday May 8, 1998 5-8 PM Registration and Reception Susquehanna Room, University Union (Registration continues all day Saturday, May 9, in front of Lecture Hall 14) Saturday May 9, 1998 8:30-9:00 AM Lecture Hall 14 in Lecture Hall Complex Welcoming Remarks James Geschwender 9-10:30 AM Lecture Hall 14 in Lecture Hall Complex Plenary Session "Twenty Five Years after _Labor and Monopoly Capital_", Harry Magdoff, Paul Sweezy and Ellen Meiksens Wood Moderator: Phil Kraft 10:30-10:45 Coffee 10:45 AM-12:15 PM Panel Meetings Session 1 Lecture Hall 14 Lecture Hall Complex Technology, Work Organization and the Globalization of Production David Noble, "And Then They Came for Us: The Automation of Higher Education" Sean O'Riain, "Networking for a Living: Irish Software Developers in the Global Workplace" Richard Sharpe, "Globalization: The Next Tactic in the 50-year Struggle of Labour and Capital in Software Production" Moderator: Charles Koeber Session 2 Student Wing Room 331 Gendered Work and Gendered Time Pei-Chia Lan, "'Bodily Labor' in Contemporary Service Jobs: Cosmetics Retailers in Department Stores and Direct Selling" Angelo Soares, "Silent Rebellions in the Capitalist Paradise: A Brazil-Quebec Comparison" Daniel Villeneuve and Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay, "Working Time and Gender Differences: Restructuring Work to Reconcile Family and Work?" Moderator: Carol Jansen 12:15-1:15 PM Lunch Susquehanna Room, University Union Luncheon Roundtable with Seymour Faber and Martin Glaberman (Signup at registration) 1:30-3:00 PM Panel Meetings Session 3 Student Wing Room 331 Strategies of Control Sheila Cohen, "Ramparts of Resistance: Rank and File Unionism and the Labor Process" Richard Reeves Ellington, "Leveraging Local Knowledge for Empowerment in Global Markets: A Bulgarian Case" Duane P. Truex and Ojelanki K. Ngwenyama, "Unpacking the Ideology of Post-Industrial Team-Based Management: Self-governing Teams as Structures of Social Control of IT Workers" Peter Whalley and Peter Meiksins, "Controlling Technical Workers in Alternative Work Arrangements: Rethinking the Work Contract" Moderator: Fred Goldner Session 4 Student Wing Room 327 "Marginal Work, Marginalized Workers Teresa Gowan, "Excavating 'Globalization from Street Level, or Homelessness, from Science to Ideology" Helge Hvid, "Work for Welfare: A Presentation of the Strategy of 'The Developmental Work'" John Krinsky, "Work, Workfare, and Contention in New York City: Recombinant Repertoires and Multiple Accounts of Worker Identity and the Opposition to Workfare" Moderator: Phoebe Godfrey Session 5: Lecture Hall 14 Lecture Hall Complex Globalization, Work and Class Elly Leary, "Making them Content with Subordination: the Truth about Labor Management Cooperation in the Automobile Industry" James Rinehart, "Transcending Taylorism and Fordism? Two Decades of Work Restructuring" Luc Sels, "The New Division of Labor and the Death of Class" Chris Smith and Paul Thompson, "Beyond the Capitalist Labour Process: Workplace Change, the State and Globalisation" Moderator: Muto Ichiyo 3-3:15 Coffee Hospitality Room, Third Floor, Student Wing 3:15-4:45 PM Panel Meetings Session 6 Student Wing Room 331 Ideologies of Control Kenneth Ehrensal, "Manufacturing Managers: Education and Consent in the Managerial Class" Jeffrey Haydu, "Employer Class Formation and the Labor Process: 'The Business Community' and Management
More Jobs
Below is a job listing for four new positions here at the National University of Ireland, Galway in addition to the one I posted earlier. The jobs are two year contract positions, but may become permanent eventually. They are located at a new "branch campus" type program in Sligo. The program is interdisciplinary and anyone hired will have a big role in determining the content of the degree and administering the program. The department is heterodox friendly, without being a heterodox department. Official literature on the post may give you the impression you have to be able to speak Irish. This is NOT the case. Anyone who wishes can contact me informally. More formal contacts are listed in the posting below. Terry McDonough Dept. of Economics NUI, Galway Galway Ireland Work 353-91-524411 ext. 3164 Home 353-91-555706 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Contract Position in Political Science & Sociology and Economics In connection with the BA in Economic and Social Studies at St. Angela's College, Sligo, applications are invited for the following two-year contract positions commencing in July 1998. One post in Politics; one post in Sociology and two posts in Economics. For informal discussion for the posts in Sociology & Politics, contact: Professor Chris Curtin Dept. of Political Science and Sociology National University of Ireland, Galway Tel. 353-91-524411, Ext. 2355. and for the posts in Economics, contact: Mr. Gerry Turley Dept. of Economics National University of Ireland, Galway. Tel. 353-91-524411, Ext.3095. The closing date for receipt of applications is Friday, April 24th 1998. For further information, contact: The Personnel Office National University of Ireland Galway Ireland
Re: Pie in the Sky
One of my favorite stocks of the time was McKesson Robbins, which was run by a con man, Charles Musica, who had a special office in Canada to create false involces so that auditors would add to the value of his company. As I recall, the company fell apart when Life Magazine recommended him as a presidential candidate, creating a bit more scrutiny in the company. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: ECONOMICS FOR PHYSICISTS AND MATHEMATICIANS
>The question the physicists are asking me seems to be, what is the >political or ideological character of this school? I don't think that there is any _inherent_ political bias in mathematical economics. After all, there are Marxist mathematical economists and they're not all Roemerians. The only problem is that there's a temptation for mathematical economists to reify their models, i.e., treat these metaphors or mind-pictures (a.k.a. models) as actually being empirical reality or part of empirical reality. (Gerard Debreu speaks of his models as "economies," or at least he used to.) Mathematics by its very nature tends to idealize, abstract, and simplify the subject-matter being described in order to make it more logically consistent. This can open the door to judging the real world as being merely an imperfect reflection of the model, a distorted shadow on the cave wall whereas the "true" reality is the unseen forms that are understood so well by the would-be philosopher kings. The perceived "true" reality is often the Walrasian general equilibrium model (which is so beautiful it must be real). The next step down this path is to try to force the imperfect world to fit the assumptions of the model, as with IMF/World Bank/Chicago Boys policies. This path need not be followed. It can be resisted -- by seeing mathematical metaphors as complements to (rather than substitutes for) empirical/institutional/historical investigation. It should be resisted -- by rejecting the economics profession's irrational worship of mathematical technique over substantive knowledge. in pen-l solidarity, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://clawww.lmu.edu/1997F/ECON/jdevine.html "As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; as far as they are certain, they really do not refer to reality." -- Albert Einstein.
[Fwd: Book Review - Workers in a Lean Wor
Thanks for posting this, Michael. I'll spread it around.
Re: PPP and PQLI
At 12:20 PM 3/18/98 -0800, Paul Altesman wrote: >You identify GDP measures with exchange value and HDI (PQLI) with use value. >I think this captures the spirit of the distinction, but is not actually >correct. ... I was talking about the spirit of the distinction, not the actual success in measuring use-value. Strictly speaking, use-value _can't_ be measured or aggregated (though efforts in this direction are interesting and provide some weight in the argument against the GDP worshippers). This is true whether we're talking about social use-value or individual use-value. But thanks for the details. in pen-l solidarity, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://clawww.lmu.edu/1997F/ECON/jdevine.html "As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; as far as they are certain, they really do not refer to reality." -- Albert Einstein.
Class Struggles in the Information Age
I have mentioned a few times that my book is about to appear. I just got my copies, so I assume that it is out or will be out in a few days. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 916-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
What went right -- once again
Louis Proyect said that he thought that I was being ironic with my original question. I was, but only to an extent. The economy looks so good from the top. The stock market is soaring. Business is in command. Even labor is doing a bit better in some ways. I don't think that this situation will last, but I never would have predicted that the economy would have been doing this well, this long [from the perspective of those on top]. We Marxists [even Chico Marxists] tend to see impending crises everywhere all the time. Maybe as Rob S. said, E. Asia is the thin wedge. Maybe not. Why have the capitalists succeeded? Some answered the redistribution of income and the defeat of labor [which I suspect is not unrelated to the fall of the USSR]. I also think of the opening of E. Europe, China, etc. to capitalism. I suspect that more is involved. I don't think that it will take much to prick the bubble, but still the economy has been more resiliant than I had expected. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 916-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[Fwd: Book Review - Workers in a Lean World (fwd)]
Sid Shniad wrote:
> Forwarded message:
> >From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Wed Mar 18 22:27:35 1998
> X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Message-Id:
> Mime-Version: 1.0
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> Date: Wed, 18 Mar 1998 21:31:08 -0700
> To: (Recipient list suppressed)
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (David Bacon)
> Subject: Book Review - Workers in a Lean World
>
> WORKERS IN A LEAN WORLD
> Book review by David Bacon
> 2/24/98
>
> This fall Italy's Party of the Democratic Left (PDS), which leads
> the country's new government of ex-Communists, fought it out with
> their former comrades in the Refounded (Rifondazione) Communist Party. The
> PDS proposed cutting social benefits, and resisted measures to reduce high
> unemployment. The party equates Italy's survival with membership in the
> new European economic order, and has few qualms at making the sacrifices
> demanded to gain entry. While the votes of Rifondazione deputies keep the
> government in power, they refuse to join it, condemning PDS efforts to get
> Italian workers to swallow the bitter medicine of austerity.
> These glaring fractures in Italy's left reflect growing divisions
> throughout working-class movements in Europe and beyond. "There is no
> Communist movement internationally anymore," says Ramon Mantovani,
> Rifondazione's international affairs director. "There are two lefts in
> Europe now. One accepts globalization, and wants to direct it. The other
> wants to leave that system, by reform or other means."
> This new division of the left is one of the most important
> distinguishing political characteristics of our time, and will grow deeper
> and more permanent.
> Kim Moody's new "Workers in a Lean World," speaks directly to the
> way in which neoliberalism and globalization have contributed to this
> fracturing of the left. He analyzes and traces the roots of the current
> division, assesses its impact on workers, and, most important, sees the
> beginnings of new working-class movements in response.
> Most books about globalization these days are pretty depressing,
> concentrating on the growing reach and integration of transnational
> corporations, and their ability to bend political and economic policy
> everywhere to the ends of greater profit. While many writers see clearly
> the cost in human lives, most don't really believe workers can do much
> about it. Socialism is dead, after all. Ameliorating the worst effects
> of capitalism gone mad is about the best we can hope for. Workers come off
> as victims, sometimes able to win small improvements, but powerless to
> challenge the nature of the system.
> Moody is an optimist, but a realistic one. He spends the first
> half of his book analyzing the growth in productivity and power of
> transnational corporations, in particular the development of lean
> production systems. Not only are workers increasingly connected across
> borders by the international production lines on which they work, but they
> are subjected to the same management methods for boosting productivity
> and controlling the workplace. Team concept and total quality
> management are causing crises in unions around the world, as they coopt
> and weaken them.
> But Moody believes that the basic problem of workers confronting
> the global economy is political, not economic. It's in second half of the
> book - its look at the politics of working-class internationalism - where
> Moody makes this basic point ignored by most progressive analysts. No real
> challenge to the power of the transnationals is possible, he says, without
> solving the political problems of workers' own movement.
> In Moody's analysis, social democracy is failing workers, making
> its third historic retreat. Whether it is the British Labor Party
> declining to reverse the privatizations and anti-union legislation of
> Maggie Thatcher, or Bill Clinton's campaign for NAFTA's adoption where
> Republicans could never have succeeded, the political parties built by
> working-class votes are abandoning workers by the millions to the mercies
> of the free market.
> Social democracy made its first strategic concession to capital in
> the pre-World War One era of Eduard Bernstein, the theoretician of
> Germany's powerful Social Democratic Party. Bernstein argued that
> socialism could be achieved through gradual reforms rather than revolution.
>
> Social democracy's second concession came in the decades after
> World War Two, when it gave up on state ownership of industry as the basis
> for socialism. Moody quotes the late William ("Wimpy") Winpisinger,
> president of the U.S.' International Association of Machinists, who had the
> guts to call himself a socialist in the era of labor's cold war. But
> Winpisinger's socialism was more akin to humanizing capitalism - "I'm for
> the kind of socialism that makes capitalism work," he argued
>
Re: ECONOMICS FOR PHYSICISTS AND MATHEMATICIANS
It looks like pretty standard general equilibrium/santa fe stuff. Dale Tussing wrote: > Some progressive friends of mine in the Physics Department here at > Syracuse passed on to me an inquiry from friends of theirs in Trieste. > Someone has organized a 4-week course at the International Centre > for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, under the title "School on the > Mathematics of Economics," with the course called "A Primer in Economics > for Physicists and Mathematicians". The school seems to have the > sponsorship of the International Atomic Energy Agency and UNESCO. > > The question the physicists are asking me seems to be, what is the > political or ideological character of this school? In particular, > I think they are concerned that the school may have some secret > purpose, representing conservative or right-wing attitudes. > > My reading of the program is that it seems very mainstream. My > guess is that it is no more and no less right-wing in its assumptions > and purposes than the center of gravity of most economics today. > That does not mean that it is innocuous; but it would not appear > to be especially noxious in comparison with most received economics. > > However, I am not sure of that. I know some of the names in their > list of speakers and lecturers, but I don't know most of them. > Who ARE those guys? > > Can anyone help shed light on this course? What do you think of > the topics? Do you know the faculty? We all know Kenneth Arrow, > whose name lends a certain credibility to the whole operation. But > what about the other people? > > Also, does anyone have any insight on why this is happening? Has > such a course been offered anywhere else? Why economics for > physicists and mathematicians? > > The announcement is copied below. What does anyone think? > Dale > > A. Dale Tussing, Ph.D. > Professor of Economics > Syracuse University > Syracuse, NY 13244 > Voice: 315-443-2642 Fax: 315-443-3717 > > - > > SCHOOL ON THE MATHEMATICS OF ECONOMICS > A Primer in Economics for Physicists and Mathematicians > > 31 August - 25 September 1998 > Miramare - Trieste, Italy > > The International Centre for Theoretical Physics will organize a > school in economics, from 31 August to 25 September 1998. The School will > be directed by Professors M. Boldrin (Universidad Carlos III, Madrid, > Spain), A. Mas-Colell (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain) and J.A. > Scheinkman (University of Chicago, USA). > > PURPOSE AND NATURE > > This School and Topical Conference mark the beginning of a new programme of > activities in the field of applied mathematics at ICTP. Our aim is to > encourage young, qualified Mathematicians and Theoretical Physicists to > broaden their horizon, learn new subjects and apply the sophisticated tools > developed in mathematics and theoretical physics to the field of economics. > > Three weeks of the School will be devoted to introductory and tutorial > lectures, where the multidisciplinary nature of the subjects and methods > will be emphasized. > > The Mathematics involved in Economics Theory covers several major areas in > a state of rapid development, such as Convex Analysis, Topology, General > and Intertemporal Equilibrium, Game Theory and Dynamic Games, Nash > Equilibrium. Moreover, some of the tools of theoretical physics also > appear to be of potential interest in economical modelling (specifically > Statistical Physics of Interacting Systems and Interacting Agents Models). > > One week will be devoted to a Topical Conference on the subject Interacting > Agents and Economic Equilibrium. This is a subject in which some ideas > that originate from Statistical Physics are expected to play an important > role. > During the first or second week, Kenneth J. Arrow, Nobel Prize in > Economics, will give two lectures on Economics of Public Goods. > > List of topics > > Choice Under Uncertainty > Equilibrium in Production Economics > Intertemporal Equilibrium > Equilibrium Under Uncertainty > Strategic Behaviour and Game Theory > Implications of No-Arbitrage and Financial Markets > Economics of Public Goods > > Invited speakers and lecturers will include: A. Araujo (IMPA, > Brazil), K. J. Arrow (Stanford University, USA), L. Blume (Cornell > University and Santa Fe Institute, USA), P. A. Chiappori (University of > Chicago, USA), M. Dewatripont (ECARE, Université Libre de Bruxelles, > Belgium), I. Ekeland (Université de Paris IX, France), P. Gottardi, > (Università di Venezia, Italy), M. Pascoa (Universidade Nova de Lisboa, > Portugal), W. Pesendorfer (Northwestern University, USA), P. Reichlin > (Università di Napoli "Federico II", Italy), A. Rustichini (C.O.R.E., > Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium), M. Santos (Universidad Ca
