Re: [PEN-L] "human wants unlimited" question

non-satiation is one of the von Neumann/ Morgenstern axioms.  You need it in order to derive most of the fixed-point theorems that underpin utility theory, which matters more to people who think (unlike me but like a lot of college professors) that utility theory is really important to neocla

Re: [PEN-L] uncertainty and incomplete information

--- Gassler Robert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I believe Anthony Giddins has something to say about > natural uncertainty vs the uncertainty created by > society: unemployment, for example. > Thanks for this, I'll try to find this material. __ Do

Re: [PEN-L] uncertainty and incomplete information

--- Autoplectic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Non-omniscience and an inability to experience 'the' > future are > irreducible features of human existence; they are > not simply > historical-sociological curiosities. I didn't mean to imply otherwise. > Socialism > cannot bring > omniscience it c

Re: [PEN-L] Wall Street worries about swaps

Daniel Davies: this is a hell of a problem and it is agonisingly slow work, but the apocalyptic crises predictions are off base; LTCM actually taught us that in a genuine crisis, people act like grownups and respect the basic principle of the "banker's right of netting" even when the actual lega

Re: [PEN-L] uncertainty and incomplete information

On 2/17/06, Michael Nuwer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > --- Autoplectic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Non-omniscience and an inability to experience 'the' > > future are > > irreducible features of human existence; they are > > not simply > > historical-sociological curiosities. > > I didn't me

[PEN-L] "human wants unlimited" question

Autoplectic: although methinks the finitists are winning. ^^ CB: As that capitalist playing at philosophy said, things have a beginning , middle and END. Without the > qualification, it's a dingbat perpetual motion machine. -- Oh it's a dingbat

Re: [PEN-L] "human wants unlimited" question

On 2/17/06, Charles Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Autoplectic: > although methinks > the finitists are winning. > > ^^ > CB: As that capitalist playing at philosophy said, things have a beginning , > middle and END. --- What's the last number of pi?

Re: [PEN-L] Prediction

FWIW, oil prices tumbled circa 1986. The MF might also be somewhat right in real terms. But he's never studied the issue, so it's hard to imagine that he'd be very right. On 2/16/06, Sandwichman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > "…in order to keep prices up the Arabs would have to curtail their output

Re: [PEN-L] "human wants unlimited" question

On 2/17/06, Daniel Davies <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > non-satiation is one of the von Neumann/ Morgenstern axioms. You need it in > order to derive most of the fixed-point theorems that underpin utility > theory, which matters more to people who think (unlike me but like a lot of > college profes

Re: [PEN-L] "human wants unlimited" question

it's the same as the first number of pi - pi is only one number :-) --- What's the last number of pi? :-)

Re: [PEN-L] Wall Street worries about swaps

Apocalyptic predictions are for the religious, including those of left-wing faith, but you're not suggesting the opposite - that uncontrollable financial crises are no longer possible - are you? --- Crises are possible, but not this specific

Re: [PEN-L] "human wants unlimited" question

Daniel Davies wrote: non-satiation is one of the von Neumann/ Morgenstern axioms. You need it in order to derive most of the fixed-point theorems that underpin utility theory, which matters more to people who think (unlike me but like a lot of college professors) that utility theory is really i

[PEN-L] Query

Cliopatria is a multi-author history blog tilted to the center-right. Yesterday, in response to the latest complaint by Robert KC Johnson, a Brooklyn College professor who posts frequently about the lack of rightwing representation in the academy, I posted a link to the Columbia Spectator article

[PEN-L] Bill Maher speaks

"... the National Security Agency has no political opinions, remains invisible, and only does what the president tells it to do. No, that's the Democrats." "We are a nation of exhibitionists from me to shining me..." -- Bill Maher, LA TIMES op-ed, 2/17/06 -- Jim Devine / Bust Big Brother Bush! "

Re: [PEN-L] Query

On 2/17/06, Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Now, obviously this is bullshit but I wonder when neoclassicism became so > entrenched.< after WWII, the 1950s, with the extent of entrenchment increasing over time. > Was this the way that economics was taught in the 1930s and 40s? < no.

Re: [PEN-L] "human wants unlimited" question

The best teacher I ever had was Michael G. Hadjimichalakis at the otherwise right-wing doctoral program at the University of Washington. Very neoclassical, taught general equilibrium analysis. The best critiques of neoclassical theory I ever heard were the caveats and limitations he described in

Re: [PEN-L] "human wants unlimited" question

At around 17/2/06 9:47 am, Daniel Davies wrote: > it's the same as the first number of pi - pi is only one number :-) > > --- > > What's the last number of pi? > Depends on whether you believe in irrational numbers (especially the transcendental ones), I guess, given the retro-

[PEN-L] Housing

http://www.nyobserver.com/20060220/20060220_Michael_Calderone_pageone_featurebox.asp New Townhouse Standard: $20M What’s the Matter, Buddy? Don’t You Have the Scratch? By Michael Calderone Even in the Upper East Side real-estate market, where already-astronomical prices continue to climb each y

Re: [PEN-L] "human wants unlimited" question

dd wrote: > non-satiation is one of the von Neumann/ Morgenstern axioms. > You need it in order to derive most of the fixed-point theorems > that underpin utility theory, which matters more to people who > think (unlike me but like a lot of college professors) that > utility theory is really impor

Re: [PEN-L] "human wants unlimited" question

--- Sandwichman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > In correspondence with a right-wing libertarian, he > mentioned that he would defend 'til the cows come > home the proposition that "human wants and desires > are unlimited." > > I corrected him, pointing out that wants and > desires could only be

Re: [PEN-L] uncertainty and incomplete information

Two kinds of uncertainty in respect to any human act: 1. Will the agent be able to complete the act successfully? E.g., will the fruit farmer in southwestern michigan in 1939 be able to achieve a large strawberry crop? Will the climber reach the top of the mountain? 2. Will successful completion

Re: [PEN-L] Query

On 2/17/06, Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I wonder when neoclassicism became so entrenched. Was this > the way that economics was taught in the 1930s and 40s? > Were Marxists fired in the 1950s. Harry Magdoff discussed what he felt the situation at Harvard was like after World War II

Re: [PEN-L] "human wants unlimited" question

On 2/17/06, ravi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > What's the last [digit] of pi? > > > Depends on whether you believe in irrational numbers (especially the > transcendental ones), < since economists believe in the rationality of consumers, maybe we should reject irrational numbers, too. -- Jim De

Re: [PEN-L] "human wants unlimited" question

On 2/17/06, Robert Scott Gassler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The best teacher I ever had was Michael G. Hadjimichalakis ... Very > neoclassical, taught general equilibrium analysis. The best critiques of > neoclassical theory I ever heard were the caveats and limitations he > described in cla

Re: [PEN-L] uncertainty and incomplete information

At 14:51 14/02/2006, Michael Nuwer had some nice things to say about a comment I made about uncertainty in an atomistic world vs a world in which social institutions are being created to facilitate the exchange of information. There's been quite a bit of discussion since (which I've avoided while

Re: [PEN-L] uncertainty and incomplete information

Carrol Cox wrote: Two kinds of uncertainty in respect to any human act: "By 'uncertain' knowledge, let me explain, I do not mean merely to distinguish what is known for certain from what is only probable. The game of roulette is not subject, in this sense, to uncertainty; nor is the prospect o

[PEN-L] animal farm

Political scientists, I am told, often deplore the fact that in the US, the job of being head of government is unified with that of head of state, unlike in (say) England, where the prime minister's job is quite different from that of the Queen, or France and many other countries where the premier

Re: [PEN-L] Query

--- Jim Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > at UC-Berkeley, several were, because they refused > to sign the loyalty > oath (some of these ended up at the U of Utah). I > don't know much > about other places. Doug Dowd was one of those Berkeley grad students, he went to Cornell. Another was Mar

Re: [PEN-L] animal farm

On Friday, February 17, 2006 at 08:48:56 (-0800) Jim Devine writes: >Political scientists, I am told, often deplore the fact that in the >US, the job of being head of government is unified with that of head >of state, unlike in (say) England, where the prime minister's job is >quite different from

Re: [PEN-L] Query

On 2/17/06, Michael Nuwer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > --- Jim Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > at UC-Berkeley, several were, because they refused > > to sign the loyalty > > oath (some of these ended up at the U of Utah). I > > don't know much > > about other places. being a big fan of

Re: [PEN-L] animal farm

On 2/17/06, Bill Lear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The HOG wasn't so clear in the Reagan era, but Reagan functioned essentially > as the Queen.< I knew he was an actor, but a cross-dresser? -- Jim Devine / Bust Big Brother Bush! "There are no whole truths; all truths are half-truths. It is tryin

Re: [PEN-L] Query

--- Jim Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On 2/17/06, Michael Nuwer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- Jim Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > > > at UC-Berkeley, several were, because they > refused > > > to sign the loyalty > > > oath (some of these ended up at the U of Utah). > I >

[PEN-L] Amazon

February 17, 2006/New York TIMES Amazon Will Take On iPod With Its Own Music Player By SAUL HANSELL Amazon.com is preparing to take on Apple Computer in digital music by introducing its own portable music player that would be linked to an online music service, according to several music industry

Re: [PEN-L] "human wants unlimited" (next) question

Michael Nuwer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I am surprised that a libertarian takes this viewMaybe I should have said _self-styled_ libertarian. I think I now have the answer to my original question. But that leads me to a second question (below).First, I'll just add something I came across

Re: [PEN-L] Amazon

At around 17/2/06 12:49 pm, Jim Devine wrote: > > --- > what a raw deal! it's like subscribing to a magazine, where if you > stop subscribing, they come to your house and take the old copies > away. > That sounds like a good deal, actually! I have at least a 1000 rotting magazines in the basement.

Re: [PEN-L] animal farm

>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 02/17/06 11:48 AM >>> Political scientists, I am told, often deplore the fact that in the US, the job of being head of government is unified with that of head of state, unlike in (say) England, where the prime minister's job is quite different from that of the Queen, or France

Re: [PEN-L] "human wants unlimited" question

I really dont understand alll that is going on in this discussion since I am not an economist. But here are a couple of points:     1) Even if the assumption is true that there are unlimited human wants it does not seem to follow that one would have the slighest interest in satisfying the most tha

Re: [PEN-L] Query

That prompted a rightwinger to state that there is anunderrepresentation of Marxists in the economics departments because it isa discredited dogma.But surely neo-classical economics is also widely discredited and dogmatic yet it is dominant in economics departments. You should have explained why th

[PEN-L] Balochistan: learning from 1971

Daily Times http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp Thursday, February 16, 2006 VIEW:Balochistan: learning from 1971 -Dr Ayesha Siddiqa http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\02\16\story_16-2-2006_pg3_2 The army's calculation, perhaps, is that the resistance will die its own death.

[PEN-L] China's climb up the value chain???

I have been largely off-line preparing for a trip out of the country. I am a lousy traveller & have never gone so far before. Anyway, I could not resist this material. Again, I would love to see the China team jump in again. Bradsher, Keith. 2006. "China Seeking Auto Industry, Piece by Pie

Re: [PEN-L] China's climb up the value chain???

I am not part of the China team, wish I were! This dismantling of plants is specialized by both India and China because of the need to purchase cheap, sometimes obsolete technology, and labor is cheap. NYT does not ask the question (I presume) why BMW wants to sell the Brazilian plant. Is BMW no

[PEN-L] Human rights in the Middle East

This from a practioner of human rights in the middle east:   "every time new pictures of americans torturing Arabs come out, people go out into the streets brandishing the holy book (Koran) and any achievments we had made in human rights are set back for years." Yahoo! Mail Use P