Re: [PEN-L] PEN-L Digest - 23 May 2007 to 24 May 2007 (#2007-147)

I like Christopher Hayes' reference to the Mafia's code of omertà in the discipline (is such silence a club(sic) form of asymmetric information or just group-think?), although I think in the context of Freakonomics, that any academic discipline especially in the context of the tenure-promotion

[PEN-L] How the Democratic Senators voted

37 Democratic Senators voting for war funding: Lincoln (AR) Pryor (AR) Feinstein (CA) Salazar

Re: [PEN-L] How the Democratic Senators voted

If only the 9/11 conspiracists would focus their energies on discovering how the DP leadership worked out who got to vote against who had to vote for it. ;- Louis Proyect wrote: 10 Democratic Senators voting against war funding: Boxer

[PEN-L] The great Himalayan meltdown

The Hindu http://www.thehindu.com/ Tuesday, Apr 10, 2007 Opinion The great Himalayan meltdown http://www.hindu.com/2007/04/10/stories/2007041001520900.htm N. Gopal Raj Glaciers that feed the seven great rivers of Asia - Ganga, Indus, Brahmaputra, Salween, Mekong, Yangtze, and Huang Ho - are

[PEN-L] Eonomic mobility in USA is downward

May 25th Wall St. Journal tells of a new Report on economic mobility in the USA. The news isn't good. May 25, 2007 Not Your Father's Pay: Why Wages Today Are Weaker By GREG IP May 25, 2007; Page A2 American men in their 30s today are worse off than their fathers' generation, a

[PEN-L] Australian Contingent Joins The March Of The Million-Dollar Suburbs

SMH March of the million-dollar suburbs Matt Wade Economics Writer May 26, 2007 THERE are now 42 Sydney suburbs with a median house price over $1 million, more than when the city-wide property boom peaked 3 years ago. Prices in most suburbs are still below 2004 levels, but soaring share prices,

[PEN-L] Consumer Behavior and Tipping

One of my students wrote a very interesting paper about his experience working in a music venue. When the owners raised the price, demand remained constant, but tips fell, leaving customers out of pocket costs relatively constant. I'm putting his paper on my blog. -- Michael Perelman

Re: [PEN-L] Consumer Behavior and Tipping

I'll get a print leave it around the shop. Subversion 24/7/365... that's my motto... that's what I do... I suspect some environmental factors. The shop I work at has about 60 percent repeat business (off the top of my head), and at least 30% of the customer base is daily regulars. I suspect

[PEN-L] Tribune: Strip and Flip Slips?

The financial markets did not seem particularly excited about the prospects for the Tribune. Here is the story. It looks like most of its cash flow will have to go for interest. Ng, Serena, Sarah Ellison and Dennis K. Berman. 2007. Tribune Co.'s Climb to Going Private Gets Steeper. Wall Street

[PEN-L] What Marx meant by primitive accumulation

I plan to blog thousands of words over the summer about the transition debate, which involves principals including Paul Sweezy, Maurice Dobb, Robert Brenner, Jim Blaut et al but just want to jump the gun on something that is fresh in my mind. Richard, of Lenin's Tomb fame, has been posting

Re: [PEN-L] Consumer Behavior and Tipping

Speaking of tipping, the mythology in the US is that it makes servers nicer. Comparing US with Belgium supports it. OTOH, the nicest servers we've met were in Finland, where the tip is included in the bill just like Belgium. I'll get a print leave it around the shop. Subversion 24/7/365...

Re: [PEN-L] What Marx meant by primitive accumulation

At 21:04 25/05/2007, Louis wrote: Keep in mind that Engels's schema in Origins of the Family defines capitalism as immediately following feudalism. He didn't come up with these stages on his own. They were shared by Marx. Was 16th and 17th century Holland feudal? If so, then the word has no use

[PEN-L] From Nitzan Bichler: The Gods Failed, The Priests Lied (in Hebrew)

Nitzan, Jonathan, and Shimshon Bichler. 2007. The Gods Failed, the Priests Lied. (האלים הכזיבו, הכוה� ים כיזבו) Hebrew. Montreal and Jerusalem (May), pp. 1-10. ABSTRACT העולם של היום הוא עולם קפיטליסטי. יתר על כן, הוא עולם של קפיטליזם יציב. המשטר הקפיטליסטי � יצח והסדר הקפיטליסטי הושלט בכל מקום

Re: [PEN-L] What Marx meant by primitive accumulation

But Brenner's and Wood's definition of capitalism is not the competition among commodity producers. Brenner's definition is the separation of the conditions of labor, and the laborer, from the means of labor and, initially, critically, the means of subsistence. It is a definition based on

Re: [PEN-L] What Marx meant by primitive accumulation

And just to make sure no call goes without a response-- my reply to LP's blog: Note that Marx says: England at the end of the 17th century, they arrive at a systematical combination, embracing the colonies, the national debt, the modern mode of taxation, and the protectionist system. They

Re: [PEN-L] Consumer Behavior and Tipping

I had a chance to compare the service in Santa Cruz California, where I've resided for the last 30 years to Asheville NC and what I noticed is even though the min wage in NC is much lower than CA, the people who served me were much happier to do that that than the CA servers. I suspect that the

[PEN-L] Ugly - Cheney/Israel backdoor deal to bomb natanz, undermine Condi Rice Iran talks

... ... Cheney and his staff are colluding with the Neoconservatives at the American Enterprise Institute and with Israeli hawks to sideline Condi Rice's negotiations with Iran by getting up an Israeli cruise missile strike on Iranian civilian nuclear research facilities at Natanz, in hopes that

Re: [PEN-L] What Marx meant by primitive accumulation

What systems could not do that? The sysems that in fact had failed to establish such capitalist relations internally, in its domestic market, in agriculture. Like Spain. Actually, Brenner had cited 15th century Catalonia in his first Past and Present article as one of the few examples of a