[PEN-L:6875] reform or revolution? revisited

["Alex Izurieta" <izurieta@xxxxxx>]

> From:          Blair Sandler <blairs@xxxxxxx>
> Subject:       [PEN-L:6867] reform or revolution? revisited

> Suppose one is teaching intro econ to "typical" (?) university students,
> which means mainstream range of conservative, and some liberal ideas,
> including many who will either in school or later go into "business."
>
> Do you (I'm asking for your personal opinions here) teach that corporations
> *must* e.g. open non-union shops, invest abroad where labor is cheaper,
> skimp on quality, etc.,
; or
> do you teach that unions can increase productivity; "environmentally
> friendly commodities" can be profitable, and the like,
.................

The question (which, remarkably, as one would expect from a 'well
trained economist', is starting with the known "suppose...") bring us
to an always necessary point of reflection.

To put forward  *my personal view* briefly, I think that an introductory
course is the great opportunity to emphasize, from various angles,
the obvious 'contradictions' between Micro, Macro, Ethics and
Politics (you know, strategies which seem 'rational' from a Micro
point of view are not so in Macro terms, others that are 'rational'
are not 'ethic', and others which look good (ethic or fair) are not
politically 'feasible', etc.). I think that any issue of analysis in
economics can be subject to the test of Micro, Macro, Ethics and
Politics, so to speak.

Then, and more importantly, I would put a *very strong* emphasis on
the obvious (?) contradiction between theory and their assumptions
(say, the typical 'suppose'... :) ) and reality... I think
I need not to elaborate much about this on this list (except saying
that I am not against abstractions, but that these need to help
understand reality, and not that reality has to accomodate for our
abstractions...; and that knowledge is a dialectic process, etc.).
Examples? Take any issue you want: perfect information, efficiency,
market 'rules', budget discipline, rational expectations, certainty
(or probability), sustitutability, rent maximizing, pareto optimum, etc...

For the rest, I would 'wish' to teach such a course... : )

Salud,

Alex








Alex Izurieta
E-mail: izurieta@xxxxxx
Institute of Social Studies
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