Re: Econ texts - possible to teach Marx seriously?

[charlie <charles1848@xxxxxxxxx>]

I asked PEN-L:
>
Is it possible to teach a Marxist theory of value today in an
undergraduate course, as a matter of academic politics?
<
The first reply (if the daily digest is accurate) came from Brad
DeLong. He did not discuss the question, but he went on in a
revealing way. Apparently, he read some ad copy about my new
book, perhaps from its Web site (http://www.LaborRepublic.org),
and he rebutted its presumed thesis about "the Age of the Final
Contradiction." The problem is that, as far as I can tell, he has
not read so much as ten pages of the book. He will please correct
me if I'm wrong; otherwise, it seems that students who read
Cliff's Notes instead of the book are following professorial
example. (To our list moderator: I mean this without personal
attack. Brad DeLong could be any guardian of the boundaries of
permitted worldviews.)

DeLong did stimulate some discussion of what has caused the
decline in workers' material position since 1973. Several people
called attention to conjunctural influences. A further question
is whether there is a basic tendency in capitalism which appears
in these conjunctural forces. I have offered an affirmative
answer that submits to the usual tests of evidence and
explanatory power, but not to the Rhetoric of Capital Letters.

Charles Andrews