Re: Re: Query on teminology, was Re: . . .labor/gender issues/corpor...

[Jim Devine <jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Micro economics, basically price theory, is so called because it deals
> with market equilibriations based on small scale interactions--sales,
> purchases--that are aggregated.

Luckily, micro is more than price theory. There are all sorts of relations
between consumers and firms beyond buying & selling (prices) and therefore
economists look into other things, like lawsuits, lobbying, and lack of
information. George Akerlof, for example, uses micro to understand such
issues as customs.

> Macro economics concerns government economic activities designed to
> regulate unhappy effects of otherwise unchecked
> markets--it was due to Keynes in the main.

Some macro exists without this concern, since some economists aren't
concerned with policy. In any event, we often see macro policies that
aren't to regulate the unhappy effects of unchecked markets. Sometimes,
macro policies make things worse. Often the concern is with checking the
government instead (due to issues such as the "electoral business cycle").
BTW, micro also deals with the issues of government policy.

Jim Devine jdevine@xxxxxxx &  http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine