RE: RE: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Eurocentris m onceagain

["Brown, Martin (NCI)" <mbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

You took the words from my mouth (or keyboard, as it would be).  What would
be the value of essential natural resources that are obtained from the less
developed world be if the price implied by a dynamic optimization model of
resource use were applied?  Add to this the environmental externalities
currently imposed by unregulated exploitation, not to mention outright
military destruction of human and natural resources, the "collateral damage"
of keeping the keeping the development of underdevlopment intact.

But I think the erascible LP makes the right point that the real issue (that
is, the real crime) are the maintenance of structural barriers to
development that are imposed on the periphery, it is the theft of a decent
future in addition to the theft of current wealth.

What countries are represented by the 3%?

-----Original Message-----
From: sawicky@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:sawicky@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2001 10:59 AM
To: pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: [PEN-L:12029] RE: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Eurocentrism
onceagain


>There's no question that imperialism was essential to the rise of
>European capitalism. But what about its contribution to First World
>wealth in the present? No doubt greater than zero, but how much?
>Does anyone have any good ideas?   Doug

It would seem to be bounded from above by the share of first-world
consumption, investment, and government purchases that are made in
countries with GDP per capita levels less than half that of the U.S.
So less than 3%.
Of course, this is not "dialectical"...   Brad DeLong


Seems to me this takes as given the prices of
those purchases, whereas the raison d'etre of
primitive accumulation is to enforce sub-
optimal prices with violence.  The question
is the amount of economic rent, methinks.
Even that would be a lower bound, insofar as
rents implied by an 'efficient' price counter-
factual took for granted an unreasonable efficiency
norm predicated on existing income distribution.
Plus it's not dialectical, whatever that is.

mbs