[PEN-L:29963] RE: Re: Varian quotes Marx

["Devine, James" <jdevine@xxxxxxx>]

Title: RE: [PEN-L:29962] Re: Varian quotes Marx

yes, it pays to read the whole article. But it didn't seem interesting after the initial bit.

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

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Doug Henwood [mailto:dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2002 9:22 AM
> To: pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [PEN-L:29962] Re: Varian quotes Marx
>
>
> Devine, James wrote:
>
> >New York TIMES/August 29, 2002
> >
> >When Economics Shifts From Science to Engineering
> >By HAL R. VARIAN
> >
> >
> >ECONOMISTS think of themselves as scientists; their primary goal is
> >to understand how the economy works. But scientific knowledge is not
> >their only goal; as a famous economist once remarked, "The point is
> >not to understand the world, but to change it."
> >
> >(<http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/29/business/29SCEN.html?tnte
> mail0>http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/29/business/29SCEN.html?t
> ntemail0)
>
> Yes, and later this distinguished economist writes:
>
> >Other economic engineering projects have not fared so well, with the
> >California electricity market being a notorious example. The "famous
> >economist" quoted above was Karl Marx, who also had ideas about
> >economic design that ended disastrously.
>
> Marx as economic designer? The things you learn reading the NYT!
>
> Doug
>