Re: Infinite wants

["Bruce R. McFarling" <ecbm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 29 Oct 1997 15:44:10 -0500 (EST) Harry Veeder
<aa361@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>I feel Keynesian economic philosophly is inappropriate for those societies
>and communities which do not make a strong positive link between social
>comfort and the acquisition and display of positional status goods. Or to
>put it another way,  Keynesian economic policy enjoys popular support
>among those cultures where a significant fraction of social esteem is
>dependent on the acquisition and display of positional goods. The current
>unpopularity of Keynesianism is due, in part, to a general shift in social
>values which make the pursuit, possession and therefore production of such
>positional goods less necessary for an individual to feel "social comfort."

	I can't tell, for certain, what exactly is being called
"Keynesian economic philosophy" and "Keynesian economic policy"
here.  However, a GT-Keynesian theory applies to applies to any
economy which is a 'monetary production economy' -- where the
control of material resources by going concerns is decentralised
by recourse to money and market institutions.  Traditional
'Keynesian' economic policies involve a redistribution of
access to high status goods in return for greater economic
stability and more possibilities for those at the bottom to
meet basic needs by participation in monetary production economy.
Compared to the "small l liberal" pre-Keynesian policies that
have been pushed as replacements, the Keynesian economic polivies
seem like they are *less* comfortable in a society which stresses the
pursuit, possession, and therefore production of such positional,
and the "small l liberal" policies that have replaced them are
*more* comfortable with conspicious consumption: after all, in the
standard theory, and unlike the premises of Keynesian economic
policies, the yachtless may well be just as deprived as the homeless,
since you can't make interpersonal utility comparisons.  In the
hierarchical needs & wants that fits into Keynes theory, to the
extent that the hierarchies of individuals have the priority of
needs and wants in common, you *can* say that satisfying a
high priority need is more important than satisifying a low priority
need.


Virtually,

Bruce McFarling, Newcastle, NSW
ecbm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx