Re: PKT seminar starts today; introduction

[Steve Keen <keen@xxxxxxxx>]

Thanks for the intro Ric.

The book "Debunking Economics"--to be published by Pluto Press and Zed
Books later this year--is intended to de-mystify neoclassical economics
for those who are uncomfortable with economics, but don't necessarily
know why. So the target audience is not other economists, but the
"educated general public".

That presents a dilemma, since to debunk the conventional theory, I
first had to explain it. So the book is really two books in one: a
textbook on conventional economics (mainly focussing on microeconomics,
since in the end that's all there is to neoclassical economics); and a
presentation of many of the substantive critiques which have been made
of this theory over the last two centuries.

There are therefore two potential pitfalls in the book, which feedback
from PKTers could help to counteract: (1) the explanations of
conventional theory could be unclear; (2) I could have omitted important
critiques of conventional economics, or not properly countered
rejoinders by conventional economists to the critiques.

(1) is to some extent insurmountable, because as I'm sure many others
here do, I find neoclassical economics intrinsically boring. My
presentation may be even more so than a conventional text, because I
refuse to take the short-cuts that neoclassical authors often
do--working with downward sloping market demand curves, for example,
before they've established whether you can aggregate individual consumer
demand curves to derive a market demand curve.

(2) is less of a problem--I've recently added in Eiteman, Meads and Lee
on price-setting, for example, and may also add Sato and Barnett on
aggregation of supply curves. If people point out that I've omitted an
important debate, then I can add it. The issue here becomes one of
length--the book is already substantial, and I have to leave some things
out.

The book cannot help but present my personal perspective, and this is
strongly focused on the importance of dynamic analysis, regardless to
some extent of the school of thought in which an economist works.

Finally, the book has a very brief and necessarily superficial survey of
other schools of thought, including Post Keynesian. I expect this will
generate more interest than much else of the book, but I'd prefer the
balance to be the other way. In presenting a two-page commentary on Post
Keynesian economics, I can only summarise major themes, and must do a
disservice; I'm aware of that, but I really can't do much to amend it
unless I can be convinced that the alleged disservice is absolutely
critical.

I have already received comments from a number of PKT members
off-list--for which I thank them--but I would also be happy to discuss
issues on the list.

I hope to have a final draft of the book ready by mid-June, so I would
appreciate comments as soon as people are in a position to make them.
Deadlines, however, are flexible until such time as I put the hard copy
in the publisher's hands.

Cheers,
Stevepk

Ric Holt wrote:

> Pkters,
> Steve Keen's pkt seminar will start today. His seminar will focus on
> his book he is writing, "Debunking Economics." You can get copies of
> chapters from the following web address:
> http://bus.macarthur.uws.edu.au/Steve-Keen/DE
> Steve will be making some introductory comments today.
> -Ric Holt