Download problems

[Steve Keen <keen@xxxxxxxx>]

Barkley Rosser told me that he had difficulty downloading files from my
site. I have since tried, and Internet Explorer locked up on me. I'm not
sure what's going on--I am travelling in the USA at present, and can't check
back at home. But I suspect that there are problems with the server in
Sydney, which Windoze is conveniently translating into a system lockup.

If this happens, please forgive me and try again later. I have copied this
to our systems administrator in Sydney, so that hopefully he can work out
what is happening.

Sincerely,
Steve Keen

Steve Keen wrote:

> 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