Re: Method

["Henry C.K. Liu" <hliu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This attitude of yours, if not said in jest, is really sick.  Poverty as an
economic concept comes with a money economy, not found in nature.  Social
Darwinism never explain the extinction of dinosaurs.  The problem is that
economics in the last two decade has been captured by market economists,
displacing developmental economists.  There was a time up to the 1960s that
economics was a developmental science, not a predatory science.

Henry C.K. Liu

Brett Haselton wrote:

> Poverty is a rule of Nature. Under Natural Law we would all live in Poverty.
> People are willing to kill because they have a desire to improve their
> standing. To steal and kill to gain wealth is a viable alternative.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pkt-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:pkt-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On
> Behalf Of Henry C.K. Liu
> Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2002 10:06 AM
> To: pkt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: Method
>
> The problem is serious in that there is a tendency of the tail wagging the
> dog.
> Deregulated markets tend to lead income and welath disparity. These results
> are
> the presented as natural data from which theories rationaling them is
> presented
> as being based on "facts".   Then theory is compartmentalized, so that any
> data
> not fitting it is deemed non-sequitur.  When people starve, it is their own
> fault of being unemployable because there is plenty of food produced and
> much is
> even dumped in the sea.
>
> There is little normative theorizing to view poverty as uneconomic. Under
> neo-classical theory, it is assumed that no one in his/her right mind would
> work
> for the welfare of others. There is no marginal utility in it.
>
> The question is: if this is the best possible system, why are there so many
> people ready and willing to kill?  Notice there is no mention in the
> mainstream
> of the economics of terrorism.  The business community appraoch to observing
> the
> anniversary of 9:11 is no commercial advertising for a day.
>
> Henry C.K. Liu
>
> "Harry L. Cook" wrote:
>
> > Economics needs all of the theory and method it can use, but at some point
> I
> > would think that we would like to get to the problems that bedevil
> society.
> > Ricardo said that the principle problem in political economy was the
> problem
> > of income distribution, and I think that it still is, but we never talk
> > about it or rarely even mention it.
> >                             Harry L. Cook
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Andrew Mearman" <ajmearman@xxxxxxxxx>
> > To: <pkt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2002 5:55 PM
> > Subject: Re: Method
> >
> > > Harry,
> > >
> > > Are you suggesting that theorists don't have method?
> > > Surely theory presupposes method? Therefore, it's
> > > perfectly appropriate for this list to discuss method,
> > > no? To adopt a common tactic on the list, if we don't
> > > ever discuss method on the list, aren't we in danger
> > > of falling foul of Keynes' criticism of Tinbergen that
> > > he was too eager to get on with the job without
> > > thinking about whether the job was worth doing (to
> > > paraphrase loosely CW XIV); and by extension, that he
> > > did so without knowing *how* to get on with this job?
> > >
> > > Obviously the key is to be clear on method, but not to
> > > get stuck there. You can hardly accuse this list of
> > > focusing on method: it's very much a theory list IMO.
> > >
> > > Regards,
> > >
> > > Andrew.
> > >
> > > --- "Harry L. Cook" <hlc710@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > > Am I incorrect that PKT is exclusively about method
> > > > and never beyond that to defining the economic
> > > > problem and analyzing it?
> > > >                                 Harry L. Cook
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
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