Monthly Archives: August 2013

Marx, Hegel, the Labour Theory of Value and Human Desire

Hour-long, by hour, may we two stand When we’re dead, between these lands The sun set behind his eyes And Joe said, “Is this desire?” — PJ Harvey, ‘Is This Desire?‘ I’ll be honest: I hate discussing Marx, dialectical materialism … Continue reading

Posted in Economic Theory, Philosophy, Psychology | 20 Comments

Gunnar Myrdal’s Monetary Equilibrium Theory: A Summarized Version

Jan has brought my attention to the following paper which lays out a good outline of Gunnar Myrdal’s Monetary Equilibrium. Since many are unfamiliar with Myrdal’s theories in the English speaking world I will lay out what I think to … Continue reading

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Gunnar Myrdal’s Prescient Criticisms of Keynes’ General Theory

In my post on the Austrian Business Cycle Theory Jan, a regular commenter on Lord Keynes’ blog, once again brought up the Stockholm School of economics. He has been doing this on Lord Keynes’ blog for as long as I … Continue reading

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Austrian Business Cycle Theory: Dinosaur Economics

Just a very quick note so as to weigh in on a debate which, frankly, I don’t really want to weigh in on. It relates to the Austrian Business Cycle Theory (hereafter: ABCT) and its relationship to the natural rate … Continue reading

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Borrowing from Science: Philip Mirowski on Contemporary Neoliberalism

The historian of thought Philip Mirowski has published a very interesting piece entitled The Thirteen Commandments of Neoliberalism. The first and most important point to comment on is the following: It is noteworthy that [Mont Pelerin Society] members began to … Continue reading

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When Clowns Run the Circus: Economic Institutions and Intelligence Services

Adam Curtis has a new blog post out today which is as fantastic as usual. This one deals with intelligence services and how they are generally run by weirdos and idiots. This is something I’ve long been aware of personally … Continue reading

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Mises and Freud: Another Heroic Misreading

You know that I want your loving But my logic tells me that it ain’t never gonna happen And then my defenses say I didn’t want it anyway But you know sometimes I’m a liar — Violent Femmes, ‘Promise‘ Ugh… … Continue reading

Posted in Philosophy, Psychology | 16 Comments

Joan Robinson and the Labor Theory of Value

Here’s an interesting thought from Geoff Harcourt on Joan Robinson’s relationship with the Marxist economist (and possible Soviet infiltrator) Maurice Dobb which also goes into what she thought about the labour theory of value (excuse the Americanised spelling in the … Continue reading

Posted in Economic Theory, Philosophy | 31 Comments

Routledge’s Karma: Free Stuff Alert!

Karma. The idea is that you do something wonderful and it will cancel out the awful deeds you do at some other point in time (okay, I’m taking liberty with my definition and giving a rather Catholic-tinged exposition but I’m … Continue reading

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Misuse of Data Part Deux: Redux

Okay, so there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding regarding my previous post on Catalán’s misuse of data. Some of this is likely squirming but some may be due to my own presentation. So, let’s run through this in order … Continue reading

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