Category Archives: Economic Theory

Marginalist Microeconomics is a Highly Normative Ethical Doctrine

Posted on March 10, 2014 by pilkingtonphil

In a recent post Lord Keynes raises the question of the so-called ‘law’ of diminishing marginal utility. The ‘law’ states that we will derive ever diminishing satisfaction from the acquisition of a good or service. Lord Keynes notes that this … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Theory, Philosophy, Psychology | 22 Comments

Keynes and Loanable Funds

Posted on March 8, 2014 by pilkingtonphil

I was recently discussing econometrics and Keynes’ critique of it with Severin Reissl, a particularly clever student currently attending the University of Glasgow who is critical of mainstream economics. (You can find some examples of his writing here in which … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Theory | 9 Comments

Minsky’s Theory of Asset Prices: Why Minsky Was NOT a Neo-Monetarist

Posted on March 6, 2014 by pilkingtonphil

On a recent blogpost that I wrote there was some confusion in the comments section regarding Hyman Minsky’s theories and their relationship to the phenomenon of rising asset prices. I have seen this confusion made many times before — even … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Theory | 10 Comments

Basic Macroeconomics of Income Distribution Cannot Explain Today’s Rising Inequality

Posted on March 4, 2014 by pilkingtonphil

I was recently looking over the debates surrounding the Pasinetti theorem and I thought it might be worth writing a few words on it. Pasinetti formulated his theorem — which is dealt with in detail in a fantastically thorough Wikipedia … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic History, Economic Policy, Economic Theory, Toward a General Theory of Pricing | 37 Comments

Bidding War: The Quantity Theory of Money and the Price Level

Posted on March 3, 2014 by pilkingtonphil

I was going to run a blog on Hans Albert’s critique of the quantity theory of money but it appears that Lord Keynes has gotten there ahead of me. I just wanted to pull out one point that he raised … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Theory | Leave a comment

Hans Albert Expands Robinson’s Critique of Marginal Utility Theory to the Law of Demand

Posted on February 27, 2014 by pilkingtonphil

A few days ago I wrote a post outlining Joan Robinson’s criticisms of the logical structure of marginal utility theory. It got quite a good response. Robinson’s point was that the manner in which the theory was constructed rendered it … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Theory, Philosophy | 3 Comments

John Hicks’ Book on Non-Ergodicity: A Forgotten Post-Keynesian Classic

Posted on February 26, 2014 by pilkingtonphil

Lars Syll recently provided an interesting quote from John Hicks’ 1979 book Causality in Economics. I thought that what Hicks said made an awful lot of sense, so I got my hands on a copy of the book. I have … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Theory, Philosophy, Statistics and Probability | Leave a comment

Some Personal Reflections on Contemporary Economic and Scientific Indoctrination

Posted on February 25, 2014 by pilkingtonphil

I thought that the discussion in this clip from about 7.40 on was extremely interesting. Watson discusses how introductory textbooks — particularly Greg Mankiw’s — ask students to suspend their disbelief in the models that they are being taught. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Theory, Philosophy, Psychology | 3 Comments

Keynes’ Liquidity Preference Trumps Debt Deflation in 1931 and 2008

Posted on February 24, 2014 by pilkingtonphil

I have pointed out before that the meaning of the term ‘liquidity trap’ has today become completely altered — with said alteration mainly coming from Paul Krugman’s bizarre redefinition which seems tied up with his idea about a natural rate … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic History, Economic Theory | 3 Comments

An Interview With and Overview of the Work of Philip Mirowski

Posted on February 21, 2014 by pilkingtonphil

Some time ago I did an interview with Philip Mirowski but I never published it. The editor of the heterodox journal Filosophia de la Economia got in contact with me and asked me if they could run it. When I … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Theory, Philosophy | 4 Comments