Wolff and Resnick, Marxists, Contending Economic Theories 2012 is pretty good, and is structured to have summary or precis chapters which are lately filled in in detail. They take it to the proper level of ontology and epistemology. Wolff likes to do video, I think, you might find something.
Classical, neoclassical, Marxian, Keynesian, Post-Keynesian, a little Austrian. Intermediate level.
Sample from notes:
The result is an "explanation " of A:the cause of A has been reduced to a few key determinants. Hence the term "reductionism" refers to theories that reduce the explanation of events in the world to showing how they are effects of a few essential causes.Neoclassical theory is reductionist across its entire range of analytical claims. In its most sweeping formulations, neoclassical theory reduces the overall levels and rhythms of economic activity -- prosperity and growth or recession, unemployment and decline -- to effects of its posed entry point, namely what interacting, self-interested and productive individuals do. Let us briefly outline how this theory works and then in the next chapter examine it in more detail.
Hence for neoclassical theory its entry point of human wants and productive capabilities become more than a starting point; they also serve as an ultimate cause or essence determining all other objects. Market price has been reduced to an effect of these assumed essential aspects of our human nature.
"Rather, human beings are always observing and thinking at the same time. What we see is shaped in part by how we think just as how we think is shaped in part by what we see. Marxists observe class and theorize about it; their theory plays a role in influencing what they see just as their observations shape their theorizing. Neoclassicists observe individual-maximizing behavior and theorize about it; their theory plays a role in influencing what they see just as their observations shape their theorizing. Keynesians observe aggregations of individuals consuming a socially conventional portion of their income and theorize about it; their theory plays a role in helping to shape what they see in the economy just as their empirical observations shape what and how they theorize."
At least for basic/middle-brow historical background and context, I enjoyed The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times And Ideas Of The Great Economic Thinkers back in the day.
That was our tenth grade econ textbook (very little actual econ, all history of econ). The only thing I really recall from it is the discussion of Keynes' wife, an eccentric ballerina.
Bob's suggestion looks quite promising, though I worry it may be to hard to read because dyslexia. I might get a copy for myself, though. Does the Heilbroner come up to date? This is for somebody who wants to use this stuff in their day job. But I'll run both these past Mrs y. Keep 'em coming!
Was Lopokova any more eccentric than other Russian dancers of her generation?
I don't know if he has access to a library, but it's possible that one of the video/audio courses from The Great Courses (formerly The Teaching Company) would be meaningful.
My sense from my patrons is that they are a bit hit or miss regarding the philosophical lens that the professor has (that is, representative or not representative of the field) but they are hugely popular among people who find it challenging to read for whatever reason (dyslexia or something else).
-- Big sweep: "The Worldly Philosophers" is pretty good. Probably read that first.
-- Next maybe Phyllis Deane's "The Evolution of Economic Ideas" which is terribly civilized in a 1970s Cambridge (UK) way, but also good.
-- For the post-70s scene there's a lot and it's harder to choose. I'm biased but Quiggin's "Zombie Economics" is good and you could do a lot worse.
I haven't read Wolff and Resnick, but Wolff is really great so I endorse that as well.
Along the lines Witt suggests, I have liked MIT courses and lectures. Political Economy here, other categories exist.
Also possible-- your friend could subsidize your reading into youtube the excellent precis of Piketty generated here by buying you wine or something. Actually, I'd do that for Maipo or Yakima reds.
How committed is he to reading about foundations? That seems to me as unrewarding and unpleasant, I don't believe that much follows from first priniples for economists. Piketty's critique of current economic style applies, Nicely summarized by Halford
Applying the principles of economics, I bet there's a way to turn a bottle of wine into audio recording of that summary.
5,7. She certainly has access to a library, and there's one of the "Great Courses" which looks as if it might be pretty helpful which is marked down to $15 anyway. I think the MIT courses, though mouthwatering, are much too deep and detailed for her needs. I'll look at the Quiggin as well, but I suspect the Deane is too dated.
I think what she's after is a succinct account of the underlying assumptions of neoclassical, neoliberal, Keynsian and to a lesser extent Marxist* economics to help her read the stuff that's coming over her desk this week and next in a critical way. She's interested in academic approaches only incidentally - she got her degree and went off to get a job outside the academy. So nothing that's going to send her chasing off on a hugely time consuming course of study.
Any more ideas will be very welcome. And let's not talk about gender assumptions.
*Not that she's necessarily prejudiced against Marxist economics sensu lato, but you don't see a lot of papers in that tradition if you're working for the government.
The Wolff/Resnick book that Bob mentions above looks like it's exactly on point and is also available entirely for free.
So, what she really wants is for each of neoclassical, neoliberal, and so forth schools of economic thought, a summary of what are their basic assumptions about the world, and what are their blind spots?
That sounds to me like for each of the schools, you want a respectful, in depth, but outsiders' critique of the school. A Marxist writing on neoclassical economics, pointing out what they get wrong; a neoclassical economist doing the same for Keynesian econ, and so on. I don't have any titles to suggest, but does that bring anything to mind?
Also, someone should pull the gloLeD bat-signal.
gnoLeD. I can't spell backward.
Worldly Philosophers has a weird grudge against Malthus.
Krugman's books offer a good introduction to macroeconomics, though I'm not sure which one to recommend specifically (I read them a long time ago).
And let's not talk about gender assumptions.
But I feel bad for assuming she was a man! I don't even know where my blind spot was...I think it must have been "civil servant," which is silly.
I thought it did. Not overwhelmingly, but at least some?
I thought it did. Not overwhelmingly, but at least some?
Women are more likely to be capable of multiple comments.
That says two to three times more likely, which was what I was thinking of as 'not overwhelmingly'. You are apparently easily overwhelmed.
That is, there are apparently a lot more dyslexic boys than girls, but if you hear someone's dyslexic, there's nothing particularly strange about their being female.
If we were younger, we could fight about this for at least 100 comments.
I'm just trying to point out that Witt might have had reasons for thinking the OP was about a man besides sexism or too much Yes Minister.
Losing your stamina in your old age?
So, like Own Glydwr, LizardBreath summons me from the vasty deep!:
>If you had a moment to waste at Unfogged.... I figure that if anyone had useful suggestions, it'd be you. And given that you're demonstrably reading the comments, I also figured that it wasn't too much of an imposition to ask.
I am not reading *all* the comments. In fact, I do not understand how anyone can read all the Unfogged comments and have a life--unless, of course, they are a post-human anthology intelligence.
Heilbroner's _The Worldly Philosophers_ is, I think, still the best place to start. The next two things I have people read are Partha Dasgupta, _Economics: A Very Short Introduction_ Milton and Rose Director Friedman, _Free to Choose_, and Tom Slee, _Nobody Makes You Shop at Wal-Mart. And then I make people read Jonathan Schlefer, _The Assumptions Economists Make_.
There will be an exam.
Every comment you make is one you don't need to read. Also, it's slower in the summer
The difference between me and Glendower being that occasional commenters come when I do call for them. I understand that spirits aren't nearly as compliant.
I don't think Lopokova was particularly eccentric, but perhaps in the context of economists ...
There are no other threads unmucky enough to put this in: Satie's Je Te Veux on cello & accordeon, okay for a wedding yes or no?
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wbT9DeULzU4
That sounds more like a piano and no accordion or cello.
One arranges, moves, one arranges.
An accordeon is a cross between a bandoneon and an accordion, I guess.
I don't see what would be wrong with it in a wedding.
I like a good wedding polka. That has an accordion.
There will be cumbias and waltzes, no one has requested polkas thus far.
No shindig is half complete without that famous polka beat, dq.
OT: A woman I went to high school with just put up a picture of herself with Bernie Sanders. Living in Iowa has advantages.
40: Sex liveblogging goes in the other thread.
May we liveblog breakups? She comes home from Europe tomorrow but has agreed (at least for the moment) to work on finding an apartment in the neighborhood so this won't be her home much longer. I need an anti-anxiety prescription, I think, but that should be doable.
Oh and on that front, they finally found Rowan's friend with the gun, so there's no longer someone with a gun and possible vendetta who's been in my house on the loose. That's reassuring, but in a way that dredged up some anxiety of its own. Yeesh.
On the whole, those sound like improvements. Not as good as having someone have sex with you and then do your laundry, but not nothing.
I would settle for someone to sort these socks, the job that never ends. I'm on I think my eighth load of laundry for the week, so fine on that front.
I thought about buying all the same socks to avoid that problem but discipline was lacking.
I've tried too, but the children insist on growing. And sometimes on Thomas the Tank Engine socks and so on.
Most of my socks started as identical black socks, but now I feel compelled to sort them by how faded they are, so I don't pair a fresh-looking dark black sock with one that's a bit greyish.
That will look less awkward than a Henry and a James sock each.
You know, most people don't look very closely at other people's socks.
There's also a child who prefers dramatically mismatched socks. I had to assure her mom it was a trend and not my making neglectful clothing choices because she was in foster care. Whee!
50: That's shoes. Per Morgan Freeman.
Surely if it applies to shoes it applies even more to socks.
Depends on how long your pants are.
30 is fast for anything but Viennese. Safe crowd? Or can you slow it down and keep the charm?
I have heard Pur ti miro, pur ti godo at a wedding. Swooningly lovely, but the soloist must have been throwing salt over her shoulder.
Socks: the Stack Overflow entry on pairing socks efficiently actually has a few helpful strategies, deep in the nerdliness.
I've found I tend to select the least worn socks immediately available. As a result, all my socks develop holes at about the same time, which is quite convenient for mass replacement.
58: It's a candidate for pre ceremony vamping, unlikely anyone will take flight and dance to it.
Thorn I hope her apt search is brief and successful!
39 seems better for a two-step or even Cajun. And there is such a wide polka tradition, especially at weddings - Texas and Mexico and scandi-germano-polish. Polka marches! Everyone in!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FLrYURtqPMs
Speaking of socks (because write what you know), Smart Wool socks are great.
Some people think Bertlmann's socks teach us something deep about the nature of reality. I think they're just socks.
Those don't look like Smart Wool. Really comfortable, compared to the competition, when wet and you can't change them.
An economics bleg.
OK, I have a question about...Greece (is the word).
Why does the German parliament have to vote on the deal (and has voted on previous ones)? I thought the troika was the IMF, the ECB, and the European Commission. How does the Bundestag get a veto over the EC? Do other member parliaments get a veto?
The Bundestag gets a vote because they are the ones that pay the bills.
Then flip side: why involve anyone else other than Greece and Germany? Or is the ECB, EC, and IMF just window dressing hiding the man behind the curtain?
The EC is acting on behalf of the Eurogroup and both those bodies only have this kind of money insofar as the national governments agree to provide it. Most parliamentary systems require that expenditure is approved by the parliament, so I assume that most European parliaments will vote in one way or another on any deal (although I think some have more flexible arrangements, I think the Bundestag is persnickety.)
The Bundestag has a veto (basically) because it will provide the majority of the funds.
Partly because the rest of the Eurogroup has an interest in the common currency's future, and partly because while Germany is the largest (don't think it is a majority actually) contributor the other Eurogroup countries contribute as well, especially France. The ECB is important because of the tie-in with the banking systems and because it's (kinda) in charge of the Euro, and the IMF is putting a fair wedge of money.
Germany is particularly important because it's the biggest country likely to bail soonest, basically.
43 strikes me as net good news. I hope the transition isn't too rough, Thorn.
Also I highly endorse the single kind of sock approach. I have 12 pairs of identical socks and never have matching issues except with the stupid dress socks, of which I have like 5 pairs and 7 unmatched singles.
Agree that 43 is good news. I'm happy for you Thorn, this will lead to better things.
Most of my socks started as identical black socks, but now I feel compelled to sort them by how faded they are, so I don't pair a fresh-looking dark black sock with one that's a bit greyish.
Me too but I'm afraid that it's gotten to the point where either each sock is a slightly different shade of grey/brown and/or it's just too much trouble to sort them this way. I also brought a dozen pairs of new black socks with me here but I refuse to begin wearing them until I'm ready to throw out all the old ones at once lest I introduce them to the problematic pool of slightly differently shaded socks.
To the OP, having gone away to have dinner, a shower and a good night's sleep:
Many thanks for all the recommendations - very much appreciated; I shall go through them with Mrs y and work out the best approach for her to go back to the questioner with some ideas about what to do next.
43. Best of luck to you with all that.
66. The Bundestag gets to vote/veto because Germany has declared war on Greece. They're just using a slightly more subtle strategy than most.
43: Good luck. Was your solo parenting time harder than your normal, or was it sort of a relief to have one less person to worry about? I hope breaking up is easier on you than the end stages of the relationship.
It's just been so freeing not to have to worry all the time about being yelled at or criticized. I've been tired but I've gotten everything done. The girls have had some struggles about her absence but they've been able to talk about ways in which it's a relief for them too. We have one more week here and then ten days gone for a family reunion on my side, which might help make the transition easier. We'll see.
It's just been so freeing not to have to worry all the time about being yelled at or criticized.
I am really gobsmacked at this considering her role model in life appears to be "lazy sexist 1950s husband". Glad for you that things will be better.
77: I should probably ask not to be assigned not the Transformative Experiences chapter on whether people are good at gauging what sorts of parents they'll be, because sometimes not at all! But that was never the relationship dynamic I wanted and getting away from it should help me a lot.
I'm not going to assign you a chapter, Thorn. You are supposed to volunteer.
I know, but I'm not excited about volunteering. I also don't want to become a vampire.
And thanks, Josh. I'm happy too.
But then I'll feel bad for not pulling my weight.
I could give you lessons in how to avoid that feeling.
Writing the post is presumably a transformative experience and I don't know how to decide to do it because I've only read through chapter two. Aporia has set in already!
I look forward to kibitzing on Moby's attempts to reduce Thorn's work ethic to a more manageable level, possibly with the aid of whisky.
"Whiskey". "Whisky" is too much of Scotland and that Protestant Work Ethic stuff.
Most good whisky comes from the West Highlands, which are kind of a refrigerated Louisiana in terms of religion and work ethic and also in terms of general sogginess.
Though not in terms of party atmosphere.
My work ethic is not all that great, given that I was commenting while toasting English muffins for the girls. Moby does seem to have done pretty well overcoming Catholic guilt, but starting XY confers an unfair advantage on that front.
Heh. Has anyone ever done a compare and contrast listing of Irish and Scots stereotypes? It comes out like Goofus and Gallant -- the Scots are out there developing modern engineering, philosophy, and economics, while being frugal and hardworking, and the Irish are bumbling around being impoverished and writing poetry. I suppose both nations are belligerent drunks, so that's something.
I was recently informed that one of my great-grandfathers, though I don't know whether the Irish or Scots one, would say "Whisky!" in response to a sneeze. I don't think I could take that up without being both pretentious and confusing, but I wish I could.
91:
The Scotsman is mean - as we're all well aware,
And bony and blotchy and covered in hair,
He eats salty porridge, he works all the day,
And he hasn't got bishops to show him the way.
The Irishman now our contempt is beneath,
He sleeps in his boots and he lies through his teeth,
He blows up policemen, or so I have heard,
And blames it on Cromwell and William the Third.
(The Welshman's dishonest - he cheats when he can
And little and dark: more like monkey than man;
He works underground with a lamp in his hat
And he sings far too loud, far too often, and flat.)
That seems a bit unfair given that it was another 130 years or so after either of those people before even the Catholic middle class was allowed something close to full political rights.
I did have porridge for breakfast, assuming that's what oatmeal is.
Pease porridge is delicious if you put some avocado in it.
It's probably better than avocado with peas in it.
I think that falls under the headline of "Standpiping It".
Anyway, that recipe is bigger news here than whatever is happening in Greece.
Though not in terms of party atmosphere.
That's really only a very specific and relatively small area in southeast Louisiana. Head in any direction from there and it's some combination of Mississippi, Arkansas, and East Texas, but with crawfish.
why involve anyone else other than Greece and Germany? Or is the ECB, EC, and IMF just window dressing hiding the man behind the curtain?
The "EC" here should read the Eurogroup (ie the finance ministers of the euro-zone countries). It's worth knowing that France, Italy, and Spain together put up more of the money in the original program than, say, Germany and the Netherlands - France would probably still have its triple A rating if they hadn't had to fork out when they did.
This is why the hopes for a French-Spanish-Italian alliance in support of the Greeks haven't amounted to much.
Alex, thanks. That's what was bugging me. I was thinking it was the EC as a group separate from the member nations and the money coming from that entity. It isn't a supranational organization, it is just the finance ministries of the members. A bundle of finance packages. And that's why the Bundestag has to vote. And other nations do whatever they do.
If we were younger this blog were still any good, we could fight about this for at least 100 comments
I could take all y'all for at least 100 comments alone. What are we talking about?
Things have already descended to a Hobbesian war of all-against-all. I'm finding cannibalism surprisingly liberating.
Could cross post to potato thread. Greek attitude towards firecrackers?
If Greece leaves, do they take the name Europe with them?
110. Since they invented it in the first place, I guess it's their call.