Rorty said that "truth" is "a compliment paid to sentences that seem to be paying their way and that fit with other sentences which are doing so".
It's essentially what Krugman praises in Keynesian theory. It seems to work. As Krugman writes, "We have a model of the way the world works, and the world does indeed seem to work that way."
Any ultimate answer needs more than that, of course. But that attitude is the heart of any scientific claim that becomes broadly accepted: the world seems to work the way it says it will work.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
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If you can't get Keynesian "solutions" through the political structure then it doesn't work that way.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous Basterd
Actually, that doesn't affect the viability of the theory, AnonB.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't have put it better myself: "the world seems to work the way it says it will work".
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the way things work Daniel, the Post Keynesian blogger "Lord Keynes" has recently made a review of a working paper comparing and contrasting Hayek's approach to uncertainty and Keynes's approach to uncertainty. I think you might want to show more bloggers this recent entry by Lord Keynes.
http://socialdemocracy21stcentury.blogspot.com/2011/10/michael-emmett-brady-on-hayeks-concept.html
Argosy,
ReplyDeleteThe point is that it isn't viable, at least from the perspective of how political and social life is lived.
Anonymous Basterd
Right, Basterd, just as Germans will revise the the laws of physics as they take their nuclear power plants offline because they are not viable 'from the perspective of how political and social life is lived.
ReplyDeleteArgosy,
ReplyDeleteI agree. Tyler Cowen some months ago linked to a piece on the current nuclear industry being the result of the inertia from decisions by the U.S. government early on in the development of the technology (which apparently had international implications as well). There's a fancy term for this that I forget.
Anonymous Basterd
the term i'm looking for is Paget's Disease.
ReplyDeleteFrom wikipedia:
"...This 92 year-old male patient presented for assessment of acute hemiparesis. An incidental finding was marked thickening of the calvarium..."
Argosy Jones,
ReplyDeleteKeynesians remind me of Marxists in a number of ways; primarily though they seem like Marxists because one of their lamest excuses for the failure of the policies is always "but Keynesianism was never tried!" or "Keynesianism wasn't tried enough for it to count!" At best what it looks like is blaming the unwashed masses. If your ideology (in this case Keynesianism) cannot withstand the actual forces of social change, etc. in the society its advocates wish to apply it to, then I'd call that ideology a failure whether it works well in an economics lab or not. If that observation makes me thick-headed, I'll gladly wear that insult with pride.
Anonymous Basterd
I recognize. Tyler Cowen some a few several weeks ago become a member of to a factor on the provide nuclear industry being due to the inertia from alternatives by the U.S. management starting on in the development of the technology (which obviously had around the world significances as well). There's a fairly expression for this that I overlook. seo博客
ReplyDeleteActually, that doesn't affect the viability of the theory, AnonB.saç ekimi öncesi ve sonrasi
ReplyDelete