tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post1384780546419768932..comments2024-03-27T03:00:27.024-04:00Comments on Facts & other stubborn things: McKibbon and the No-Growth EconomyEvanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259004160963531720noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post-78477026405440301952010-07-13T07:03:04.726-04:002010-07-13T07:03:04.726-04:00"Actually, it is hard to tell what you are ad..."Actually, it is hard to tell what you are advocating here exactly."<br /><br />Nothing, really. Often I'm not advocating anything in my posts. The role of "advocate" doesn't come naturally to me, but when I do advocate something I'm usually pretty explicit about it.<br /><br />"Also, the free market is far more than just a "tool." "Tool" connotes mere instrumentalism; a sort of value free device used to perform a task. But the free market is hardly value free."<br /><br />Certainly. There is still a lot of hammer-on-screw talk going on, which I don't think appreciates markets any more than hammer-on-screw appreciate the hammer.dkuehnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10136690886858186981noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post-77374378970070393582010-07-13T06:14:15.356-04:002010-07-13T06:14:15.356-04:00The guy's name is McKibben, BTW.
Actually, it...The guy's name is McKibben, BTW.<br /><br />Actually, it is hard to tell what you are advocating here exactly. <br /><br />Also, the free market is far more than just a "tool." "Tool" connotes mere instrumentalism; a sort of value free device used to perform a task. But the free market is hardly value free.Xenophonhttp://myob.myob.myob.myob.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post-36753023521195138622010-07-12T19:07:12.630-04:002010-07-12T19:07:12.630-04:00Ya - I hope I don't have to belabor the point ...Ya - I hope I don't have to belabor the point that I'm not advocating McKibbon's position. I'm just highlighting some interesting points in an interesting interview.Danielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17192667997950934790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post-39337100220777240192010-07-12T12:08:28.668-04:002010-07-12T12:08:28.668-04:00Anyway, the award winning science writer Ronald Ba...Anyway, the award winning science writer Ronald Bailey has a review of McKibben's new book here: <br /><br />http://reason.com/archives/2010/04/13/on-being-a-21st-century-peasanXenophonhttp://myob.myob.myob.myob.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post-42216058696922378802010-07-12T11:05:41.492-04:002010-07-12T11:05:41.492-04:00"First, I think any responsible economist sho..."First, I think any responsible economist should recognize that market activity does introduce serious environmental risks precisely because optimization decisions in the market are agent-based."<br /><br />And yet the richer a polity or even person the more they are able to treat "environmental goods" as normal goods.<br /><br />"A no-growth economy would obviously be impoverishing in many ways, but it could be beneficial in others."<br /><br />I haven't read the article, but this is my reaction based on what you have written:<br /><br />Needless to say there would also be all manner of effects associated with the punishing of uppity "growthers." It is sheer fantasy to assume that you can somehow make people "no growthers" without all manner of rather ugly social controls in order to do so. <br /><br />"Private companies have made major advances in chemistry, but not in astronomy."<br /><br />Astronomy exists today as a result of the sort of slack that a successful market economy allows. Or, as the Haitian wife of a friend mine told him once (and here I paraphrase), "Your country is rich enough that you have the money to spend your time studying history?" So yes, major advances in astronomy, history, sociology, etc. are based on the wealth that a market economy creates. Without that wealth, well, these disciplines might exist, but they would be pursued by a very select few and their fruits would be known to few outside that group. <br /><br />"And this is something that a lot of people could potentially appreciate the indirect benefits of - less concentrated finance probably means less opportunity for crony capitalism."<br /><br />No, (1) it means more localized crony capitalism and (2) localism merely means that it means that is far harder to escape the moronic prejudices of the group. <br /><br />Anyway, I had to suffer through one of McKibben's works as a undergrad back in 1989 (the "End of Nature" was its name as I recall) ... I am well aware of his arguments.Xenophonhttp://myob.myob.myob.myob.comnoreply@blogger.com