tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post7940889518427154844..comments2024-03-27T03:00:27.024-04:00Comments on Facts & other stubborn things: You say "Fisher Effect Under Deflationary Expectations", I say "Liquidity Trap"Evanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259004160963531720noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post-14606986145596856712011-11-17T11:43:52.254-05:002011-11-17T11:43:52.254-05:00Complete stream of consciousness. There's a lo...Complete stream of consciousness. There's a lot of fighting between quasimonetarists and Keynesians which I think is completely inappropriate for the reason I stated - we're worried about fundamentally the same problem.<br /><br />Which lead me to think "we really need to quit bitching and fix this like good technocrats"<br /><br />Which reminded me of Karl Smith's post and my slight disagreement with it.<br /><br />Which lead me back to wondering why we haven't been able to "fix this like good technocrats" - and a lot of the reason is that there are a bunch of people who challenge technocrats in social sciences in a way that they wouldn't challenge engineers or some other applied natural science.<br /><br />Which lead me back to the whole reason why I disagree with "technocracy". In a democracy we need to argue with these people, tempting as it is to be the man behind the curtain.Daniel Kuehnhttp://www.factsandotherstubbornthings.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post-84340161507810029462011-11-17T11:37:55.671-05:002011-11-17T11:37:55.671-05:00What is the connection between the first paragrap...What is the connection between the first paragraph (The Fischer effect = the liquidity trap) and the second paragraph (We should all defer to technocrat economists and not be fooled by reading Mises or Rothbard). Am I missing something ?Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post-56313112455306241592011-11-16T22:50:41.021-05:002011-11-16T22:50:41.021-05:00To be honest Joseph, I've been trying to get h...To be honest Joseph, I've been trying to get him to read Human Action for as long as I've known him. I think he likes Rothbard even less than Mises. I definitely agree that MES is absolutely a terrific treatise (and contains a lot that Mises doesn't), I just don't see Daniel picking it up anytime soon.<br /><br />Not that that's wrong, he's in a PhD program. Not to mention DIRTY KEYNESIAN stuff comes first.Mattheus von Guttenberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09404889240800715511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post-40899475814476588952011-11-15T17:19:17.191-05:002011-11-15T17:19:17.191-05:00Daniel,
I have said in the past (on other blogs) ...Daniel,<br /><br />I have said in the past (on other blogs) that I do respect you for the fact that you do indeed seek to understand opposing views, that you don't just blindly believe things. This is definitely a good attribute to have and the reason why I do not insult you personally or speak ill of you (well, other than that whole "statist" thing LOL). With that in mind, I was just curious if you have ever read Rothbard's 'Man, Economy and State'? If you haven't, I do recommend that you do so at some point. <br /><br />Other than the fact that it is an awesome treatise IMO (esp. the chapters on production), I also think it would benefit you to some degree, because many of the Austrians that I see you having correspondence with are primarily Rothbardians rather than Misesians or Hayekians. Sure, there are similarities, but there are also dramatic differences.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post-78475535050678998322011-11-15T13:02:54.331-05:002011-11-15T13:02:54.331-05:00Freshman in college should understand that what th...Freshman in college should understand that what they are taught is more or less a product of scientific consensus, and there is a reason why they are taught what they are taught.<br /><br />We went over this with OWS and Mankiw's class too.<br /><br />If you [a general "you"] want your reading to be more eclectic, fine. I think there is a ton of value in Hayek, Menger, and modern Austrians too. Hell, I even think there is value in Mises! Read it!<br /><br />But be humble before you scoff at the answers provided by the technocrats and the people who teach about technocratic methods, and who have been thinking about this longer and more deeply than you have.<br /><br />There are some people among whom humility is in too short supply.Daniel Kuehnhttp://www.factsandotherstubbornthings.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post-313441389807089222011-11-15T12:54:51.867-05:002011-11-15T12:54:51.867-05:00"Forget the careful work of economists - I..."Forget the careful work of economists - I'm a freshman in college, and I can learn all there is to know about economics from Cowen's textbook and the New York Times!"<br /><br />It works both ways. Although, I would be astonished if freshmen students were exposed to Mises and Rockwell, unlike the Keynesian orthodoxy we are forced to ingest as undergrads.Mattheus von Guttenberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09404889240800715511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post-552114401671532602011-11-15T11:49:51.066-05:002011-11-15T11:49:51.066-05:00Glasner has very quickly become one of my favourit...Glasner has very quickly become one of my favourite economic bloggers. He consistently produces excellent and thought-provoking material.Grant McDermotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11868318397832070394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post-50147351893843941422011-11-15T09:12:21.985-05:002011-11-15T09:12:21.985-05:00BTW, you can have something far less than the &quo...BTW, you can have something far less than the "One State" to realize that technocrats really don't have the ability to weigh the competing wants, desires, fears, etc. for an individual or a group of people.Gary Gunnelshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14463810435943252898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post-77646720358519903422011-11-15T09:08:30.547-05:002011-11-15T09:08:30.547-05:00"...even if we're heading towards a doubl..."...even if we're heading towards a double dip??"<br /><br />Are you suggesting that we are? The constant drumbeat from many economists for some time now is that we aren't. We could have a show titled "When Technocrats Disagree" - sort of like when "When Animals Attack" but not.<br /><br />You should probably forget a great deal of what psychologists have to say. <br /><br />Napoleon of all people is the source of the pejorative aspects associated with the term ideology, and I wish that had never come to pass. But there is nothing to do about that.<br /><br />"We need technocrats."<br /><br />Some technocrats have useful things to say; some have nothing useful and even actively harmful things to say. Further, one of the basic problems with many technocrats is that they simply do not have a very good idea of the limits of their knowledge - they are very often prone to a great deal of overconfidence as a result of this and other factors.Gary Gunnelshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14463810435943252898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post-15681986665129289932011-11-15T08:33:00.454-05:002011-11-15T08:33:00.454-05:00Excellent point about the existence of technocrats...Excellent point about the existence of technocrats v. rule by a technocracy. I would favor few of them over many of them, but by one name or another, they exist. I disagree that it is possible or good for 'people' to not know they exist. The nature of their role is to make policy, which will benefit some and harm others. That piece of it should be as transparent as possible. <br /><br />Henry Paulson comes to mind as a recent example of a technocrat doing what he thought was right, and whose actions made some very specific people richer and some specific people poor with a goal of the greatest good for the greatest number.Charles Ricenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post-1167285292740045972011-11-15T08:00:27.728-05:002011-11-15T08:00:27.728-05:00I wonder sometimes if its worth it - the conclusio...I wonder sometimes if its worth it - the conclusion I came to is "it is" :)Daniel Kuehnhttp://www.factsandotherstubbornthings.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post-84649589350650018372011-11-15T07:57:48.437-05:002011-11-15T07:57:48.437-05:00Daniel, You hit the nail on the head. To add ano...Daniel, You hit the nail on the head. To add another metaphor to the mix, the Fisher effect under deflationary expectations and the liquidity trap are two sides of the same coin. So you definitely go to the head of the class. In fact you should teach the class. I don't want to think about whether this is all as useless as you are suggesting it may be. It's too depressing.David Glasnerhttp://uneasymoney.comnoreply@blogger.com