Eugene Coyle
Tue, 12 Sep 2000 09:14:25 -0700
Where can I find Alice Amsden's praise of getting prices wrong?
At a shoot out before the Calif. PUC in San Diego a couple of weeks ago, the
neo-classical panelists just wanted to get prices right, and let the sociologists
take care of the rest. Professor Wolak from Stanford believes that getting prices
correct is the best for society, and then take care of income distribution some other
way. Low-income folks and the environment are somebody else's business, not the
economist's, according to them.
It is an easy way to look compassionate -- and maybe even believe you are
compassionate -- never mind that the fiscal appropriations never turn up. There is a
clear echo of this psuedo compassion in Brad's approved formulation -- "... the
government should be used to redistribute income." And just when is that going to
happen?
I argued, on the other side, that the only "correct" price is the Just Price --
which takes into account income distribution as well as resource allocation. Despite
a forest of wooden stakes through the heart of neo-classical price theory, the faith
in it by its adherents is unshakeable.
Gene Coyle
Michael Perelman wrote:
> I have never seen as concise description of social democracy. I like Alice
> Amsden's refutation of your perspective -- especially her praise of getting prices
> wrong.
>
> Brad De Long wrote:
>
> >
> > in a mixed economy, the government
> > should be used to redistribute income and the market used to allocate
> > resources; to get things backward--as Peron did, using the government
> > to allocate resources and regulating market prices to redistribute
> > income--doesn't work.
> >
>
> --
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> Chico, CA 95929
>
> Tel. 530-898-5321
> E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]