RE: Steedman barbeques new growth theory
Fred Guy writes:Steedman tried the same thing with efficiency wage theory a couple of years back, in Metroeconomica, exchanging shots with both Herb Gintis and Peter Skott. Steedman doesn't like functions that treat things we can't measure, like effort and knowledge, as variables with cardinal orderings. The substance of the paper below is his repeated contention that this practice doesn't make sense. Steedman is following the hard-core empiricist tradition? (Even behaviorist psychologists sometimes accept the role of unmeasured or unmeasureable intervening variables and so reject this kind of empiricism.) Doesn't he come from the Cambridge (U.K.) growth theory vision? A lot of the stuff in that school's growth theory can't be measured, either. The idea that the economy is on a wage/profit curve is a theoretical, not an empirical, one, since each point on the curve is a steady-state equilibrium (i.e., unreal). Mat F. writes: Haven't seen the Steedman paper yet, but there are a number of papers by Heinz Kurz and Kurz and Salvadori that are pretty devastating critiques of 'new' growth theories. One is called Old Wine in New Goatskins. Didn't Moses Abramowitz have an article in the prestigious JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES (edited by pen-l alumnus, Brad de Long, though maybe not at that time) about new growth theory which included old wine in new bottles in its title? Abramowitz is an old-fashioned neoclassical. On efficiency wages as an explanation of wage differentials by race and gender, both Darity and Rhonda Williams have some pretty severe criticisms. what are these criticisms? (It seems to me that so-called efficiency wages can only be a very small part of any theory of such wage differentials.) Jim Devine
RE: BLS Daily Report
so what does pen-l think of the following? California hospitals will need 5,000 more workers to meet proposed minimum nurse-staffing levels released Tuesday by California Gov. Gray Davis. Davis' plan requires a minimum of one nurse for every five patients in medical wards -- and fewer patients per nurse in labor and delivery, emergency rooms and critical-care units. (The New York Times, page A15). Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
Re: say it ain't so, Paul!
Frankly, I don't think that Paul Krugman is corrupt, at least not in the sense of personal venality. Instead, it seems to me that orthodox economists such as PK got swept up in (and in turn helped create) the intellectual bubble that also included Arthur Andersen and the auditing industry, the Wall Street financial advisors, the economic forecasters, the stock-market speculators, etc. You have to go back to 1999 or even early 2000, when economic triumphalism was rampant (in tandem with foreign-policy triumphalism, after our victory over Serbia, killing a large bunch of civilians in the name of human rights). Neo-liberalism (or what PK calls free-market liberalism) was victorious, despite the East Asian and Russian disasters (and the energy emergency in California). Previous economists had only studied the world -- but the point was to change it! the point is to force the world into the Procrustean Bed of the Walras-Arrow-Debreu Model: if the world was so rife with imperfections that the WAD Model wouldn't fit, fit the world to the Model! De-regulate industry, even those with high fixed costs and economies of scale. Create artificial markets (such as for permits to pollute, or for energy). Allow capital, even short-term electronic herd money, to move freely between countries. If things go wrong, it's because the Model wasn't obeyed _enough_! If things go wrong, the Maestro Alan Greenspan or other Benevolent Technocrats that run central banks will set things right, steering the unemployment rate to its natural level. Who cares about all the increase in inequality that resulted? after all, the neo-liberal policy revolution was _clearly_ raising productivity and efficiency (at least as measured by such things as real GDP which leave out non-market costs and benefits). That meant that we could hypothetically compensate the losers (though that somehow never seemed to happen). Free-market liberals hoped that the tax/transfer system could be used to even out the distribution without sacrificing efficiency. The textbooks tell us that lump-sum transfers are efficient, so let's do it! Our technocratic expertise can be used to do it right. Of course, the shift of economic power that went along with de-regulation (etc.) also meant a shift in political power, by giving a wad of bucks to the companies that most profited from the new era, such as Enron. The big money already had the US Republicans, so it bought the US Democrats, eventually producing the Clinton presidency. (The Democrats were _never_ anti-business, but they had a residual tinge of being pro-Labor, pro-minority, urban, feminist, environmentalist, etc. That had to be stomped out while leaving those constituencies no choice but to vote for the lesser of two evils.) Similar moves can be seen in places like New Zealand and England, where Labour Parties instituted neo-liberal policies (following the triumphs of Thatcher and Reagan). This trend also prevented the free-market liberal dream of lump-sum transfers from ever achieving fruition. Sinking the unions and their allies (and other non-business forces) in the name of perfect markets also meant the pulling away of the countervailing power that would allow marginally left-of-center free-market types to live up to their liberal self-image. Of course, the financial power of Enron and many other companies (along with the IMF and the World Bank and the US government) could be -- and was -- employed to pump up the intellectual bubble that swept the world. It's not really a matter of the De-Regulation Triumphalists buying off people who had contrary points of view. After all, were Larry Lindsay (Dubya's economic Rasputin) or Alan Greenspan ever even mildly left of center? They didn't need to be bought off. Rather, it's a matter of encouraging those who already agree with the Party Line. Intellectual life has a certain Darwinian aspect, so big money helps some competitors survive or even prosper -- if they toe the Line. This, along with the success of market-oriented measures such as real GDP, encourages an intellectual consensus. Then it's a matter of consensus ruling: no-one wants to say the emperor has no clothes because it doesn't pay and it doesn't fit with the official world-view. This is especially true of economic forecasters, but it also infects the auditors, financial advisors, economic pundits, speculators, etc. It hurts your status to be a Cassandra like Wynne Godley. In the stock market, it's possible to profit by being a bear, by selling short (though as Keynes pointed out, you need to know _when_ to leap, but that's never clear). But in establishmentarian intellectual life -- outside of marginal outlets -- it's very hard to prosper this way. I think that we're now seeing the slow leak of hot air out of the intellectual bubble, though the support that Dubya has received after 911 will keep it going for awhile. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
Re: Progress: a photomontage
It didn't work! I was trying to send a scan of John Heartfield's 1932 photomontage, "Spitzenprodukte des Kapitalismus" (TheFinest Products of Capitalism)tojuxtaposewith a photo of an ex-Enron employee from today's New York Times. The sign in the Heartfield composition reads, "Nehme jede Arbeit an!", which translates as any work accepted. Tom Walker
Re: RE: BLS Daily Report
The nurses do not exist in those numbers. He is grandstanding -- unless we can kidnap nurses from elsewhere. On Wed, Jan 23, 2002 at 02:28:26PM -0800, Devine, James wrote: so what does pen-l think of the following? California hospitals will need 5,000 more workers to meet proposed minimum nurse-staffing levels released Tuesday by California Gov. Gray Davis. Davis' plan requires a minimum of one nurse for every five patients in medical wards -- and fewer patients per nurse in labor and delivery, emergency rooms and critical-care units. (The New York Times, page A15). Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: From the Heartland
We should take umbrage at anything over 3.0. Gene Coyle Max Sawicky wrote: Well-taken, but if people start to care about the unemployment rate, then it becomes important, indicators be damned. Now that we've seen 4-oh, we should take umbrage at anything over 5.0. mbs The Conference Board's consumer confidence index has as one of its components households' evaluations of the state of the job market (jobs easy to get/hard to get), and as another, an evaluation of the state of economic conditions. It's not just what pollsters call a feelings thermometer. Doug
Re: RE: Steedman barbeques new growth theory
I don't think that Abramovitz wrote such an article. Also, I think that it is unfair to tar him as a neoclassical economist. He was much broader. Devine, James wrote: Fred Guy writes:Steedman tried the same thing with efficiency wage theory a couple of years back, in Metroeconomica, exchanging shots with both Herb Gintis and Peter Skott. Steedman doesn't like functions that treat things we can't measure, like effort and knowledge, as variables with cardinal orderings. The substance of the paper below is his repeated contention that this practice doesn't make sense. Steedman is following the hard-core empiricist tradition? (Even behaviorist psychologists sometimes accept the role of unmeasured or unmeasureable intervening variables and so reject this kind of empiricism.) Doesn't he come from the Cambridge (U.K.) growth theory vision? A lot of the stuff in that school's growth theory can't be measured, either. The idea that the economy is on a wage/profit curve is a theoretical, not an empirical, one, since each point on the curve is a steady-state equilibrium (i.e., unreal). Mat F. writes: Haven't seen the Steedman paper yet, but there are a number of papers by Heinz Kurz and Kurz and Salvadori that are pretty devastating critiques of 'new' growth theories. One is called Old Wine in New Goatskins. Didn't Moses Abramowitz have an article in the prestigious JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES (edited by pen-l alumnus, Brad de Long, though maybe not at that time) about new growth theory which included old wine in new bottles in its title? Abramowitz is an old-fashioned neoclassical. On efficiency wages as an explanation of wage differentials by race and gender, both Darity and Rhonda Williams have some pretty severe criticisms. what are these criticisms? (It seems to me that so-called efficiency wages can only be a very small part of any theory of such wage differentials.) Jim Devine -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901
Re: RE: Steedman barbeques new growth theory
Abramovitz was critical of new growth theory. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901
RE: Re: RE: BLS Daily Report
it also encourages hospitals to kick patients out. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine Michael Perelman writes: The nurses do not exist in those numbers. He is grandstanding -- unless we can kidnap nurses from elsewhere. so what does pen-l think of the following? California hospitals will need 5,000 more workers to meet proposed minimum nurse-staffing levels released Tuesday by California Gov. Gray Davis. Davis' plan requires a minimum of one nurse for every five patients in medical wards -- and fewer patients per nurse in labor and delivery, emergency rooms and critical-care units. (The New York Times, page A15).
Re: From the Heartland
Gene Coyle wrote, We should take umbrage at anything over 3.0. I take umbrage where ever I can findit. Tom Walker
Re: From the Heartland
I agree with you, Max, that the best time to raise the Time issue is when the economy is in good shape. The problem then, however, is that no one is worried much about unemployment and so it is off the political agenda. I recall youspecifically makingthat comment to me in this forum, oh, about two or three years ago. That makes two times when it is not opportune to raise the Time issue -- when unemployment is not an issue and when it is. Having established that it is *never* opportune to raise the Time issue, I have to fall back on the position that it is therefore*always*important in principleto do the heap of work it takes to launch that discussion. Certainly Lonnie's work and Eileen's are part of that heap and that's a credit to EPI. I still can't quite square yourcharacterization ofthespending paradigmas the "one under discussion" when your op-ed piece was about the lack of attention being paid toit by Dems and Repubs alike. Perhaps the signal that it's time totry a differentparadigm iswhen Dems and Repubs aren't even paying the "one under discussion"much lip service. mbs: It's a different paradigm. I'm sympathetic, but for a variety ofreasons I'm stuck in the current one. It's going to take a heap of workto launch that discussion. The downside of the business cycle handsus a context that is ignored if we shift to a timeless focus on time. Itwould not pay to try and change the subject when the one underdiscussion redounds to our advantage. I would say the time toraise the Time issue is when the economy is in what is ordinarilythought of as good shape. Tom Walker
Re: kidnapping nurses
It happens all the time from up here in Canada. You see we have a 62 cent dollar. What we do is train nurses and then when the graduate offer them lousy working conditions and pitiful salaries. The Texans and Californians come up here with a fistful of Yankee greenbacks and fly back with a plane-load of fresh-faced nurses. I suspect it might all be part of the bigger plan to 'integrate' Canada into the U.S. health maintenance industry. See also the press release below. Tom Walker Michael Perelman wrote, The nurses do not exist in those numbers. He is grandstanding -- unless we can kidnap nurses from elsewhere. The Health Care Workplace in Crisis - What to Do ?Ottawa, January 23, 2002 - The deteriorating work experience of health care workers threatens the viability of the health care sector.That's the starting point for a new paper from CPRN.Recent surveys show health professionals are the least likely of all occupations to describe their work environment as healthy. Their job satisfaction is also below the national average.The reasons are manifold: poor labour relations, a low level of trust and commitment between employees and employers, high workload, lack of control over work, psychological distress and burn-out, and some of the highest rates of job absence due to personal illness or injury, to name a few.Doing something to change the situation is the focus of Creating High-Quality Health Care Workplaces, a CPRN discussion paper. The report is the work of a multi-disciplinary team: Graham Lowe and Grant Schellenberg of CPRN's Work Network, Mieke Koehoorn of the University of British Columbia and the Institute for Work and Health, Kent Rondeau of the University of Alberta and Terry Wagar of St. Mary's University. The paper also incorporates the input from a roundtable of experts from the health care sector held in October, 2001.The Canadian Health Services Research Foundation, the Change Foundation and Health Canada provided funding for this project.The authors argue that the negative work experience of health care workers today impedes recruitment and retention of essential staff and undermines the provision of effective patient care. A context of cutbacks, restructuring and demographic change makes the need for action all the more imperative.The Canadian Nurses Association predicts a shortage of 60,000 nurses in Canada by 2011. That's 25% of the current nursing labour force. The College of Family Physicians of Canada sees a shortfall of 6,000 family physicians by the same date. Technologists, therapists, audiologists and speech pathologists will also be in short supply."We cannot afford to ignore today's poor working conditions if we want to avoid that future," says Grant Schellenberg, Director of CPRN's Work Network, "The question guiding this paper is; What are the key ingredients of a high-quality work environment in Canada's health care sector, and how do we get there?"Drawing on the insights from a variety of research streams, the authors demonstrate that the conditions that contribute to motivated, committed, knowledgeable and well-resourced employees are also those that guarantee optimum oganizational performance."We call this a virtuous circle," says Schellenberg. "A workplace culture that pays attention to the psychosocial and physical hazards of the work environment, and a job design that fosters a high degree of participation and control over one's work, quality relationships with colleagues and supervisors and the opportunity to develop skills, are vitally linked to improved patient and organizational outcomes." Schellenberg says that recognizing their common interest in improving the work environment is crucial to cooperation in achieving that goal among the more than 30 health care occupations and professions, unions, managers and others involved in the complex health sector.The discussion paper presents a series of recommendations targeting ministers and public policy makers, unions and professional associations, and managers. It also identifies areas for further research."Our recommendations call for a new vision of health human resources built around recruitment, retention, staff development, and quality of work life. They treat employees as assets to be nurtured, rather than costs to be controlled," says Schellenberg. "Progress depends on all players being committed to this vision." - 30 -To download a free copy of the report visit our home http://www.cprn.org/cprn.htmlpage:
Re: Re: say it ain't so, Paul!
From: Devine, James [EMAIL PROTECTED] Frankly, I don't think that Paul Krugman is corrupt, at least not in the sense of personal venality. How do you define personal venality? PK got $50K for a do-nothing advisory position transparently concocted to give Enron greater intellectual respectability. As someone who has had $0 in earnings since being laid off last April, I think Nobel-laureate-in-waiting PK's sweetheart deal with this pack of felons stinks. Carl _ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.
RE: Re: RE: Steedman barbeques new growth theory
Michael Perelmany writes: I don't think that Abramovitz wrote such an article. Also, I think that it is unfair to tar him as a neoclassical economist. He was much broader. you're right. The article I was thinking of was: Nelson, Richard, How New Is New Growth Theory? Challenge v40, n5 (Sept.-Oct. 1997): 29-58. JD
RE: Re: From the Heartland
You're right. Now is a good time to talk about it. That still leaves the heap o' work. -- mbs I agree with you, Max, that the best time to raise the Time issue is when the economy is in good shape. The problem then, however, is that no one is worried much about unemployment and so it is off the political agenda. I recall you specifically making that comment to me in this forum, oh, about two or three years ago. That makes two times when it is not opportune to raise the Time issue -- when unemployment is not an issue and when it is. Having established that it is *never* opportune to raise the Time issue, I have to fall back on the position that it is therefore *always* important in principle to do the heap of work it takes to launch that discussion. Certainly Lonnie's work and Eileen's are part of that heap and that's a credit to EPI. I still can't quite square your characterization of the spending paradigm as the one under discussion when your op-ed piece was about the lack of attention being paid to it by Dems and Repubs alike. Perhaps the signal that it's time to try a different paradigm is when Dems and Repubs aren't even paying the one under discussion much lip service. mbs: It's a different paradigm. I'm sympathetic, but for a variety of reasons I'm stuck in the current one. It's going to take a heap of work to launch that discussion. The downside of the business cycle hands us a context that is ignored if we shift to a timeless focus on time. It would not pay to try and change the subject when the one under discussion redounds to our advantage. I would say the time to raise the Time issue is when the economy is in what is ordinarily thought of as good shape. Tom Walker
Progress: from Spitzenprodukte to Genius
Here's the Nehme jede ARBEIT an montage: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/genius.htm Tom Walker
Re: Re: Argentine crisis: an overview
Thanks! At 1/23/2002, you wrote: Nice job, Alan. _ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
Cloning
[Anybody else having that kind of biophilic tingling on their skinsThis is just huge] http://www.newscientist.com Ultimate stem cell discovered 19:00 23 January 02 Sylvia Pagán Westphal, Boston A stem cell has been found in adults that can turn into every single tissue in the body. It might turn out to be the most important cell ever discovered. Until now, only stem cells from early embryos were thought to have such properties. If the finding is confirmed, it will mean cells from your own body could one day be turned into all sorts of perfectly matched replacement tissues and even organs. If so, there would be no need to resort to therapeutic cloning - cloning people to get matching stem cells from the resulting embryos. Nor would you have to genetically engineer embryonic stem cells (ESCs) to create a one cell fits all line that does not trigger immune rejection. The discovery of such versatile adult stem cells will also fan the debate about whether embryonic stem cell research is justified. The work is very exciting, says Ihor Lemischka of Princeton University. They can differentiate into pretty much everything that an embryonic stem cell can differentiate into. Remarkable findings The cells were found in the bone marrow of adults by Catherine Verfaillie at the University of Minnesota. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof, and though the team has so far published little, a patent application seen by New Scientist shows the team has carried out extensive experiments. These confirm that the cells - dubbed multipotent adult progenitor cells, or MAPCs - have the same potential as ESCs. It's very dramatic, the kinds of observations [Verfaillie] is reporting, says Irving Weissman of Stanford University. The findings, if reproducible, are remarkable. At least two other labs claim to have found similar cells in mice, and one biotech company, MorphoGen Pharmaceuticals of San Diego, says it has found them in skin and muscle as well as human bone marrow. But Verfaillie's team appears to be the first to carry out the key experiments needed to back up the claim that these adult stem cells are as versatile as ESCs. Verfaillie extracted the MAPCs from the bone marrow of mice, rats and humans in a series of stages. Cells that do not carry certain surface markers, or do not grow under certain conditions, are gradually eliminated, leaving a population rich in MAPCs. Verfaillie says her lab has reliably isolated the cells from about 70 per cent of the 100 or so human volunteers who donated marrow samples. Indefinite growth The cells seem to grow indefinitely in culture, like ESCs. Some cell lines have been growing for almost two years and have kept their characteristics, with no signs of ageing, she says. Given the right conditions, MAPCs can turn into a myriad of tissue types: muscle, cartilage, bone, liver and different types of neurons and brain cells. Crucially, using a technique called retroviral marking, Verfaillie has shown that the descendants of a single cell can turn into all these different cell types - a key experiment in proving that MAPCs are truly versatile. Also, Verfaillie's group has done the tests that are perhaps the gold standard in assessing a cell's plasticity. She placed single MAPCs from humans and mice into very early mouse embryos, when they are just a ball of cells. Analyses of mice born after the experiment reveal that a single MAPC can contribute to all the body's tissues. MAPCs have many of the properties of ESCs, but they are not identical. Unlike ESCs, for example, they do not seem to form cancerous masses if you inject them into adults. This would obviously be highly desirable if confirmed. The data looks very good, it's very hard to find any flaws, says Lemischka. But it still has to be independently confirmed by other groups, he adds. Fundamental questions Meanwhile, there are some fundamental questions that must be answered, experts say. One is whether MAPCs really form functioning cells. Stem cells that differentiate may express markers characteristic of many different cell types, says Freda Miller of McGill University. But simply detecting markers for, say, neural tissue does not prove that a stem cell really has become a working neuron. Verfaillie's findings also raise questions about the nature of stem cells. Her team thinks that MAPCs are rare cells present in the bone marrow that can be fished out through a series of enriching steps. But others think the selection process actually creates the MAPCs. I don't think there is 'a cell' that is lurking there that can do this. I think that Catherine has found a way to produce a cell that can behave this way, says Neil Theise of New York University Medical School. 19:00 23 January 02
Gender wage gap in US
Wage Gap Widens By Shannon Henry Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, January 23, 2002; 4:01 PM Just when it seemed people were forgetting about the glass ceiling, it turns out it's much lower than many had believed. The wage gap between most women and men managers actually widened during the economic boom years of 1995 to 2000, according to a study to be released Thursday. Women in top jobs are in a worse position than they were five years ago in terms of advancement and pay in seven of the 10 industries that employ 71 percent of women workers, the data found. A New Look Through the Glass Ceiling: Where are the Women? was done by the General Accounting Office using data from the Current Population Survey, and was requested by Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) and Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), who both said they were surprised by the lost ground. This shows a slide backwards for women, said Maloney at a lunch with reporters and editors. I really did believe it would be easier for our daughters. A full-time female communications manager made 86 cents for every dollar a male made in her industry in 1995, for example. But in 2000, she only made 73 cents on the man's dollar. The data also found that in just five of the 10 industries examined are the number of women managers proportionate to the number of women in the workforce. Women also find it more difficult to balance family and career, according to the study. About 60 percent of married women managers do not have children currently at home. By contrast, 60 percent of married men are currently raising children. Maloney said this is a financial issue that impacts all families. It's a wake-up call not only for corporate America but all of America, she said. Martha Burk, chair of the National Council of Women Organizations in Washington, said she blames the backlash on a more relaxed regulatory environment and a complicated court system that does not encourage women to sue their corporations for discrimination. When you know no one is monitoring the speed limit, you can speed, she said. Dingell and Maloney said the study brings up many questions that may be addressed by regulations or legislation in the future, including an examination of maternity leave policies and a fresh look at the Equal Rights Amendment.
Re: Re: RE: BLS Daily Report
Michael, It is interesting that last week in Winnipeg there was a 'job fair' where hundreds of American hospitals sent recruiters to entice Canadian (Manitoban) nurses to the US, Texas and North Carolina were particularly prominent. We have just re-introduced a two-year registered nurse training program to address the nurse shortage here and the American states were sending up recruiters to lure our recent graduates away with signing bonuses, moving and living allowances, etc -- simply because apparently the US is unwilling to pay to train its own supply of nurses. In other words, pure exploitation of the public education system of its colonies. Have you people no shame? ;-) Paul Phillips, Economics University of Manitoba Date sent: Wed, 23 Jan 2002 14:39:35 -0800 From: Michael Perelman [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject:[PEN-L:21814] Re: RE: BLS Daily Report Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] The nurses do not exist in those numbers. He is grandstanding -- unless we can kidnap nurses from elsewhere. On Wed, Jan 23, 2002 at 02:28:26PM -0800, Devine, James wrote: so what does pen-l think of the following? California hospitals will need 5,000 more workers to meet proposed minimum nurse-staffing levels released Tuesday by California Gov. Gray Davis. Davis' plan requires a minimum of one nurse for every five patients in medical wards -- and fewer patients per nurse in labor and delivery, emergency rooms and critical-care units. (The New York Times, page A15). Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
attacking the ECB
French attack 'secretive and obsessive' euro bank Larry Elliott, economics editor Thursday January 24, 2002 The Guardian Government backing for an early referendum on the euro was thrown into fresh doubt last night when two leading members of the French left - including Europe's trade commissioner - launched a strong attack on the European Central Bank and urged that it be remodelled along the lines of the Bank of England. With the introduction of euro notes and coins intensifying speculation about UK membership of the single currency, a pamphlet co-authored by Pascal Lamy - a senior member of the European Commission in Brussels - echoed the misgivings of UK policy makers about the structure and conduct of the ECB. Mr Lamy and Jean Pisani-Ferry, an economic adviser to French prime minister Lionel Jospin, said the ECB should be less inflation obsessed, less secretive and more accountable for its actions. The outspoken criticisms of the ECB provide support for the chancellor, Gordon Brown, who believes that the model of central bank independence established by Labour in 1997 delivers better economic management than that for Europe's central bank which was enshrined in the Maastricht treaty in 1991. But while the high-level call for reform from within the eurozone is certain to be seized upon by those opposed to UK membership, supporters believe that any signs of a willingness to change could make it easier for the government to sell the euro to the public. The ability of the government to influence the public mood on the euro was reflected last night in a survey from the City firm Barclays Capital, which found that for the first time in its tracking poll a small majority would vote yes in a referendum if the government said that the five economic tests laid down by Mr Brown in October 1997 had been passed. The treasury will make an assessment of the five tests before June next year, and the performance of the ECB is likely to be important in deciding whether a clear and unambiguous case for joining has been made. In their pamphlet, The Europe we want, Mr Lamy and Mr Pisani-Ferry, say that the ECB's structure was determined by the need to reassure the German public that it would be as tough on inflation as the Bundesbank. Mr Lamy and Mr Pisani-Ferry, both writing in a personal capacity, also argue that the ECB should copy Britain's sytem of having the governor of the central bank write an open letter should inflation deviate too far from its target, and that the minutes of ECB meetings should be published once a quarter. The call for reform of the ECB came as a senior policymaker at the Bank of England criticised the Frankfurt-based institution for being too slow to react to the downturn in the world economy last year. In a speech to economists in Austria, Chris Allsopp, a member of the Bank's monetary policy committee, said the US Federal Reserve had convinced the markets that it was willing to cut rates speedily and dramatically when the economy slowed. Consider what happens in the US when there is news that recession is worse, he said. There is immediate anticipation that official interest rates will be lowered - so market rates react. This... seems much less well established in the euro area.
re: say it ain't so, Paul
I wrote: Frankly, I don't think that Paul Krugman is corrupt, at least not in the sense of personal venality. Carl writes: How do you define personal venality? PK got $50K for a do-nothing advisory position transparently concocted to give Enron greater intellectual respectability. As someone who has had $0 in earnings since being laid off last April, I think Nobel-laureate-in-waiting PK's sweetheart deal with this pack of felons stinks. My point is that the system is corrupt. Since the vast majority of people in the US seem to accept this corruption, lambasting someone like PK for going along with the system seems futile at best. I think it's more useful to point to the structural corruption. Also, like with Lawrence Lindsay, PK probably believed pretty much what the same before he got the $$ from Enron as he did afterwards. It was a mutually beneficial transaction, right? He seems perfectly willing to criticize both Enron and Dubya nowadays. BTW, I don't think he's going to get a Nobel. His new international trade stuff isn't seen as that important to the orthodoxy. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.) If it is important, it opens the way to heresy... His pundrity doesn't help him win the big N. JD
Re: Re: RE: Steedman barbeques new growth theory
Ben Fine wrote an excellent critique of new growth theory, far more comprehensive than just an emphasis on conceptual cum measurement problems associated with knowledge or human capital. --- Michael Perelman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Abramovitz was critical of new growth theory. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901 __ Do You Yahoo!? Great stuff seeking new owners in Yahoo! Auctions! http://auctions.yahoo.com
Re: say it ain't so, Paul
On Wed, 23 Jan 2002, Carl Remick wrote: Frankly, I don't think that Paul Krugman is corrupt, at least not in the sense of personal venality. How do you define personal venality? PK got $50K for a do-nothing advisory position transparently concocted to give Enron greater intellectual respectability. Yeah, but to be fair, it was Krugman who publicized the money, unprompted, a year ago, back when Enron was still riding high -- and when he started writing a long series of columns excoriating Enron and its influence over the Bush administration and the way it was screwing California. I thought he was a pretty strong critical voice on both issues, and almost alone among establishment economists. So if venal means allowing the money to hush or soften your opinions, he wasn't venal. I think rather Enron has a beef against him for being disloyal :o) As someone who has had $0 in earnings since being laid off last April, I think Nobel-laureate-in-waiting PK's sweetheart deal with this pack of felons stinks. I can certainly sympathize with the feeling that the Matthew principle is grossly unfair. Still, I don't think there are many people who would turn down a legal 50 grand to do nothing. Would you? People like that are saints, not economists. If economists acted like that it would contradict everything they hold to be true about human motivation. Michael __ Michael PollakNew York [EMAIL PROTECTED]
