At 03:27 30/12/2012, AC wrote:
Krugmans Nobel was in a very conventional
aspect of economic theory. He made certain
breakthroughs. Dont know whether that makes
him qualified to comment on this and that. The
NY Times likes him. And that apparently is good enough.
See below
<http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/2008/press.html>http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/2008/press.html
Patterns of trade and location have always been
key issues in the economic debate. What are the
effects of free trade and globalization? What
are the driving forces behind worldwide
urbanization? Paul Krugman has formulated a new
theory to answer these questions. He has thereby
integrated the previously disparate research
fields of international trade and economic geography.
(KH) As far as I can see (below) Krugman's
approach supplies nothing new -- bog standard
economic history. Everything he describes is
after the event -- after the fact of urban
centres. Why did they occur? Where did they
occur? When did they occur? He doesn't seem to answer those.
Well, I'll tell you. Almost all major
conurbations lie at what were previously major
ports (even if they're not so busy today), The
remainder are on rivers. In times past they all
had many manufacturing areas and developed major
warehousing (for stuff made in the interior of
the country) and financial sectors. (Clerks alone
were many thousands strong in all large trading
port-cities. Until WW2 every Bill of Sale needed
to be hand-written three times [there was no
other adequate copying method]. One copy went to
the merchant's own bank [wherever it was in the
world], another copy went to the counterparty's
bank [wherever that was], and the last copy went
to a merchant bank in the City of London which
acted as an honest broker between the two parties
(who might be on opposite sides of the earth and,
if it's a first contract between them, couldn't trust one another).
Take this cluster of major trading ports back to
the late middle ages -- the 17th century, say.
There was no globalized trading system. There
were four smaller ones. 1. The low European
countries and the Mediterranean; 2. The
Mediterranean based on Venice-Florence-Genoa 3.
The Arab based on the Red Sea; 4. The Indian
based on the Indian Ocean; 5. The Chinese based
on South-East Asia and islands.
The merchant adventurers of the last three
systems had lateen (steerable) sails on their
boats and could tack against the wind if
necessary and cross oceans. 3 and 4 were not
ready culturally. Chinese merchants, already too
rich for the Emperor's liking, were forbidden to
use their lateen sails. However, when Vasco da
Gama and Christopher Columbus decided to use
lateen sails in order to cross oceans, they
opened the whole world and spelled the end of the five previous systems.
The ports that these sailing ships chose had to
be able to offer safe water to, usually thousands
of boats of all nationalities and sometimes for
weeks if storms raged. This further consolidated
them as cosmopolitan cities where many languages
were spoken. Most of them in Europe became free
cities or city-states -- far more powerful,
financially and militarily than the country around them.
The above, then, are the true beginnings of the
globalized trade system we have today. As we
have more and more automation and as factories
can become smaller and smaller, the bulk of
tomorrow's manufacturing will also take place in the megacities.
Arthur, when are you going to nominate me for the Nobel Prize?
Keith
Krugman's approach is based on the premise that
many goods and services can be produced more
cheaply in long series, a concept generally known
as economies of scale. Meanwhile, consumers
demand a varied supply of goods. As a result,
small-scale production for a local market is
replaced by large-scale production for the world
market, where firms with similar products compete with one another.
Traditional trade theory assumes that countries
are different and explains why some countries
export agricultural products whereas others
export industrial goods. The new theory
clarifies why worldwide trade is in fact
dominated by countries which not only have
similar conditions, but also trade in similar
products for instance, a country such as
Sweden that both exports and imports cars. This
kind of trade enables specialization and
large-scale production, which result in lower
prices and a greater diversity of commodities.
Economies of scale combined with reduced
transport costs also help to explain why an
increasingly larger share of the world
population lives in cities and why similar
economic activities are concentrated in the same
locations. Lower transport costs can trigger a
self-reinforcing process whereby a growing
metropolitan population gives rise to increased
large-scale production, higher real wages and a
more diversified supply of goods. This, in turn,
stimulates further migration to cities.
Krugman's theories have shown that the outcome
of these processes can well be that regions
become divided into a high-technology urbanized
core and a less developed "periphery".
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Weick
Sent: Saturday, December 29, 2012 2:57 PM
To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION
Subject: Re: [Futurework] [Ottawadissenters]
Hey, you gotta watch dem machines...
What I've liked about the many columns and few
books by Krugman that I've read is that, like
me, he doesn't like the growing income gap
between the rich and poor, the growing power of
money, the hollowing out of the economy by the
application of technology and the export of
jobs, and the growth and disenfranchisement of
the poor. While he is an economist, a Nobel
laureate at that, I see him more as a
commentator who is pointing at growing problems
that need attention and consistent work even if
they are very difficult to resolve.
Ed
----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:[email protected]>Arthur Cordell
To:
<mailto:[email protected]>'RE-DESIGNING
WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION'
Sent: Saturday, December 29, 2012 2:33 PM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] [Ottawadissenters]
Hey,you gotta watch dem machines...
But through his incessant trumpeting of outdated
solutions he blocks innovative thinking, new
ideas. Yes he asks some questions but seems to
fear going down the road to possible solutions.
Arthur
From:
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of michael gurstein
Sent: Saturday, December 29, 2012 1:51 PM
To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION'
Subject: Re: [Futurework] [Ottawadissenters]
Hey, you gotta watch dem machines...
But then all we have is the neo-lib conventional
wisdom Economics 101 echo chamber
At least he
asks a few of the right questions
M
From:
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Arthur Cordell
Sent: Saturday, December 29, 2012 10:44 AM
To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,
EDUCATION';
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
Subject: Re: [Futurework] [Ottawadissenters]
Hey, you gotta watch dem machines...
Lets put Krugman out to pasture. He is becoming repetitive and boring.
From:
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Sally Lerner
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2012 3:13 PM
To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,
EDUCATION;
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
Subject: Re: [Futurework] [Ottawadissenters]
Hey, you gotta watch dem machines...
Yes, the bit tax, and basic income as well.
Let's put Krugman in the loop. Sally
----------
From:
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
[[email protected]] on
behalf of Arthur Cordell [[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2012 12:11 PM
To:
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected];
'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION'
Subject: Re: [Futurework] [Ottawadissenters]
Hey, you gotta watch dem machines...
Seems like Krugman is finally beginning to move
away from his learned dogma. Perhaps he has
been reading Keiths postings. In any event
time to think about policies for a digital
economy and time to think again about the bit
tax as a way of distributing the productivity of
a highly automated economy so as to maintain effective demand.
Arthur
From:
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Weick
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2012 7:05 AM
To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME
DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION';
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
Subject: [Ottawadissenters] Hey, you gotta watch dem machines...
Krugman's piece in this morning's NYTimes
appears to take us well into the realm of
science fiction. But then maybe it isn't fiction any more?
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/28/opinion/krugman-is-growth-over.html?hp&_r=0>http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/28/opinion/krugman-is-growth-over.html?hp&_r=0
Ed
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