You also might check out my Invisible Handcuffs where I deal with the same subject.
Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University michael dot perelman at gmail.com Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901 www.michaelperelman.wordpress.com -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Michael Nuwer Sent: Sunday, March 10, 2013 9:35 AM To: Progressive Economics Subject: Re: [Pen-l] Wanted: some good critical discussions of "opportunity cost" I think that one persuasive critique is that "for the opportunity cost doctrine to work, there must always be a fixed stock of everything." The History of Thought website that was once available from the New School had a page that discussed this. It reviewed the late 19th/early 20th century debate among the Austrians and Marshallians. Although the sight is no longer live, I can email a copy of that page. Mark Blaug in his Economic Theory in Retrospect also brings up this point in his discussion of "The Doctrine of Alternative Costs" in Chapter 11. The David Spencer essay referred to by Tom Walker is also a chapter in his book: The Political Economy of Work, (Routledge, 2008) On 3/10/2013 7:03 AM, Jurriaan Bendien wrote: > Dear PEN-Lers, > I wonder whether with your deep knowledge of economics you can help me > out: I am looking for some critical discussions (or critiques) of the > concept of "opportunity cost", i.e. what might be wrong and right about > this concept, and about the application of the concept to problems of > allocating scarce resources. > Is there anything like an evolutionary history of the meanings of the > concept - some trace it to the Austrians (von Wieser), others to D.I. > Green, Robbins, Knight, Wicksteed etc. and even to Bastiat? > Jurriaan > > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
