[PEN-L:5601] Re: Okishio vs. Marx

[John R. Ernst]

On Mon, 19 Jun 1995 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (James Devine) said: 
 
 
>Over the weekend, I tried to send the following to pen-l twice and somehow
it  
>didn't get posted. I hope you don't get two or three copies...  
> 
>In a previous message on this subject, I wrote: >>In fact, I don't find
the  
>Okishio theorem surprising at all.  In a simple single-sector model with
no  
>depreciation, the rate of profit is r = (1 - w/q)y  where q is output per 

>worker and y is output per unit of means of production. If w is constant
and q  
>rises (as Okishio assumes) then r rises.  There are some details in
Okishio  
>that are vaguely interesting, but the main story can be seen in this  
>formula.<< 
> 
>This thought was interrupted by a phone call and therefore unfinished and 

>uncorrected. First, the formula _nets out_ depreciation rather than
leaving it  
>out. It also is _not_ restricted to a single-sector model, since it is
true by  
>definition. What's restricted to a single-sector model is the
interpretation of  
>y as representing the technical coefficient. 
> 
>Second, and more importantly, I left out the fact that Okishio also
assumes  
>that y (output/MP) falls, though his treatment is different formally. This
 
>might counteract the above-mentioned rise in (1 - w/q). But there are good
 
>reasons to suppose that increased use of machinery is associated with
rising  
>productivity, q, such as Kaldor's technical progress function. Indeed
history  
>indicates that q has rising much more than y has fallen, due to
technological  
>change. So my point stands: Okishio's conclusions are not surprising. 
> 
>If, on the other hand, w rises with q (perhaps because of the growing role
of  
>unproductive labor), as in Marx's original constant-rate-of-surplus-value 

>assumption, then a falling y hurts r. So a little bit of manipulation of a
 
>definitional formula summarizes the Okishio literature. We don't need all
of  
>the restrictions that the literature imposes on reality in order to get
these  
>conclusions. 
> 
>in pen-l solidarity, 
> 
>Jim Devine   [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
>Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ., Los Angeles, CA 90045-2699 USA  
>310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950 "Segui il tuo
corso,  
>e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- K. Marx,
 
>paraphrasing Dante A. 
> 
Jim,  
 
I am unclear of what the point of your post is.   Are you saying that one
must look  
at unproductive labor in order to truely evaluate the notion of a falling
rate of profit? 
Are you saying that one can evaluate the arguments of a falling rate of
profit without 
any reference to value?   Are you saying that Marx's CAPITAL contains the
idea of  
an increasing y?
 
To be sure, given the recent technical difficulties on the list I may be
missing part of 
what you are saying or have said.  Hence, I have reproduced your entire
post. 
 
 
  
Cheers, 
 
   John

 
 

[PEN-L:5600] Math 2

[Curtis Moore]

Math & Language 2.

 The controversy between Newton and Leibniz over the
"invention" of the calculus is interesting in this regard and
sheds some light on the subject.  The three greatest mathe-
maticians of all time are generally considered to be Archimedes,
Newton and Gauss.  The crown probably belongs to Newton although
he insisted that he "stood on the shoulders of giants" -- which
is correct.  It is said that Newton worked out his proofs using
his newly invented?/discovered? calculus, but then restated or
translated these proofs into the language of Euclidean geometry. 
Thus the great treatise called _... Principia Mathematica_(1687)
is incredibly obscure because calculus is carried out in the
language of Euclidean geometry.  Why did Newton do such a thing? 
He said he wanted to make it difficult in order to avoid
intellectual squabbling.  However, I suspect that another more
important reason is that he was first and foremost concerned to
demonstrate without question the truth of his theorems.  He
couldn't do this at that time with "calculus" because arithmetic
and calculus were not axiomatized  until after centuries more
work (eventually in axiomatic set theory this century).  However,
Euclidean geometry had been axiomatized by Euclid, was based on
five "transparent" axioms (except the fifth wasn't so trans-
parent) and hence Newton could demonstrate the truth of his
theorems by "translating" calculus into Euclidean geometry,
thereby creating an incredibly exact but obscure treatise.

 Later on there was a huge intellectual dispute over who
"invented" the calculus, Newton or Leibniz.  Leibniz was the one
who invented the language of the caluclus that we use today.  He
took great pains in crafting the language.  For the next hundred
years English mathematicians, out of loyalty to Newton (English
nationalism) attempted to develop the calculus along Newton's
lines and failed.  Rather, further development of the calculus
was carried out on the continent because Leibniz had forged the
superior mathematical symbolism.

 Point -- mathematical languages themselves undergo develop-
ment.  What motivates this development?  The ease in carrying out
proofs and performing calculations.  However, such ease in one
direction (proofs and calculations) does not make for an easy
language to understand.  Rather it makes for a new language to
learn.  On the other hand, the deepest mathematical results are
very often most lucidly explained in ordinary language.  

 There was a linguistic progression in the development of the
symbolism (language) of mathematical logic also.  The first work
on this subject by G. Frege came out in 1879.  The symbolism was
hopelessly obscure. Thus Frege is obscure.  Bertrand Russell
studied under  the Italian mathematician G. Peano for a few years
and adopted Peano's symbolism as the symbolism of his _Principia
Mathematica_ -- like Newton's tome, another obscure work that had
to be gone over by scores of mathematicians and subsequent
generations thereof.  Gerhard Gentzen reformulated Russell's
awkward "symbolic logic" into a system of "natural deduction,"
the way we (i.e., mathematicians) "naturally" reason, the mature
form of mathematical logic today.  

 However, this reasoning is not that "natural" to most of the
species, but must be learned, just  as you have to learn French
if you're an English speaker.  Math majors seem to be so natural-
ly adept at this language that they don't need or bother to study
it formally.  It's sort of a sixth sense for them, even though it
took Bertrand Russell his entire early career to codify the
grammar.  (Should this grammar be taught to everyone, like
English grammar in grade school?  Is this possible or is the
subject too difficult?)  But I have to get on to mathematics in
economics.  I am hardly an expert on this subject, but I did take
a look at mathematical economics once in the 60s and formed an
opinion on it.  Which may be of interest.

Curtis Moore <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

[PEN-L:5599] Re: query

[john rosenthal]

On Mon, 19 Jun 1995 17:01:52 -0700 James Devine said:
>Does anyone know the name of the historian who lost several
>chances to get good jobs (at places like Princeton) because one
>of his rivals discovered a few bad footnotes in his
>dissertation/book on Weimar Germany and the rise of the Nazis?
>what happened to him?

  David Abraham.  Unless his fortunes have since turned, Abraham was
successfully driven out of the profession by Henry Ashby Turner -- not a rival,
but the dean of U.S. historians writing on the relations between "big
business" and the Nazi regime (and, needless to say, in effect an
apologist for the former).  Abraham's *The Collapse of the Weimar
Republic* is a straight-ahead academic exercise with a light influence
of Poulantzas.  I have never understood why it specifically inspired
Turner's wrath.  Last I heard (some years back now), Abraham was in
law school.
 John Rosenthal
 [EMAIL PROTECTED]

[PEN-L:5598] Re: pen-l problems

[Dale Wharton]

When pen-l doesn't arrive for two days running, try this
one-line message--no subject:

set pen-l mail ack

Remember to send it (only) to the automatic list processor,
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

It works for me!
-- _
Dale Wharton  [EMAIL PROTECTED]   MONTREAL   Te souviens-tu?

[PEN-L:5597] query

[James Devine]

Does anyone know the name of the historian who lost several 
chances to get good jobs (at places like Princeton) because one 
of his rivals discovered a few bad footnotes in his 
dissertation/book on Weimar Germany and the rise of the Nazis? 
what happened to him?

sincerely,

Jim Devine   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ., Los Angeles, CA 90045-2699 USA
310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950
"A society is rich when material goods, including capital,
are cheap, and human beings dear."  -- R.H. Tawney.

[PEN-L:5596] Re: false alarm

[Doug Henwood]

Was PEN-L asleep for a few days? Or having an out of body experience?

Anyway, my apologies to Don Roper if my posting about the temporary
snuffing of the Marx/Engels archives appeared alarmist. But given the
environment these days, and given the state of Colorado's less than
pristine reputation when it comes to civil liberties (e.g. Prop 2 and the
densepack of Christian right organizations in Colo Springs), I thought
alarm a pretty reasonable reaction.

And as I said on PKT, now that M/E lives again, thanks to Don & his
colleagues at CSF, without whom the 'net would be a much poorer place.

Doug

--

Doug Henwood
[[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Left Business Observer
250 W 85 St
New York NY 10024-3217
USA
+1-212-874-4020 voice
+1-212-874-3137 fax

[PEN-L:5595] Re: Okishio vs. Marx

[James Devine]

Over the weekend, I tried to send the following to pen-l twice 
and somehow it didn't get posted. I hope you don't get two or 
three copies... 

In a previous message on this subject, I wrote: >>In fact, I 
don't find the Okishio theorem surprising at all.  In a simple 
single-sector model with no depreciation, the rate of profit is 
r = (1 - w/q)y  where q is output per worker and y is output per 
unit of means of production. If w is constant and q rises (as 
Okishio assumes) then r rises.  There are some details in Okishio 
that are vaguely interesting, but the main story can be seen in 
this formula.<<

This thought was interrupted by a phone call and therefore 
unfinished and uncorrected. First, the formula _nets out_ 
depreciation rather than leaving it out. It also is _not_ 
restricted to a single-sector model, since it is true by 
definition. What's restricted to a single-sector model is the 
interpretation of y as representing the technical coefficient.

Second, and more importantly, I left out the fact that Okishio 
also assumes that y (output/MP) falls, though his treatment is 
different formally. This might counteract the above-mentioned 
rise in (1 - w/q). But there are good reasons to suppose that 
increased use of machinery is associated with rising 
productivity, q, such as Kaldor's technical progress function. 
Indeed history indicates that q has rising much more than y has 
fallen, due to technological change. So my point stands: 
Okishio's conclusions are not surprising.

If, on the other hand, w rises with q (perhaps because of the 
growing role of unproductive labor), as in Marx's original 
constant-rate-of-surplus-value assumption, then a falling y 
hurts r. So a little bit of manipulation of a definitional 
formula summarizes the Okishio literature. We don't need all of 
the restrictions that the literature imposes on reality in 
order to get these conclusions.

in pen-l solidarity,

Jim Devine   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ., Los Angeles, CA 90045-2699 USA
310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950
"Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way
and let people talk.) -- K. Marx, paraphrasing Dante A.

[PEN-L:5594] pen-l problems

[Michael Perelman]

A number of people are not receiving pen-l, they say.  If you happen to
run into any of them, tell them that we have not been able to identify
a problem at our end.
-- 
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 916-898-5321
E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]

[PEN-L:5593] Solicitation of Articles: "Latest Developments in Marxist Theory"

[Paul Zarembka]

Solicitation of Papers

RESEARCH IN POLITICAL ECONOMY

Volume 15

edited by Paul Zarembka and Ajit Sinha
SUNY at Buffalo, USA, and University of Newcastle, Australia

"Latest Developments in Marxist Theory"

The intent of this special issue is to bring together serious intellectual
work in the latest developments in Marxist Theory, broadly interpreted.  
The RESEARCH is an annual volume, published since 1977 by JAI Press, 
Greenwich, Connecticut, and is able to publish articles as long as fifty
pages in print.  We would be particularly interested in more comprehensive
work, rather than shorter pieces, but would be prepared to entertain all
proposals.  We have a commitment for a paper on Marx and Kalecki by Bruce
MacFarlane, but do not want to thereby suggest any delimitation to "economic"
issues only.

Show of interest deadline: July 31, 1995

Submission of Paper deadline: October 31, 1995

Respond to either Paul Zarembka, [EMAIL PROTECTED], or 
  Ajit Sinha, [EMAIL PROTECTED] 

[PEN-L:5592] CALL FOR PAPERS FOR MEMBERS

[Ortiz Calisto Edgar-FCPS]

Dear friends:

Please distribute the enclosed Call for Papers among your 
subscribers. I would appreciate your help in this matter.

Sincerely,

Edgar Ortiz

  CALL FOR PAPERS

THIRD INTERNATIONAL MEETING
 INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR INTERCOMMUNICATION OF NEW IDEAS (ISINI)

Boston, MA
August 24-26, 1995

 ISINI is an International Society of scholars and humanists
from over 50 countries, concerned with the advancement of
economic and financial thought, particularly its applications to
economic development, economic adjustment, and transition
economics.

 Its Third International meeting will be held at Northeastern
University at Boston, MA, August 24-26.

 Sessions on the following topics are being organized;
Economic Calculation; Transition from Socialism to Capitalism;
The New Economic Order; Economic Integration; Future Problems of
the European Community; International Monetary Reform; Strengths
and Weaknesses of Modern Capitalism; Problems of Poverty and
Economic Development; Economic and Financial Instability; Crisis
and Economic Adjustment Policies in the Developing Countries;
Financial Markets and Innovations; Foreign Debt; International
Capital Flows; Emerging Capital Markets in the Developing
Countries and Former Socialist Countries, Mexico's Economic and
Financial Crisis, etc. Papers on similar topics are welcome.

 The application form is enclosed below.

HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS:

 Group rates for ISINI:

  Single   Double   Children 
 
THE MIDTOWN HOTEL$92.00   $99.00Und 12 free
 Tel (617) 262-1000
 Fax (617) 262-8739
BACK BAY HILTON  $125.00  $125.00Any age free
 Tel (617) 236-1100
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COPLEY SQUARE HOTEL
 Tel (617) 536-9000  $115.00  $135.00Und 17 free
 Fax (617) 421-1489 

 Please make your own reservations.

 REGISTRATION FORM

THIRD INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS- ISINI
BOSTON, MA
AUGUST 24-26, 1995

1. NAME AND HOME ADDRESS 

2. TELEPHONE, FAX, E-MAIL

3. AFFILIATION & ADDRESS

4. TITLE OF PAPER

5. REGISTRATION FEE:

 US$60.00 up to June 15, 1995
 US$80.00 thereafter

   (Please send personal checks, traveler's checks, money
orders drawn ONLY TO AN AMERICAN BANK. We cannot accept any form
of credit cards).

6. Wife/Husband or guest participant:

 Name:
   (There will be a charge of US$10.00 with the right to
attend meetings and functions).

7. Would you be a discussant?Yes  No

8. Please return with this Registration Form an Abstract of your
paper, if ready.

9. Signature and date.

Return this Form and Registration fee to:

 ISINI
 Anghel N. Rugina, President
 145 Moss Hill Road
 Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 USA

 Tel: (617) 524-4580

 Fax: Print House
  to: Anghel N. Rugina
  (617) 522-2044

  (Indicate is a fax for Prof. Rugina).   
 
 Inquires:

 Edgar Ortiz
 Vice President, ISINI
 Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

[PEN-L:5589] militias: tools of the devil?

[Doug Henwood]

Apologies for the multiple postings, but I think this is important.

Maybe it's just the onset of summer heat, but I feel an urge to be
perverse. Lots of folks on the left, from liberals leftward, have expressed
great alarm about the growth of "right" populism of the sort that finds its
most extreme expression in the militias.

Now of course many of these people are truly scary. But are we right to
condemn them all? I had Jeff St Clair - former union organizer now radical
enviro, editor of the Wild Forest Review, co-author of pieces in this and
next week's Village Voice (with Ridgeway), and collaborator with and source
for Alex Cockburn - on my radio show the other night. St Clair argued that
"we" (the left, whatever that is) would be making a terrible mistake by
writing lots of these folks off, or worse, calling the FBI out on them.
Take the example of the ranchers, with their subsidized grazing lands.
Urban elitists, me once among them, treat them with scorn. But St Clair
points out that most of them are very marginal, economically, laboring
under big mortgages that they attempt to service with meager cash flows. If
their grazing fees went up, they'd be ruined. The land would then fall into
the hands of oil and gold interests, who would rape and pillage it. St
Clair says the ranchers could be important allies for enviros - they're
people with a deep attachment to the land who would take care of it far
better than American Barrick, the Canadian-based gold company. The right
courts them; the "left" demonizes them; and the elite enviro establishment
would like to put them out of business and turn the whole area into a park.
The latter preference is a symptom of the elite enviros' fundamental
Malthusianism. It's ironic that much of the big enviro organizations are
funded by fortunes made in oil (Rockefeller, Pew, W Alton Jones); they're
taking their billions made from wrecking the earth and its atmosphere and
are mounting the moral high ground with it.

More broadly, St Clair says, the politics of lots of the "populists" is
anti-corporate and anti-authoritarian. Because most of what they hear is
from vile agitators, their instincts are often channelled in boneheaded
anti-government and anti-Semitic directions. If instead of demonizing them,
the "left" tried to talk to them, then that might change.

The worst attitude is that expressed by Michael Kelly in his New Yorker
piece last week - patronizing contempt for what he called "fusion
paranoia," a label he applied to anyone who thought that there's a
political/business/media ruling class that essentially runs things despite
the outward appearance of democratic rule and is willing to do treacherous
things to sustain their rule. Certainly there's plenty of low-rent
conspiracy theorizing around that infects both left and right, but there's
a core of truth to it that Kelly can't see, lap dog of the ruling class
that he is.

Doug

--

Doug Henwood
[[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Left Business Observer
250 W 85 St
New York NY 10024-3217
USA
+1-212-874-4020 voice
+1-212-874-3137 fax

[PEN-L:5588] Re: Marx site

[Doug Henwood]

At 11:37 AM 6/18/95, Gary F. Langer wrote:

>I just revved up my WWW browser and pointed it at
>
>http://csf.colorado.edu/psn/marx/
>
>The Marx/Engels archive appears live and well.
>
>--Gary Langer
>

This is good news. Hope it stays that way.

I apologize if my intial note sounded alarmist, but these are dark times,
and coming only days after the Senate approved the appalling Exon bill,
alarm was both my instinctive and reasoned reaction. Besides, Colorado,
after Prop 2 and as home to many leading organizations of the Christian
right, doesn't have a reputation as the most tolerant of states, so my
alarm was deepened.

Alarm passed, several words of thanks to the folks at CSF, who keep an
excellent thing going. The 'net would be a much poorer place without you.

Doug

--

Doug Henwood
[[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Left Business Observer
250 W 85 St
New York NY 10024-3217
USA
+1-212-874-4020 voice
+1-212-874-3137 fax

[PEN-L:5587] Ithaca HOURS

[LYNN TURGEON, PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF ECONOMICS, HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY, [EMAIL PROTECTED]]

While driving home from Ann Arbor recently, I stopped over in Ithaca to
investigate the "Ithaca Hour,"about which there had been some information on my
modem.  I had just completed a little account of Franklin Roosevelt's decision
to reflate the United States economy in the fall of 1933 by raising the buying
price of gold from $20.67 to $35 per ounce.(available on request by snail-mail)
FDR had reject ed the advice of the economics establishment and relied instead
on George "Rubber dollar" Warren, an obscure agricultural economist at Cornell,
who with Frank Pearson, had drawn an historical correlation between the price
of gold and the general price level.
I wondered if there was any connection between the experience of Warren
coming out of Ithaca and the more recent experience with what some traditional
economistswould call "funny money."  My first clue in discovering and talking
with Paul Glover, who is the guru of the local currency movement, was outside
the HOURs bank located in the Autumn Leaves bookstore, where a local described
Glover as the man whno gets around on his bicycle. There was a sign in the
bookstore window indicating that the store would change Ithaca Hours into five
denominations, with an HOUR worth $10, the going rate for an hour of labor in
various services, such as carpentry, plumbing, gardening and baby-sitting.
The experiment with local money has been going on for 3 and one-half
years and Glover is already making sure that Ithaca's paper curency can't be
counterfeited.  The next day I picked up a copy of the June-July issue of
Ithaca Money, outside the Alternative Federal Credit Union. This 12-page
Newspaper lists roughly 1200 local services which can be purchased with
"hours." Certain things such as rent can be partially paid for in the local
currency.  Professionals such as acupuncturists,chiropractors, electricians,and
massage therapists are advertising for customers and will accept this local
currency.  I asked Glover whether there were any doctors who would accept
"hours," but he said that their one doctor had retired.  I noticed that almost
a dozen lawyers were advertising their services.
I also asked Glover whether he was familiar with the earlier experience
with "rubber dollar" Warren, but he was completedly unaware of his predecessor.
He also expressed worry for fear that too great a supply of HOURS would
contribute to inflation in Ithaca. Apparently he has been suitably brainwashed
by monetarist thinking.  He claims that local money is real money, backed by
real people, real time and skills and that United States dollars are"funny
money" no longer backed by gold or silver and "less than nothing - 4.2 trillion
dollars in national debt."
My own interpretation of this experience is that it makes sense in any
community that is plagued by excess capacity and disguised unemployment.  If
there is excess capacity in the local community, this addition to the money
supply will put local resources to work, raise total income and tax revenue
(since such income is taxable). If your community seems to fit this
description, I would recommend sending away for a starter kit selling jfor 2.5
HOURS or $25.  Write to Ithaca Money, Box 6578, Ithaca, New York 14851.  Glover
claims to have sent over 300 kits to communities in 45 states so far.
Since returning home, I wa watching a C-Span program on the 21st
century economy, where Alvin Toffler was asked whether the Federal  Reserve
might represent second wave thinking similar to that found in our mass
production industries. He seemed to be givingthe green light for localities to
take money creation into their own hands in his Third Wave. Can his friend,
Newt, be far behind?  Lynn

[PEN-L:5586] RE: Clinton's "balanced budget"

[glenn rayp]

 From raypg  Mon Jun 19 13:14:05 1995
Return-Path: 
Date: Mon, 19 Jun 1995 13:27:51 wdt
From: raypg@[EMAIL PROTECTED] (glenn rayp)
content-length: 4175

>
>Glenn Rayp of the University of Antwerp writes: 
>>>... a good reason for reducing the US federal budget deficit 
>would be the balance of payments deficit ...  This is 
>comprehensible though. As the U.S. can finance almost any BOP 
>deficit it likes, it is mainly a problem for the rest of the 
>world.  As a matter of fact, by reducing the budget deficit, 
>you're solving at your expenses Europe's, if not Japan's 
>problems.<<
>
>I don't understand this last point. If the US has a 
>deficit on the balance of trade and on the current 
>account (not on the B/P which is usually close to 
>balanced under floating exchange rates), then it's 
>creating demand for the goods and services of the rest 
>of the world. That is, the US is giving the world 
>Keynesian stimulus, which seems pretty important in an 
>era with so many recessionary impulses (including what 
>I've called competitive austerity programs). If the US 
>suddenly balanced its trade, it would push the world 
>into depression. The non-US world then in effect lends 
>money to the US and receives interest for this loan.  
>
>The only complaint I can see is that the US fiscal and current 
>account deficits impose unduly high interest rates on the world. 
>But the non-US lenders gain from these interest rates. 
>
>Maybe I'm leaving something out? 
>
>Also, I'm not convinced that the US can finance any deficit it 
>wants. The dollar might lose its status as the main world reserve 
>currency.
>
>Finally, the question was about balancing the budget, not 
>reducing the deficit. The latter is a more moderate version of 
>the former. 
>
I fully agree concerning with your point on the Keynesian stimulus of the
current account deficit, but I have some doubts about its importance
(is the US still that big that it can drag the world into a recession ?
I don't know if it ever had that power since the fifties) especially with
respect to the main mechanism by which US domestic questions
influence the world economy, viz. the dollar.
Monetary shocks (in our free mobile capital world), due to a very floating
dollar have much more impact on the rest of the world than the expenditure
level in the U.S.  Wouldn't you agree that monetary stability is a 
precondition for an effective, internationally coordinated, Keynesian
fiscal expansion (which requires more or less equilibriated foreign
accounts and synchronised business cycles), rather than to lean on 
the (unsustainable) "efforts" of individual countries ?
I admit that there are better ways to achieve monetary stability than
to reduce or balance the US budget (you're right on that one too : balancing
the current account does not require a balanced budget,
but with such a tenacious current account deficit and a low budget
deficit in GDP terms, US fiscal effort would bring it pretty close to it),
e.g., fiscal expansion in the rest of the world (Europe in particular),
which was also the point of view of at least the Bush and Reagan
administrations.
But to the extent that the US reduce their deficit in
balancing their budget and to the extent that this implies a reduction
of the current account deficit,  the rest of the world might gain from
greater monetary stability (allowing interest rate reductions, more trade
and growth, e.g. within a relatively closed European economic area, as 
the exchange rates with respect to the German Mark would stabilise; who
knows, even the Bundesbank might be inclined to cut interest rates). 
In that sense it seemed to me that the US was solving "our" problems
at it's proper expenses.
There is of course no reason why the US should bother about the rest of
the world. And why should a current account deficit be balanced if it can
so easily be financed ?  Perhaps I exaggerated on this last one : without
recalling immediately the exact figures, I don't think that the US foreign
debt position is particularly bad, but worsening rapidly indeed since more
than ten years.  Yet, stating that a problem of financing the
current account deficit is coming up soon for the US, would imply
that a recession in the U.S. makes sense after all ?


Glenn Rayp
University of Antwerp
([EMAIL PROTECTED])


Glenn Rayp
University of Antwerp
([EMAIL PROTECTED])

[PEN-L:5584] Re: Joan Robinson quote

[Mike Gurstein]

Over coffee (she had tea) in the Sedgewick St. buttery.

Regs

Mike Gurstein

On Tue, 13 Jun 1995, Doug Henwood wrote:

> While we're on the subject of things Joan Robinson may or may not have
> said, did she actually say that since she never learned math she had to
> learn to think instead? If so, where?
> 
> Doug
> 
> --
> 
> Doug Henwood
> [[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Left Business Observer
> 250 W 85 St
> New York NY 10024-3217
> USA
> +1-212-874-4020 voice
> +1-212-874-3137 fax
> 
> 
> 

[PEN-L:5583] false alarm

[Don Roper]

   >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Doug Henwood)
   To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
   Subject: Marx site

   According to some postings on the Marxism list, the hosts of PKT and
   the PEN-L archives at the University of Colorado, have shut down the
   Marx/Engels archive. Apparently there was a mention in Fortune
   magazine that upset some folks in power. I've yet to hear the
   University's side of things, but if true, this is rather
   alarming. Marx today; post-Keynesians and "progressive economists"
   tomorrow?

The 'folks in power' is me and "the University's side of things"
is likely the same as mine which is the following:

The remarks in Fortune (6/12 p. 32) increased daily visits to the
library fivefold, which was not surprising.  But towards the end of last
week, we started having thousands of visits to the Marx library from
local Colorado visitors.  Thinking the visitors were from the local
mountain militia :) I decided to make the library invisible until this
unfriendly curiosity subsided.  I later learned that someone in our
computer center was experimenting with new search software that gathers
and caches names of directories and subdirectories from web sites like
csf.  Since he is familiar with csf and knew that the Marx library has
an elaborate directory structure, he was using the library to test the
software.  So 3000+ entries in our web logs 'from local visitors' proved
to be a joke on me unintentionally played by a friend in the computer
center -- his timing was extraordinary.

The library is again visible and for those of you who don't know, 
the url is  http://csf.colorado.edu/psn/marx 
and it can be reached by gopher and ftp as well. 

Contrary to Fortune, it does not yet contain "the complete works" since
most of Capital is not included.  It does, however, contain 385
subdirectories and files, some of which is material that is otherwise
difficult to find.  I've attached a list of files and directories
below.  All entries ending with a slash are directories and the numbers
are in blocks (500 bytes=1block).  Many of the abbreviated file names
are elaborated when viewed through gopher and web browsers.

Enjoy,

... don roper

 current listing of the ME Library 

  30 -ME.update.May5
   2 1837-pre.RZ/
  22 1842-Augsburg
   2 1843-Ruge/
   2 1844-EPManuscripts/
  70 1844-Intro.Hegel
 152 1844-Jewish.Q
  96 1844-King.Prussia
  10 1845-Feuerbach.theses
  98 1847-Com.Principles
   2 1847-Communist.League/
   2 1847-Pov.Philosophy/
  14 1848-Free.Poland
   2 1848-Free.Trade/
   2 1848-Manifesto/
   2 1849-Wage.Labor.Capital/
  28 1850-17c.England
  34 1853-Scot.clearings
   2 1857-Intro.CPE/
   2 1858-Grundrisse/
   2 1858-Pre.Capitalist.Ec/
   2 1864-International/
   2 1867-Capital/
  24 1867-Poland.Russia
   2 1868-Capital.synopsis/
  14 1869-Landed.prop
   2 1871-Civil.War.France/
  36 1871-Interview.World
  58 1871-Jenny.Marx
  18 1872-On.Authority
  98 1875-Gotha.critique
   2 1877-Soc.Utopian.Sci/
  12 1879-German.reformists
  50 1879-Interview.Tribune
  42 1882-Early.Christianity
  12 1883-Highgate.burial
   2 1886-German.philosophy/
   2 1894-Peasant.Q/
   2 1895-Law.of.Value/
   2 OTHERS/

../1837-pre.RZ:
total 48
  18 1836.11-Jenny
   6 1836.12-Feelings
   6 1836.12-My.World
  10 1837-Wild.Songs
   8 1837.02-Transformation

../1843-Ruge:
total 54
   6 1843-March
  30 1843-May
  18 1843-September

../1844-EPManuscripts:
total 40
   2 1st.Manuscript/
  36 2nd.Manuscript
   2 3rd.Manuscript/

../1844-EPManuscripts/1st.Manuscript:
total 200
  66 1-Labor.wages
   2 2-Cap.profit/
  68 3-Land.rent
  64 4-Estranged.labor

../1844-EPManuscripts/1st.Manuscript/2-Cap.profit:
total 82
   6 1-Capital
  16 2-Capital.profit
   6 3-Capital.rule
  54 4-Capital.accum

../1844-EPManuscripts/3rd.Manuscript:
total 300
  20 1-Property.Labor
  68 2-Property.Commu
  86 3-Div.Labor
  22 4-Money
 104 5-Hegel

../1847-Communist.League:
total 198
   8 1846-Marx.Proudhon.letter
  10 1846-Weitling.letter
  32 1850-June.address
  52 1850-March.address
  96 1885-League.history

../1847-Pov.Philosophy:
total 4
   2 1-Sci.Discovery/
   2 2-Pol.Econ.Metaphysics/

../1847-Pov.Philosophy/1-Sci.Discovery:
total 208
  56 1.1
 150 1.2
   2 1.3/

../1847-Pov.Philosophy/1-Sci.Discovery/1.3:
total 100
  44 1.3a
  56 1.3b

../1847-Pov.Philosophy/2-Pol.Econ.Metaphysics:
total 294
  92 2.1
  74 2.2
  40 2.3
  50 2.4
  38 2.5

../1848-Free.Trade:
total 148
  78 FTrade.intro
  70 FTrade.speech

../1848-Manifesto:
total 164
   2 CM0-prefaces/
  64 CM1
  42 CM2
  48 CM3
   8 CM4

../1848-Manifesto/CM0-prefaces:
total 70
   8 1872-German
   8 1882-Russian
   6 1883-German
  24 1888-English
  24 1890-German

../1849-Wage.Labor.Capital:
total 198
  44 0-Introduction
  12 1-Preliminary
  20 2-What.Are.Wages
  22 3-Commodity.Price
   8 4-Wage.Price
  14 5-Capital
  20 6-Labor.and.Capital
  14 7-Wages.and.Profit
  18 8-Opposition
  26 9-Competition

../1857-Intro.CPE:
total 154
  30 1-Product

[PEN-L:5582] Re: Growth and Employment Query (fwd)

[Mike Gurstein]

This issue was not raised in the Basic Income/Guaranteed Income discussion 
on Futurework but is 
very pertinent.  The definitions of employment/unemployment and thus 
presumably entitlements to benefits differ from country to country.  Also 
the way in which employment is structured may vary depending on such 
things as tax laws, local practices, availablity of certain benefits.  
Finally how employment/unemployment statistics are developed may be an 
artifact of different approaches to measurement/counting.

In certain environments paid income (ie. employment/entitlements income) 
may be only a fraction of the family's "livelihood".  Since most 
incomes/employment related policy is tied into national statistics in 
these areas, which are increasingly being placed in international 
comparative tables, the problem of measurement becomes of great 
significance.  Matters of conceptual clarity are even more basic, more 
difficult and more important.

I think what is needed are comparative measures of individual/family 
"well-being" along the lines of the UN Development Programs Human 
Development Index as bases for comparative tables and as guides to 
internal policy making rather than unemployment indices for example.

Mike Gurstein

-- Forwarded message --
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 08:19:45 -0700
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [PEN-L:5458] Re: Growth and Employment Query

I do not know about Spain but the employment statistics for Greece can be 
quite misleading. This is because many skilled workers from brick layers 
to carpenters, plumbers etc. are "contractors" so as to avoid payroll 
deductions for income taxes, etc. 

Louis Lefeber [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Department of Economics   Office: (416) 736-5083
York University, Toronto.Fax: (416) 736-5737
CANADAM3J 1P3

[PEN-L:5581] top central banker says squeeze away!

[Doug Henwood]

Excerpts from the speech by W.F. Duisenberg, chair and president of the
Bank for International Settlements, to the BIS's annual meeting, Basel,
June 12, 1995:


   Finally, I should like to say something about the core activity of
central banks, namely monetary policy. This is especially pertinent now as
many countries are at, or are approaching, a stage of the economic cycle at
which mistakes were sometimes made in the past. This time, however, two new
factors are present which should work in the right direction. In several
countries which are furthest ahead in the cycle [this is the IMF/central
banker of describing the predominantly English-speaking countries,
especially the US - DH] interest rates have been raise at an earlier stage
than in the past. Secondly, some progress has been made with policies
designed to increase the flexibility of goods and labour markets. The
remarkable strength of the US bond market so far this year also suggests
that market participants have interpreted the recent indicators as
portending the end of above-trend growth there.
   Nevertheless, in my view it is too early to declare the battle won.
There are clear signs that the trough in inflation has been passed, as
cyclical boosts to productivity growth are fading in some countries and
demand pressures have risen. At the same time some import cost pressures
have started to make themselves felt in countries whose currencies have
depreciated. In Europe the high levels of structural unemployment are
unlikely to exert much dampening effect in labour markets, and some
instances of incipient cost-push pressures have already been seen.
   Success in preventing a revival of inflation in the present cycle would
of course be a good thing in its own right. But it would also help to
bolster the credibility of monetary policy for the future, and with it the
prospects for keeping inflation under control


Doug

--

Doug Henwood
[[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Left Business Observer
250 W 85 St
New York NY 10024-3217
USA
+1-212-874-4020 voice
+1-212-874-3137 fax

[PEN-L:5578] Marx site

[Doug Henwood]

According to some postings on the Marxism list, the hosts of PKT and the
PEN-L archives at the University of Colorado, have shut down the
Marx/Engels archive. Apparently there was a mention in Fortune magazine
that upset some folks in power. I've yet to hear the University's side of
things, but if true, this is rather alarming. Marx today; post-Keynesians
and "progressive economists" tomorrow?

Doug

--

Doug Henwood
[[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Left Business Observer
250 W 85 St
New York NY 10024-3217
USA
+1-212-874-4020 voice
+1-212-874-3137 fax

[PEN-L:5577] French Tests

[bill mitchell]

I take it that not many in the northern hemisphere are
particularly interested in the French Govt plan to 
start testing their nuclear weapons in the South Pacific again.

well in OZ and NZ we are very concerned. The latest for those
who might like to keep up with this (and i am not going to do
a Trond and provide a day by day account of things - not that
his reports on the europe vote were not appreciated - rather
it comes down to time) is:

(a) the French embassy in Perth, Australia was burned down last
night by unknown activists.

i concluded that the match and petrol were allocated in a highly
socially beneficial manner.

(b) OZ govt. is reacting to the outrage in OZ and is now planning
to initially put at least $A1 billion of imports on the banned list.
finally they have woken up and are reflecting our sentiments.

meanwhile back at the ranch, i noted pres. clinton and his spouse 
providing a very friendly welcome to chirac the other day in the US.
the unions would not have let him land over here had he tried to visit
us.  strange juxtaposition - the reactions by the north and south. clinton
is a democrat isn't he?

kind regards
bill
 ##William F. Mitchell
   ###     Head of Economics Department
 # University of Newcastle
   New South Wales, Australia
   ###*E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
   ### Phone: +61 49 215065
#  ## ### +61 49 215027
   Fax:   +61 49 216919  
  ##  
WWW Home Page: http://econ-www.newcastle.edu.au/~bill/billyhp.html   

[PEN-L:5576] re: afl-cio

[Bill Briggs]

Sexism, racism, statis-quo-ism.

All accurate observations.

Indirect elections do not wokr and as long as the afl-cio has indirect 
elections ,  severe problems will continue.
Union democracy is a lot like stockholder democracy--
nice in concept but very, very difficult in practice.
This is due to the communications problems - the loarger the organization,
the less llikely the voter [whether a union member or a stockholder]
actually feels they have the facts necesary to make an informed decision.
so status quo wins out.


Still, *major* change will occur.
The derided afl-cio *staffers* are very compitant,
 and if their energies are released, as will happen for a while,
 due to the lack of a *firm hand at the top*,
 many glaring and obvious changes will be made by them.



Nat. Ass. of Letter CarriersBill Briggs  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
unionists subscribe  publabor at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
subscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED]

[PEN-L:5575] urgent action (fwd)

[D Shniad]

>   June 15, 1995
> --
>   URGENT ACTION - GUATEMALA - URGENT ACTION -
> -MAQUILA
> ORGANIZER ABDUCTED, RAPED, BEATEN  AND THREATENED
> 
> Dear Friends,
> 
> We have received news from Marta Torres, presently attending the
> "Jornadas Sindicales 21 de Junio" trade union conference in Guatemala,
> and from the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala
> (NISGUA) that Flor de Maria Salguero, a member of the Women's Committee
> of the Food and Allied Workers -COMFUITAG (an affiliate of the FESTRAS
> labour federation of food workers) in Guatemala City, was at gunpoint
> forced off a bus taking her to work at 8 a.m. on May 17th by two armed
> men who made her drink a liquid from a green bottle. Her vision was
> almost immediately affected and she became dizzy.  She was taken some
> distance to a house, forced into a room and thrown onto a bed.  She was
> beaten in the ribs and on the legs, hit with the gun handle .  She was
> then held by one man and raped by another- three times.  Afterwards,
> they beat her some more, grabbing her by the hair and grabbing her
> right breast violently, covering her mouth so she could not scream.
> Then they put her in a shower and apparently left.  Af
> 
> She left the house and made her way to Zone 1 in Guatemala City,
> vomiting once on the bus and still suffering from dizziness and
> cloudiness of vision.  A friend helped her to the FESTRAS office.  She
> was taken to the office of Tierra Viva where she received medical
> attention.
> 
> On May 29th in the evening she received a telephone call from a male
> caller who asked in a disguised voice: "Did you like the nice thing
> that we did to you?"  She promptly hung up.  She received another call
> on June 7th in the same disguised voice.
> BACKGROUND
> Since mid-March, Flor de Maria has been receiving frequent death
> threats at her home.   The COMFUITAG office in Guatemala has also been
> under surveillance.   One of the various phone calls that Flor de Maria
> received was made in an Asian language; another later death threat was
> made in Spanish.  Still another call was an audio tape on which sounds
> of a person in distress were played.  Then she was threatened again.
> 
> For the last two years, Flor de Maria's work has been helping to
> organize young women in the maquila sector, most of them Korean-owned.
> She also has been active in focusing international attention on the
> violations of workers' rights in the maquiladoras.  Last year she
> attended U.S. Congressional hearings on working conditions in Central
> America and also met with striking textile workers in Pennsylvania
> whose jobs were being threatened by low wages and lack of unions in
> Guatemala.
> 
> One of the Korean maquilas which Flor de Maria has been helping to
> organize is "Modas Juana".  Working conditions in the maquilas are
> flagrant violations of labour rights.  In mid-1994, a group of women
> between 15 and 23 years old resigned from their jobs due to the sexual
> harassment in the factory.
> 
> Because of the earlier threats, COMFUITAG presented Flor de Maria's
> case to the Ombudsman's office in Guatemala and to MINUGUA (United
> Nations Mission to Guatemala).  The Legal Action Center for the Defense
> of Human Rights -CALDH- presented the case at the Organization of
> American States -OAS- asking them to request the Guatemalan government
> to implement precautionary measures to protect Flor de Maria Salguero's
> life.
> 
> The Jornadas Sindicales conference is to commemorate the National Day
> Against Enforced Disappearances on June 21st.  On this date in 1980, 27
> trade union leaders were disappeared, and they have not been located.
> Flor has been attending.  She is already known to some B.C. trade
> unionists from having met them at last year's conference.  This year,
> Canadians from the Health Sciences Association, United Steel Workers,
> Hotel and Restaurant Workers' Union,  Central America Support Committee
> and Christian Task Force On Central America are participating in the
> conference. Participants from Central America, United States and Canada
> are coming together to discuss the reality of their situations and to
> promote solidarity.
> Flor de Maria Salguero has decided to go public with the details of her
> rape and is calling on individuals and organizations internationally
> for support.
> RECOMMENDED ACTION
> 
> Please send messages to the Guatemalan government, requesting that she
> receive all necessary protection and that a rapid investigation into
> the threats and violence against her be made. Urge that the
> perpetrators be apprehended.
> 
> It is useful to inform the government that you are contacting the
> Canadian government about this case.
> 
> Please send copies to the Korean ambassador in Ottawa.
> 
> If you are trying to F

[PEN-L:5574] Censored: Marx/Engels WWW Archive

[Eric Nilsson]

Forwarded from another list -- perhaps of interest.

> 
> This is a note, for those who notice the M/E Archive, both gopher and WWW 
> version, is now gone. It has been disabled, at least temporarily, by the 
> computer administrators at the University of Colorado.
> 
> The M/E Library has been around for coming on two years or so. It was given
> life through the generosity of some elements at the University of Colorado,
> allowing me to store in a handy place all the ascii texts of M/E works I was
> uploading to netnews and lists. It is entirely the product of volunteer
> effort. No Colorado money has ever gone into it -- except in providing some
> disk space and bandwidth, for people to access it. 
> 
> And people have accessed it. I have received email from people around the
> world -- North America, South America, Europe, Russia, North Africa and
> Australia. Students have found it valuable to be able to get copies of M/E
> texts that are more obscure than Capital; and scholars and working people can
> import these texts into word processes and do comprehensive searches of
> subjects/words. 
> 
> Recently, Fortune magazine mentioned the site -- in a slightly derogatory
> manner, which is not unexpected. However, this has apparently brought the
> site to the attention of various Colorado University elites. The site is now
> down -- if only temporarily. Apparently Karl Marx is still a dangerous 
> man.  He's not politically correct in Republican states, at least.
> 
> To prevent anything like this ever happening again, I am interested in
> setting up the archive in various mirror sites around the world.  Ideally, at
> least one site in Europe, one in Australasia, and one in North America. That
> way it takes the load off a single system and means it can never be censored
> unilaterally. 
> 
> I'd appreciate hearing from people with the resources to house such a thing.
> One site would act as the "main site" at which M/E archivists would work,
> while the mirror sites would simply run update programs every two weeks or
> so. The site, since becoming WWWeb-ized, is naturally larger -- pix take up
> space and bandwidth. 
> 
> Thanks for listening.
> 
> Piping Marx & Engels into cyberspace,
> Ken.
> 
> 
> 
>  --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
> 
> 
Eric Nilsson
Department of Economics
California State University
San Bernardino, CA 92407
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

[PEN-L:5571] Re: language & math

[Paul Cockshott]

The discussion of whether the falling rate of profit is true
under different assumptions of wage rates seems to me beside
the point. What one should be looking at is not micro
phenomena like that but macro dynamics. A sufficient condition
for the rate of profit to have a declining upper bound, is
that capital accumulates faster than the growth of the 
pool of exploitable labour.

When this occurs the rate of profit does decline, and in
periods of stagnation - when capital accumulation is often
negative - it does not.

The maths required to demonstrate this do not go beyond 
elementary differential calculus - but one does not even
need this to see the argument.

[PEN-L:5570] Sraffa 101

[Jim Jaszewski]

'Enlighten' me on what these 'Sraffans' are about...


In the introduction to 'Ricardo, Marx, Sraffa', Ernest Mandel sez: 

I. Rubin, the most brilliant of the Russian Marxist economists, answered
that if one does not start from the *social relations of production* that
underlie commodity production, one will fail to understand why value
analysis is needed. 

In another passage, Mandel sez:

Langston sought to break free of a crippling constraint imposed on the 
study of value-price transformation by von Bortkiewicz type models, as 
generalized by later authors, if used to model a real capitalist economy: 
namely that they abstract from economic movement in *time*. 

(above emphasis mine)

What he is saying, is that the 'neo-Ricardians'/Sraffans/whatever
are, _RIGHT_ from the beginning of their analyses, making (at least) TWO
*cardinal* mistakes: 

1) They are leaving human relations out of their equations and
fixating on 'the economy' as the end-all and be-all of the matter, as if
it were some kind of machine existing outside of, and unnecessarily
related to human activity (machina ex homo??  :). 
 
This, in my opinion is 'positivist reductionism' (proper term?  :)
at its best/worst... 

2) Their analyses, in the best bourgeois manner, fixate on some
mythological 'equilibrium' of the economy and *totally* ignore the
*fundamental* fact of _change in time_.  Which is, of course, one of the
fundaments of DIALECTICS (not to mention reality...). 

Am I far off the mark??|>



__

Jim Jaszewski <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

WWW Homepage: 
__

[PEN-L:5569] Re: language

[Doug Henwood]

At 1:54 PM 6/15/95, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

>Example of a necessarily true claim about capitalism, and its
>(necessarily?) mathematical underpinnings:  the "Fundamental Marxian
>theorem" shows that the rate of profit (or interest) is positive if
>and only if the rate of exploitation is positive.  The proof involves
>use of the Frobenius theorem of matrix algebra.

So if it's "true" and proveable, then why isn't the mainstream convinced?

Doug

--

Doug Henwood
[[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Left Business Observer
250 W 85 St
New York NY 10024-3217
USA
+1-212-874-4020 voice
+1-212-874-3137 fax

[PEN-L:5567]

[John Exdell]

tell listserv unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED]

[PEN-L:5566] RRPE Editor Position Announcement

[Ann Vandeman]

For those of you who read this announcement in the latest
URPE Newsletter, please note the extended deadline for
applications.

  Position Announcement

 Managing Editor
  Review of Radical Political Economics

Responsibilities.  The Managing Editor is the Editorial Board
Coordinator and is responsible for:  1) assigning and
distributing manuscripts for review; 2) coordinating
correspondence with authors; 3) supervising the editing,
preparation of camera-ready copy, and production of the
journal, including managing the production contract with
Blackwell Publishers; 4) representing RRPE in contract
negotiations with Blackwell Publishers; and 5) representing
RRPE within URPE and with other organizations.

Qualifications.  Graduate training, research and publishing
experience in political economy or related field preferred.
Institutional support (mailing, phone, secretarial support)
highly desirable.  Candidates should be well organized and
adept at civil communication.  Editorial board experience and
familiarity with URPE are desirable.

Terms.  The position is one-half time.  Salary competitive.
The appointment will be for three years, renewable once.  The
starting date is on or about January 1, 1996.

Send letter of application, vita, and the names and addresses of
three references familiar with your background in writing,
editing and publishing to:

Ann Vandeman
Economic Research Service
1301 New York Avenue NW, Suite 1108
Washington, D.C. 20005-4788

The deadline for applications is June 30, 1995.

--Ann V.


ANN VANDEMAN
Food and Consumer Economics
Economic Research Service
1301 NEW YORK AVE NW, STE.1124
Washington, D.C. 20005-4788

PHONE: (202)219-0452
FAX:   (202)219-1252
Bitnet:   annv@ers
Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

[PEN-L:5565] Re: Ajit's comment to Gil

[Mike Parkhurst]

Mike Meeropol wonders:

>But the average student that I've taught has bought the "anyone can make it"
>ideology lock, stock 'n' barrel!
>
>I can't believe it's that bad at state supported institutions where there's
>more solidly working-class students.  At least I hope not!

Um... I'm afraid you're neglecting the gigantic increases in the costs of so-
called 'state-supported' institutions.  Maybe it's different elsewhere, but
I'm not sure I'd call UMass a 'working class' anything at this point.

But you're basic point is well-taken.  

It occurs to me that one of the un-fortunate consequences of the passing of 
generations who lived through the Great Depression is that Americans have 
forgotten what was painfully obvious in the 30s:  that capitalism can't employ
everybody, that left to its own devices it's prone to self-destruct, and that
many people are ruined through no fault of their own by the workings of the
economy.


yours,

--Mike Parkhurst
  [EMAIL PROTECTED]

[PEN-L:5564] Kondratieff-type post-WWII boom

[Evan Jones - 448 - 3063]

re Feldman's and Nilsson's posts of 8 June.

to Feldman
Thanks for your reference to your IJURR article on housing.
WIll use it in class.
Re regulationists and the distinction between 'regulatory' crises and 
'transformatory' crises.
It is possible to interpret the running crisis resolution policy 
activism engaged in by Australian governments as a reflection of the 
first type of crisis (i.e. minor).
But it is probably too clean to make a major distinction between the 
two, because it reinforces the regulationists' thesis that all the 
important stuff is set in place at the start.
E.g. I've always had trouble with how one fits a neat SSA model onto 
the fact that a lot of labourist/social democratic governments were 
in power in the late 1940s, only to be turfed out by the early 1950s.
There are evidently some continuities, but there are also some major 
changes of direction .

To Nilsson
Re the major expansion of the mining sector in Australia in the 
1960s. NIlsson asks - perhaps it was exogenous to Australia, but was 
it endogenous to a global SSA?
Certainly, there is a major influx of capital from US and UK sources 
in the late 1960s which reflects global issues - deline in profit 
rates e;sehwere, capital surpluses.  Also a demand-pull from Japanese 
steel mills, etc.
But these forces come late. Indeed, there was still an embargo on 
coal exports from Australia in the early 1960s.
SO one would have to conclude that Australia's post-WWII 'SSA was in 
a state of permament (emphasis) construction throughout the entire 
period of the boom.

Evan Jones Economics Department Sydney University

[PEN-L:5563] MM's cultures past and present?

[Evan Jones - 448 - 3063]

I am curious as to how Mike Meeropol can teach in an economics 
department within a program labelled 'cultures past and present'.
My understanding is that economists have no concept of 'culture', or 
at best a wizened theoreticist one associated with ' economic man and 
the market'.
But certainly no concept of cultures past, or the way in which they 
continue to influence the present.
Would Mike M like to explain what wierd things go in in western Mass.
Is it merely an excuse to some industrial archeology in the 
birthplace of American industry?

Evan Jones Economics Sydney univ