The idea of society as an independent being above and beyond its members is, of course, a key element in many collectivist ideologies. Keen, in reaching conclusions that do not follow from the arguments he presents, is letting his ideological slip show. For instance, we think his suggestion that mathematical economics pursue research in dynamic systems and simulations is sound.
We especially liked the discussion pp. In addition, Keen does a good job in highlighting some of the contradictions at the heart of the theory of perfect competition.
The elementary problem with the theory is that rather than employing the limit analysis implicit in its equations to examine conditions as perfect competition is approached, analysis proceeds as if the system were at its limit, leading to various conundrums. All of these contiguous, flat segments of the Earth must yield a flat Earth as well. In fairness to Keen, we note that he is willing to follow his theorizing even when it leads him onto ideologically foreign territory.
Keen, who clearly sees himself as more interventionist than his neoclassical colleagues, here attacks an argument for anti-trust laws. And Keen admits that the neoclassical mainstream follows their own logic to argue for intervention to control monopolies. However, in his zeal to attack mainstream economics, Keen often overshoots. But those are rising marginal costs themselves!
But there is nothing to distinguish the supplier of labor who ceteris paribus prefers leisure from a supplier of wood pulp who ceteris paribus prefers the beauty of his virgin forest.
Keen a argues that there truly is a difference, since the supply of labor is fixed at 24 hours per day, while the sellers of other commodities can increase their output. But this rejoinder relies on the very same assumptions of convenience that Keen ostensibly abhors. A worker certainly cannot supply 24 hours of labor per day for any extended period. Like his orthodox opponents, Keen has used a simplified model that yields the conclusion labor is exploited by capitalism that he wants.
Heterodox Schools Keen includes interesting sections on various heterodox schools, including Marxism, evo- lutionary economics, complexity theory, Post-Keynesian economics, Austrian economics, and Sraffian economics.
He seems to come down on the side of evolutionary economics as having the most promising future p. However, Keen instead posits a real-cost theory of value, ignoring the Austrian insight that costs themselves are subjective.
What in the world could Keen mean? Keen is not unsympathetic to the Austrian School, but it does not seem to us that he fully understands it. Keen has later acknowledged that the section is in error [b]. He is also wrong in implying that the Austrians depend on an equilibrium analysis of returns to factors of production to defend distribution in the market economy.
In fact, the Austrian analysis of the return to entrepreneurs relies entirely on disequilibrium conditions. The work of Mill et al.
Despite our criticisms, we are glad Keen wrote the book, and glad that we had the chance to read and review it. Keen is raising important questions, even if we cannot go along with him on all of his answers. Hello, the link to the english version of the debunking handbook does not seem to work for me? Fantastic information but I would also like to request either a Kindle version or at least abandon the two column format. It's pretty hard to read this pdf on a Kindle or tablet.
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Term Lookup Term:. Cambridge University Press. Read about this new edition in this blog post: The Debunking Handbook Downloads and Translations The Debunking Handbook , a guide to debunking misinformation, is now freely available to download. Communicators need to be aware of the various backfire effects and how to avoid them, such as: The Familiarity Backfire Effect The Overkill Backfire Effect The Worldview Backfire Effect It also looks at a key element to successful debunking: providing an alternative explanation.
Update June Some news about The Familiarity Backfire Effect Here is an excerpt from Stephan Lewandowsky's blog post Claiming that Listerine alleviates cold symptoms is false: To repeat or not to repeat the myth during debunking? Andrews at AM on 28 November, Pete Dunkelberg at AM on 28 November, Alexandre at AM on 28 November, How you react to them is how you react to them.
Tom Curtis at PM on 28 November, Tom Curtis at AM on 29 November, Paul Magnus at AM on 29 November, Tom Curtis at PM on 29 November, KR at PM on 29 November, Brigitte at PM on 29 November, Daniel Bailey at PM on 29 November, Dan Moutal at PM on 30 November, Rob Painting at AM on 1 December, Tom Smerling at AM on 1 December, Chris G at AM on 23 December, Start Loving at AM on 27 December, Bob Lacatena at AM on 27 December,
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