Should economists read Marx?
As I note in that post, the successful examples of “socialism” that people cite — the Scandinavian societies of today — are actually social democracies. They achieved their mixed economies through a slow evolutionary process that was absolutely nothing like the revolutionary upheavals predicted and advocated by Marx.
Noah Smith • Should economists read Marx?
Marx believed that the capitalist market economy was incapable of delivering an acceptable distribution of income for anything but the briefest of historical intervals. ...But "incapable" is surely too strong...[S]ocial democracy, progressive income taxes, a very large and well-established safety net, public education to a high standard, channels f... See more
Noah Smith • Should economists read Marx?
Marx the economist got a lot about the economic history of the development of modern capitalism in England right--not everything, but he is still very much worth grappling with as an economic historian of 1500-1850. Most important, I think, are his observations that the benefits of industrialization do take a long time--generations--to kick in...
Noah Smith • Should economists read Marx?
Karl Marx was among the very first to see that the industrial revolution...opens the possibility of a society in which we people can be lovers of wisdom without being supported by the labor of a mass of illiterate, brutalized, half-starved, and overworked slaves...
Noah Smith • Should economists read Marx?
Marx...was among the very first to recognize that the fever-fits of financial crisis and depression that afflict modern market economies were not a passing phase or something that could be easily cured, but rather a deep disability of the system...
Noah Smith • Should economists read Marx?
Arrow is trying to explain why health care — including health insurance — isn’t like other markets. He basically just lists a bunch of reasons why health care is different. These reasons include:
- Health insurance is subject to a lot of information asymmetry — the aforementioned adverse selection, plus “moral hazard” (ie., people with more insurance
Noah Smith • Should economists read Marx?
There’s an obvious application to health insurance, too. Adverse selection can also happen when a buyer conceals information from a seller; insurance customers will naturally try to hide how sick they are from an insurer, in order to get a lower premium. This means that healthy people have to pay premiums that are too high, which keeps them out of ... See more
Noah Smith • Should economists read Marx?
In this paper, he shows that if something is nonrival (if one person using something doesn’t stop someone else from using it) and nonexcludable (if you can’t prevent people from using it) — then the private sector won ’t build enough of it. The classic example is a lighthouse — one ship using a lighthouse doesn’t necessarily prevent others from usin... See more
Noah Smith • Should economists read Marx?
Is Moskowitz right? Should economists all be required to read, “work through”, and understand Adam Smith and Karl Marx? Is the discipline “fake” because most haven’t done this?
First of all, it’s important to point out that studying history of thought isn’t always useful. Just as doctors usually don’t study the works of Galen, and physicists usuall... See more
First of all, it’s important to point out that studying history of thought isn’t always useful. Just as doctors usually don’t study the works of Galen, and physicists usuall... See more