tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post5056150812728801103..comments2024-03-28T06:07:03.667-04:00Comments on The Philosopher's Stone: RICARDO'S PRINCIPLES A MINI-TUTORIAL PART FOURRobert Paul Wolffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-975003570186210142011-11-15T10:13:21.193-05:002011-11-15T10:13:21.193-05:00The reference to 'Plato's cave' can be...The reference to 'Plato's cave' can be instructive in several further respects. First, it illustrates that Micro is as subterranean, and, hence, as "dismal", as is Macro. Second, without the illumination of the solar Form of the Good, the importation into economic description of a normative element, even "ideal rational behavior" is illegitimate. Finally, to whatever extent Calvinism is part of the puppet show, so, too, is Weberian Capitalism.Don Schneierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12751277350617015241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-81366381233523594252011-11-14T12:19:04.104-05:002011-11-14T12:19:04.104-05:00I was in the first instance speaking for Ricardo, ...I was in the first instance speaking for Ricardo, of course, but it is also true that I was speaking for myself. The answer to your question is rather lengthy and complicated. Let me try to address it at the end of the tutorial.<br /><br />As for the issue of land and rent and all, I am coming to that pretty soon. It is dealt with by Ricardo in chapter two, so waqit for a bit.<br /><br />To anticipate, I do not think his argument depends on the factual clakim that all first quality land will be rented first. Rather, that is an analytical simplification to make clear the important claim, which is that it is the price of corn grown on the marginal land that rules in the market. We shall get to that soon.Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-38568345473552950992011-11-14T11:52:49.620-05:002011-11-14T11:52:49.620-05:00Professor,
When you say that the neo-classical as...Professor,<br /><br />When you say that the neo-classical assumption that prices are a result of subjective preferences "may indeed be true for Rembrandts and 96 point Cabernets, but it is not true for cloth and corn and carriages and shoes, and in a capitalist economy, it is these reproducible commodities that dominate the economic landscape," are you speaking strictly of Ricardo or is this your own belief? If it is your own belief, how do you justify this view? More than once I have had this argument with friends wholly indoctrinated by neo-classical economics—they are simply unwilling to admit that labor plays any role in the determination price. It is definitely an uphill battle to convince the modern student of economics that the classical economists were on to something.<br /><br />Additionally, I’ve always thought that Ricardo’s assumption that land of the highest fertility comes into cultivation first was the hardest assumption to sign up for. But I guess that’s a whole other matter. <br /><br />Love the tutorial.Amatohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07392156407025334931noreply@blogger.com