tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post1226821604209771009..comments2024-03-29T03:19:09.227-04:00Comments on The Philosopher's Stone: WOLFF CONTRA KRUGMAN AND WREN-LEWIS -- A MANIFESTLY UNEQUAL CONTESTRobert Paul Wolffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-12534626977278582562014-04-29T04:40:01.622-04:002014-04-29T04:40:01.622-04:00Many thanks for that explication. I stand correct...Many thanks for that explication. I stand corrected. As should be obvious, I am not really up on developmemts in Economics, certainly not in the manner indicated by your helpful comment. Since I like Krugman [and have started reading his blog regularly], I am happy for any clarification that makes him more sympatico, as it were. As I have observed on occasion on this blog, I am not one of those radicals who spends all his time attqacking those who are a millimeter away while taking a generous view of those who are lightyears away. I am very much a Popular Front kind of guy, and in any better world I can imagine, Krugman [and Wren-Lewis too, I would guess] will be a comrade, not an enemy.Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-55135702958615386022014-04-28T22:50:08.792-04:002014-04-28T22:50:08.792-04:00Longtime lurker here who has benefitted greatly fr...Longtime lurker here who has benefitted greatly from your logorrhea - I'd have remained clueless re bloody manifolds, intuitions and Kantian deductions without your book on the First Critique (thank you and Kindle). <br /><br />Just to clarify, neither Wren-Lewis nor Krugman has chosen to refer to the "non-mainstream" economists as "heterodox" as a slam. Where the terminology first arose is beyond my knowledge but it goes back decades. However, the (non-Austrian) non-mainstream tend to refer to themselves as Heterodox as a badge of honor (when they're not priding themselves on being "post-autistic" economists). So using the label people self-identify with, and don't take as a slur when used by others, seems perfectly appropriate usage. Referring to them as "non-mainstream" or inventing another term, given that the lingo in the profession is "heterodox", would raise eyebrows - was some sort of statement being implied...etc.<br /><br />Krugman in particular is open to lots of insights from other traditions. As he further explains in his most recent post, he thinks there are lots of good bits to pick up from heterodox research programs e.g. behavioral economics or Minsky's dynamics of finance with business cycles. He also recognizes, more explicitly than Wren-Lewis is willing, that a "science" can regress as well as progress (can anyone say rational expectations microfoundations, Efficient Markets Theorem (Hypothesis), or Real Business Cycles?) His argument is that none of the heterodox theories serve him as well - or allow others to build on his work or vice versa - as using his updated Keynesianism as the starting point. His core model then has to be adjusted with a variety of tools - including some "heterodox" ones - with ad hocery as needed, depending on the combination of question asked and current conjuncture. You may think he's fooling himself and that his attachment to saltwater mainstream is all about power rather than what works best for his goals, but he's not arguing from authority, or "orthodoxy is 'science' and heterodoxy isn't" (again except for the Austrians who are in a class of their own and too inclined to slide off into goldbuggery). <br /><br />As for the ideological dimensions of economic theory and the unfortunate fact that "political" has been stripped from "economy" (other than as reinterpreted by the Hayekians and Buchananites), he's pretty self-aware - it's The Conscience of a Liberal where he rails against inequality, not the Conscience of a Radical, after all. So it's fair game to take him to task for his liberalism but not for his vocabulary.dunnettreaderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01458450047215098334noreply@blogger.com