Coyle on Distribution.

Diane Coyle reviews Adam Ozanne's book "Power and Neoclassical Economics".

Coyle is very positive about the book, whose thesis -- it seems to me -- is "surely one of the longer-term outcomes of the crisis will be -- must be -- to turn economics back to political economy" (emphasises mine). They believe power relations should be reintroduced into economic theorising.

Fair enough.

Monbiot: Who, What, and When?

So, who wrote the quotes presented in the previous post? When were they written?

The key below answers that:

First pair: A. George Monbiot (2016); B. J.M. Keynes (1933)

Second pair: C. Adam Smith (1776); D. Monbiot

Third pair: E. Herbert Spencer (1851); F. Monbiot

Fourth pair: G. J.M. Keynes (1936); H. Monbiot.

George Monbiot: a Quiz.

Lately -- most unusually, given my naturally bubbly personality -- I've been in a rather brooding mood. Against my first reaction -- to write an equally somber post -- I decided to propose readers a little trivia game, similar to those played at pubs or TV shows.

Below there are some recent George Monbiot quotes, paired with quotes from other authors. Unfortunately, I forgot Who wrote What and When.

Can you help me out?

Pragmatism AND Perdition

"euphemism (n.)
"1650s, from Greek euphemismos 'use of a favorable word in place of an inauspicious one,' from euphemizein 'speak with fair words, use words of good omen,' from eu- 'good, well' (see eu-) + pheme 'speech, voice, utterance, a speaking,' from phanai 'speak' (see fame (n.)).
"In ancient Greece, the superstitious avoidance of words of ill-omen during religious ceremonies  …" (Online Etymology Dictionary)

Brad DeLong ("Pragmatism or Perdition", Feb 29, Project Syndicate) is peddling his (and co-author Steve Cohen's) new book. Yay! Another book on economic policy! Just what we needed.

Böhm-Bawerk on Keynesian Stimulus.

Now that Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk (1851-1914) joined Friedrich von Hayek in the online PoKe pantheon, it seems fair to bring to the readers' attention Richard M. Ebeling's 2015 essay "Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk: Leading Austrian Economist and Finance Minister of Fiscal Restraint".

Apart from being a critic of Marxism -- aspect of Böhm-Bawerk's work endearing him to internet PoKes, but which Rudolf Hilferding ("Böhm-Bawerk's Criticism of Marx", 1920) and Nikolai Bukharin ("Economic Theory of the Leisure Class", 1927) replied to -- Ebeling describes other, apparently less well-known, aspects of Böhm-Bawerk's economic thought.

Misnomers in Economics.

Economics, it seems, is largely the science of attributing to authors ideas they never supported (h/t Economist's View). At least, this is what one infers from a recent Vox column by Thorvaldur Gylfason, Helgi Tomasson, and Gylfi Zoega (Vox, Mar 24). Referring to the cases of David Ricardo and Irving Fisher, GTZ write:

"The pattern is pretty clear – you make a discovery (or perhaps you just make a point!) and it may become irretrievably associated with your name.

"Or it may not.

"Or something completely different can happen. Just ask David Ricardo and Irving Fisher."

Or you could ask Karl Marx.

Ironies of the Pseudo-Left.

The ironies of the pseudo-Left: to get a better piece of anti-Sanders bash, Trish Regan should have called a plebeian American liberal, like Jonathan Chait or V.S.P. P. Krugman, instead of a Norwegian/Venezuelan member of the South American white oligo-aristocracy in power since colonial times.

Question & Answer.

A few days ago Nigel O. left the following comment:

"Okay, you say Post-Keynesians don't have a theory of price.

Why should anyone care about a theory of prices? Or a theory of value, for that matter?"