no third solution » Economic Fallacies
Marx’s Circularity
Aside from what I’ve previously written about Marx, I keep examining his peculiar brand of “economics”. After all, it laid the groundwork for most of the past century’s public policy (and subsequent catastrophes), and pretty much all of what we’ll be forced to bear for the foreseeable future, as well. So I just can’t let it go. Per Marx, exploitation is the result of primitive accumulation (a topic I’ve already thoroughly discussed). And over-accumulation is what ultimately leads to the exploitation of the proletariat. But so-called over-accumulation depends upon exploitation, right? As it stands, it’s an insoluble problem. If it were one or the other, we could resolve the root problem. It can’t be both. Exploitation can’t be the cause of accumulation, if accumulation is a necessary condition for exploitation. Don’t feel bad … Read entire article »
Filed under: Economic Fallacies, Economic Theory, Economics Lessons
55.7 Million Reasons to Reject Public Financing for Sports Arenas
The next time someone tells you that the taxpayer residents of a city or urban area need to help some billionaire businessman finance the construction of a sports arena where he’ll sell you $5 hot dogs and $9 beers, remember the Pontiac Silverdome’s epic fail. Vacant about 99% of the time since 2002, the ‘Dome has been maintained of late by the City of Pontiac, at an annual cost (to taxpayers) of about $1.5M. As recently as 2005, the City refused a $20M purchase offer. This week, the City of Pontiac (MI) accepted a bid to purchase the Silverdome, nestled among 127 sprawling acres of crumbling concrete and lightpots, on the outskirts of 20.2 square miles of blight known as the “City of Pontiac”, for $583,000. Five-hundred eighty-three thousand dollars. That’s … Read entire article »
Filed under: Economic Fallacies, Michigan, Rent Seeking, Subsidize This!
On Value, Subjective
One accusation I’ve seen raised against the subjective theory of value is that the Subjectivists are guilty of equivocation, substituting the perception of value (a subjective, self-local opinion) for “value” (defined as a property innate to an object or product). Menger makes it abundantly clear, however, and takes pain to repeat himself on several occasions in Principles, Ch.3, that no such property or characteristic as “value” exists in the first place. Value is therefore nothing inherent in goods, no property of them, but merely the importance that we first attribute to the satisfaction of our needs, that is, to our lives and well-being, and in consequence carry over to economic goods as the exclusive causes of the satisfaction of our needs… The value of goods is therefore nothing arbitrary, but always the necessary … Read entire article »
Filed under: Economic Fallacies, Economic Theory, Microeconomics