tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post1465619570637285814..comments2024-03-06T06:34:42.881-05:00Comments on EconoSpeak: Labour Defended Against the Claims of "Human Capital"Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-56118149068717765442015-03-02T07:21:07.183-05:002015-03-02T07:21:07.183-05:00Mainstream economists do not want to acknowledge m...Mainstream economists do not want to acknowledge much of what they teach and preach was shown to be incoherent nonsense 50 years ago, in the Cambridge Capital Controversy. The ignorance and muddle serves an ideological purpose. The radicals won (although I find it hard to see how any tight connection must exist with politics and the technical details of the CCC).Robert Vienneauhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00872510108133281526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-13665048117550813852015-03-02T02:43:41.884-05:002015-03-02T02:43:41.884-05:00Magpie
Yes I've seen that and similar. Seems ...Magpie<br /><br />Yes I've seen that and similar. Seems a reasonable, and quite precise, definition. But, as you note, this is often ignored in a frenzy of discussion about financial capital, human capital, intellectual capital, social capital...<br /><br />It's a mystery to me.Peter Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13289172253358199028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-37591580249112624072015-03-01T19:13:29.513-05:002015-03-01T19:13:29.513-05:00@Peter T
There, courtesy of the Penguin Dictionar...@Peter T<br /><br />There, courtesy of the Penguin Dictionary of Economics (one of many similar dictionaries/encyclopedias of economics):<br /><br />"Capital. 1 Assets which are capable of generating income and which have themselves been produced. Capital is one of the four FACTORS OF PRODUCTION, and consists of the machines, plant and buildings that make production possible, but excludes raw materials, LAND and LABOUR. (...)<br />"2. In more general usage, any asset or stock of assets - financial or physical - capable of generating income."<br /><br />If you have the chance of perusing an intro economics book (pretty much any such book), chances are you'll find something similar. Likewise, if you are interested in economic statistics you'll find more detailed, but largely coincident, definitions in their glossaries. Check statistics offices/central banks websites.<br /><br />Some heterodox schools of economic thought have slightly different definitions (the definition above is - or was, apparently - generally accepted as the mainstream). Some call factors of production differently, some say there are less factors of production, et cetera.<br /><br />Now, why on earth would mainstream economists either ignore their own definition or act as if they ignored it, that's not for me to say. Ask them.Magpiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07528637318288802178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-16455342656132471392015-03-01T11:45:29.850-05:002015-03-01T11:45:29.850-05:00>>> there is no longer any thing which we...>>> there is no longer any thing which we can call the natural reward of individual labour. <<<<br /><br />My general outlook on the marginal utility (to use and economist's term) of labor is -- how much is the labor worth to the ultimate customer; a.k.a., what is the max labor can extract from the consumer for (labor's contribution to) the product?<br /><br />This is usually left at the road side in non-unionized markets -- where labor only extracts what it is worth compared to other labor (two-tier/two-dimension).<br /><br />This is often left at the side of the road even in unionized markets where nonunion firms start the race to the bottom anyway. (Centralized bargaining only sure cure here.)<br /><br />In the instant example laborers can only get together (depending on their level of communication or differing levels of unionization) and dicker with each other about how much each will get out of what they communally extract from the consumer.Denis Drewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11833367196756465896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-23446974961846291782015-03-01T01:08:57.877-05:002015-03-01T01:08:57.877-05:00From a brief look at MaxSpeak and at Nick Rowe'...From a brief look at MaxSpeak and at Nick Rowe's blog, I am struck at how confused the discussion of capital is. How does one teach a university course without a clear and agreed definition of a key subject?Peter Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13289172253358199028noreply@blogger.com