The outline of neoclassical economics codified by Samuelson long ago did not conceive any place for organizational hierarchy and authority in organizing the economy, let alone political power. It was all markets all the time, even if Samuelson’s markets were commonly only metaphorical. Some notions about transactional costs and the like have leaked in around the seams since, but economists still default to only seeing allocational efficiency and the importance of economic rents as a foundation of political power easily overlooked.
Can it really be true that just a decade ago, you disagreed with *Brad DeLong* about whether "the distributional issues would somehow take care of themselves"? The premise under which he wrote his book is that (paraphrase, not exact quotation) "humanity has finally worked out how to bake a big enough pie for all; but the problems of distributing and eating the pie continue to flummox us".
"modal punter argufying on the internet"
Ouch. Is this casual drive-by assassination of us readers strictly necessary for your argument :)
Great post, added the book to my reading list.
thank you!
The outline of neoclassical economics codified by Samuelson long ago did not conceive any place for organizational hierarchy and authority in organizing the economy, let alone political power. It was all markets all the time, even if Samuelson’s markets were commonly only metaphorical. Some notions about transactional costs and the like have leaked in around the seams since, but economists still default to only seeing allocational efficiency and the importance of economic rents as a foundation of political power easily overlooked.
Can it really be true that just a decade ago, you disagreed with *Brad DeLong* about whether "the distributional issues would somehow take care of themselves"? The premise under which he wrote his book is that (paraphrase, not exact quotation) "humanity has finally worked out how to bake a big enough pie for all; but the problems of distributing and eating the pie continue to flummox us".
Excellent piece. I had much the same reaction to Noah’s post, and you’ve clearly and thoroughly described why.