Voting is now open for what has been renamed the Dynamite Prize in Economics.
The renaming was necessary because the owners of the Ig Nobel Prize objected to the similarity–which is understandable. They also suggested the Dynamite Prize as a useful alternative.
We are, after all, intending to award the prize to the three economists who did most to drop the GFC bomb on the global economy, via their naive and utterly unrealistic theories of economics.
The selection process produced the following set of nominees:
- Fischer Black and Myron Scholes
- Eugene Fama
- Milton Friedman
- Alan Greenspan
- Assar Lindbeck
- Robert Lucas
- Richard Portes
- Edward Prescott and Finn E. Kydland
- Paul Samuelson
- Larry Summers
I would have preferred to see Bernanke there as well–he was one of my own nominees–but he didn’t survive the editorial process.
After all, there was stiff competition…
Voting is via the Real World Economics Review Blog, and it’s extremely simple: just go to the blog, tick the three nominees you regard most worthy of receiving the Prize, and click on the Vote button (the list is on the right hand column of the blog). Your computer’s IP address is recorded (so that you can’t vote twice) and the votes are then automatically tallied.
Over a thousand people had voted as of two days ago. Please add to the numbers–the more the merrier on this unpopularity poll. Help send a message to the many neoclassical economists who still don’t get it that their theories helped cause this crisis.
For the record, my own votes were for Greenspan, Friedman, and Samuelson.
Once you’ve done that, turn your mind to another topic: what to call what was to be the Nobel Prize in Economics for the three economists who did the most to anticipate and warn about the GFC. Since we’re including dead economists in the list for getting the Stick of Dynamite, I will definitely be nominating Hyman Minsky as the outstanding candidate for the … What shall we call it? Ideas please!
Brian, there is no such thing as sound money.
Money is whatever the herd think it is, and same goes for the store of value. You can’t impose sound money by fiat. As soon as you try and do this the clever beasts among the herd think of a new money substitute and then the rest of the herd chases off after them.
The only way of enforcing your sound money is via a non democratic hegemony that specifies at all times the definition of soundnessand then enforces it at gunpoint.
How can you possibly combine the ballot box with a single definition of sound money? Sound money is a antiquated concept in an age of mass democracy.
The reality is, money is a commons.
Some guy called Simon Dixon writes about
“Why are we in a global financial crisis – The Problem with Orthodox Economic Theories”
http://www.simondixon.org/131/2009/02/16/
Steve,
Re: Open Source Economics
I hoped you would find some merit in it. I realise you are a busy guy so I have taken the liberty of combining the exchanges below, in last to first order, and summarising the points raised. This may be helpful if this develops into a brainstorming session.
Steve, I assume that you would welcome anyone jumping in who wants to. If comments could be flagged “Re: Open Source Economics” I will collect the input. If I overlook any key point from a comment please flag OSE OMISSION in caps and I will pick it up.
Steve, if you think this approach is flawed please let me know and I will desist.
………………………………………………………….
Summary of:
Angophera #20
Steve Keen #23
ak #24
What do we seem to have tentative agreements, or disagreements, on so far?
1. There is very little money available to kickstart something.
2. The application of the open source software development model could be applicable to the development of Steve Keen’s brainchild; the multi-sector, dynamic economic model.
3. If this goes forward the name given to it IS important (see point 1). Suggestions to date:
Dynamic Open Source Economics
(The?) Open Source Economics Project
Open Source Economic Operating System or Open Source Economic OS
Open Source Economic Model
FWIW If you have limited money it is best to latch onto words that you don’t need to explain or redefine. eg. Does the word “Dynamic” have a self-evident meaning to your target audience?
You can sub-head a good name with a pithy statement of your intentions eg. “Building an economic operating system that ……” You can also change the text to suit the audience.
eg. Many moons ago the beer brand Fourex wanted to trumpet their number 1 position in the QLD market. For the public they chose “Queensland’s Favourite Beer”. For the publicans they went with “Queensland’s Best Selling Beer”.
You have already taken on a big task in trying to change the current meaning of the word “economics” from “total load of crap” into something respectable.
4. There are potential problems in the open source approach versus a closed model. Areas of potential conflict include: project management, ownership, profit expectations and ????
SK
“…a lot of work has been done developing a specialised tool by a professional programmer who would prefer not to have his material Open Source….”
ak
“However open-source project management may be close to herding cats.”
“The trouble with the proprietary tool approach is that it is GUI-centric and it doesn’t allow for data export…”
“Why data cannot be exported in an open xml format for example?
From technical point of view it is in my opinion the same kind of social manipulation as the neoclassical stuff in economics and it doesn’t add much (or any) value from the user’s point of view.”
IMHO None of the above represent an insurmountable problem.
Brian,
“There is no such thing as sound money.”
By government fiat and government failure to criminalize fraudulent monetary policy.
Let the FHVG bailouts begin;
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26655966-3102,00.html
“ALMOST half of first-home buyers lured into the market by the Rudd Government’s $14,000 grant are struggling to meet their mortgage repayments and many are already in arrears on their loans.
Thousands of young home buyers are using credit cards or other loans to meet obligations, while those in “severe stress” are missing payments.
Just weeks after the grant was withdrawn, a survey of more than 26,000 borrowers conducted by Fujitsu Consulting has found 45 per cent of first-home owners who entered the market during the past 18 months are experiencing “mortgage stress” or “severe mortgage stress”.
****************************
Nothing to see here folks, it’s all good;
http://www.news.com.au/business/secret-summit-of-top-bankers/comments-e6frfm1i-1225827289543
“THE world’s top central bankers began arriving in Australia yesterday as renewed fears about the strength of the global economic recovery gripped world share markets.
“Representatives from 24 central banks and monetary authorities including the US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank landed in Sydney to meet tomorrow at a secret location, the Herald Sun reports.”
Join the dots. Anybody betting AGAINST yet more Govt wasteful spending, higher levels of absurd Sovereign debts?
Reality Cheque Prize; Realist Prize; Practical Prize;
Freidman gets my vote. In addition to dishonest and imbecilic economics, he and his proteges cosied up to a number of repulsive regimes, from Pinochet’s Chile, to Den Xiaoping’s China.
What to call the prize for the three economists who did the most to anticipate and warn about the GFC? Perhaps the “Ignored Economist Prize”? I nominate two Austrian School economists: Hayek and von Mises. And my third nomination is for Kondratiev.