[OPE-L:4277] Re: Logic and illogic in defending Marx (fwd)

From: glevy@pratt.edu
Date: Wed Oct 25 2000 - 10:58:55 EDT


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Steve Keen <s.keen@uws.edu.au>
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 12:37:28 +1000
Subject: Re: [OPE-L:4238] Re:  Logic and illogic in   defending Marx

Yes it is an exaggeration Jerry, but not one without some foundation in fact.

I remember that, many years ago, when I told Bruce McFarlane that I was
doing my Masters thesis on Marx, he said "The transformation problem, I
suppose?". He was surprised when I said no.

Cheers,
Steve
At 15:09 23/10/00 GMT, you wrote:
>Steve wrote in [OPE-L:4206]:
>
>
>> Firstly, my plea for discussing other current issues--such as the Internet
>> Bubble in the USA--was not a request for this list to abandon its
>> theoretical foundation. It was more an observation that, if we did discuss
>> such topics, our discussion would not in any meaningful way be informed by
>> theories of Marxism--because we are still trying to work out the basic
>> building blocks of such a theory.
>> If I were discussing this topic on a post keynesian list, then I could use
>> Basil Moore's theory of endogenous money, Minsky's theory of financial
>> instability, Wynne Godley's work on social accounting matrices, Willi
>> Semmler's work on credit cycles, my own extended-Goodwin model of chaotic
>> interactions in finance, Andresen's model of stock markets... There are
>> plenty of Post Keynesian building blocks for extended analysis of complex
>> sub-systems of capitalism.
>> But what are Marxists able to contribute on this? Of course there are some
>> components; but the vast majority of academic output by Marxists has been
>> about ... the transformation problem...
>
>Surely, you must know that this is an exaggeration. Even for those who
have written about the TP, it only constitutes a fraction of their
intellectual output. Indeed, I don't think there is any one member of this
list whose main concern and output has been the TP (although, I could be
mistaken).
>
>As for the more concrete subject you suggest, are you not aware of the
works by (among others) Makoto & Costas, Suzanne, Akira, former listmember
Mino Carchedi, Robbie Guttmann, and Weber/Rigby? Surely, these represent
significant works. Instead of denying their importance, perhaps it would be
more useful to have a dialogue between the two traditions.
>
>In solidarity, Jerry
>
>
Dr. Steve Keen
Senior Lecturer
Economics & Finance
University of Western Sydney Macarthur
Building 11 Room 30,
Goldsmith Avenue, Campbelltown
PO Box 555 Campbelltown NSW 2560
Australia
s.keen@uws.edu.au 61 2 4620-3016 Fax 61 2 4626-6683
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Home Page: http://bus.macarthur.uws.edu.au/steve-keen/



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