Re: [OPE] Why Markets Fail

Hi David,

I would not say "hopelessly utopian", but mankind has certainly a way
to go - and some environmental problems to solve before we reach
that. But this also a question of the mode of distribution. Health,
education are basically free in Norway - and there could be a lot
more of this collective consumption. With a much greater equality of
incomes the fact that markets exist - f.ex for housing does not have
the negative consequences that it has in present day capitalism.

I do not see *relative* abundance as utopian, but certainly a long
way to go - and markets will be with us for decades - even centuries
- even if the logic and dynamic of the economy was socialist in character.

Regards
Anders

At 19:15 12.11.2008, Dave Zachariah wrote:
>on 2008-11-12 19:02 Anders Ekeland wrote:
>>I agree that markets are - as a general mechanism - socially
>>negative, but they cannot be abolished overnight, they have to be
>>"aufgehebt" by creating a *relative* abundance - like what is
>>happening with digital music, video, information - where markets
>>clearly are being made superflous by close to costless sharing of usevalues.
>
>I think the idea that markets for goods and services will be
>superseded this sort of relative abundance is an hopelessly utopian.
>It is true that information can nowadays be copied and reproduced at
>a social cost that is very low in relative terms, but for all other
>goods and services this is far from the case.
>
>//Dave Z
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Received on Wed Nov 12 15:43:03 2008