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Re: What do you think of Professor Reisman's book 'Capitalism'?

Jonathan M. F. Catalán — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 03:43:54 GMT

Can you go into detail please? How is the Ricardo effect theoretically tenable in anyway whatever?

I don't agree completely with Hayek's Ricardo effect, but I don't agree with Reisman's criticism of it, either. I think there are elements of truth proposed by both, though.

Re: What do you think of Professor Reisman's book 'Capitalism'?

Esuric — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 00:56:27 GMT

I think Reisman is wrong on a lot of different specific points (such as his criticism of the Ricardo Effect), but overall Capitalism is a very good book.

Can you go into detail please? How is the Ricardo effect theoretically tenable in anyway whatever?

Re: What do you think of Professor Reisman's book 'Capitalism'?

Jonathan M. F. Catalán — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 23:41:51 GMT

I'm planning to read it before reading 'Human Action' and 'Man, Economy, and State' so that I can start from a more mainstream perspective. What are the differences in these books, in terms of substance, style, approach to teaching economics, etc. ?

While Reisman is not explicitely Austrian, he is not "mainstream" either. He is an Austrian "with Ricardian tendencies" (his attempt to vindicate post-Smithian classical economists was perhaps one of the main differences he and Mises had [from the introduction to Capitalism]). I think Reisman is wrong on a lot of different specific points (such as his criticism of the Ricardo Effect), but overall Capitalism is a very good book. Reisman writes one of the best critiques of Keynesian economics that I've read, although I think that his critique is a bit outdated (regarding liquidity preference). Keynesian IS/LM theory evolved during the late 1980s and early 1990s, so that it no longer matches that put forward by Reisman (largely based on work by Hicks).

Capitalism is a very good book, but you can't read it over Human Action.

Re: What do you think of Professor Reisman's book 'Capitalism'?

Bert — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 22:50:29 GMT

It's a responsible decision as far as buying books. $80 on one book, or $60 for two. I'm not in any way bashing Reisman or Capitalism, but it also makes more sense to start off with HA or MES.

Re: What do you think of Professor Reisman's book 'Capitalism'?

I. Ryan — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 21:21:46 GMT

Bert:

I don't know anything about Reisman[...]. I don't think you'll be missing anything by not reading Capitalism.

Pretty irresponsible.

Re: What do you think of Professor Reisman's book 'Capitalism'?

DanielMuff — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 16:57:58 GMT

The book is huge.

Re: What do you think of Professor Reisman's book 'Capitalism'?

Bert — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 15:16:06 GMT

I don't know anything about Reisman, but Capitalism is $80 compared to Human Action which is $20. Just get Human Action and MES. I don't think you'll be missing anything by not reading Capitalism.

What do you think of Professor Reisman's book 'Capitalism'?

Kenneth — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 14:34:22 GMT

I'm planning to read it before reading 'Human Action' and 'Man, Economy, and State' so that I can start from a more mainstream perspective. What are the differences in these books, in terms of substance, style, approach to teaching economics, etc. ?