Economics Questions

Re: You know economic theory is stupid when...

DanielMuff — Fri, 15 May 2009 08:21:20 GMT

GilesStratton:

Daniel:

When it says that having a price:
1) higher than others is price gauging
2) lower than others is predatory pricing
3) same as the others is collusion

This, without doubt. On the same note, another laughable claim is that of "advertising wars".

Pretty much anything having to do with antitrust and monopoly. Dominick T. Armentano is good on this.

Re: You know economic theory is stupid when...

eliotn — Thu, 14 May 2009 23:06:57 GMT

GilesStratton:

Daniel:

When it says that having a price:
1) higher than others is price gauging
2) lower than others is predatory pricing
3) same as the others is collusion

This, without doubt. On the same note, another laughable claim is that of "advertising wars".

http://anarchyinyourhead.com/2008/08/06/prosecuting-the-free-market/

The thing that bugged me the most was having a supply and demand chart for money, taking out the purchasing power of money and replacing it with interest rate. I thought that was stupid, and it is the thing that bugged me the most in economics class. When will the econ professors get the picture that this relationship only holds if the money goes directly to the lending institutions, and when will they finally understand what interest means.
I guess I am in a bad mood about the wrongness of the AP Economics test.

Re: You know economic theory is stupid when...

hayekianxyz — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:50:07 GMT

Daniel:

When it says that having a price:
1) higher than others is price gauging
2) lower than others is predatory pricing
3) same as the others is collusion

This, without doubt. On the same note, another laughable claim is that of "advertising wars".

Re: You know economic theory is stupid when...

DanielMuff — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:02:53 GMT

Juan:
There you have it. Eliot posted a couple of graphs. That's real science.

It's got numbers! Wooohoooo!!!!

Re: You know economic theory is stupid when...

Juan — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:00:44 GMT

There you have it. Eliot posted a couple of graphs. That's real science.

Re: You know economic theory is stupid when...

DanielMuff — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:56:45 GMT

When it says that having a price:
1) higher than others is price gauging
2) lower than others is predatory pricing
3) same as the others is collusion

Re: You know economic theory is stupid when...

hayekianxyz — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:48:38 GMT

I have one, you know an economic theory is stupid when perfect competition is defined as the complete lack of competition.

Re: You know economic theory is stupid when...

eliotn — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:13:54 GMT

Re: You know economic theory is stupid when...

Knight_of_BAAWA — Tue, 12 May 2009 13:51:21 GMT

Knight_of_BAAWA:
"Great minds" who believe something stupid are stupid and boneheaded for believing them. Period.

GilesStratton:
So only people who agree with you are smart?

Did you read what I wrote? I doubt it. Had you, you wouldn't have concocted such a strawman.

Re: You know economic theory is stupid when...

hayekianxyz — Tue, 12 May 2009 09:53:11 GMT

eliotn:
Irrelevant.

No, not really.

eliotn:
Did you read the second part of the phrase? Austrian economics does not neglect the individual, and if it did, that would contradict with the basic premise that humans act, since human action requires study of individuals.

What do you even mean? It ignores the individuals, it's somewhat difficult to analyse society's distribution of resources whilst focusing on individuals. All Austrian economics says about the distribution is that it is in accordance with the preferences of consumers, now that doesn't really focus on the individual IMO.

Re: You know economic theory is stupid when...

hayekianxyz — Tue, 12 May 2009 09:50:43 GMT

liberty student:
I'm having trouble understanding what you mean here.

I see what you did there.

liberty student:
This is a light hearted thread poking fun at goofy economic ideas.

And you can do that, just, make sure you're not launching irrelevant, misguided criticisms.

Re: You know economic theory is stupid when...

hayekianxyz — Tue, 12 May 2009 09:49:55 GMT

Knight_of_BAAWA:
"Great minds" who believe something stupid are stupid and boneheaded for believing them. Period.

So only people who agree with you are smart?

Re: You know economic theory is stupid when...

Chris — Tue, 12 May 2009 05:49:20 GMT

- When people claim to believe in the laws of supply and demand, but say it doesn't apply to money, health care, education, roads, etc.

- When people think that with well over $50 trillion in unfunded liabilities and $11 trillion national debt will ever be paid for without printing it

- When people worry about the big scary deflation monster as trillions of dollars are created from thin air

- When people think that natural disasters and building pyramids is good for the economy

- When people think capitalism exists in the United States

Re: You know economic theory is stupid when...

Knight_of_BAAWA — Tue, 12 May 2009 04:19:00 GMT

GilesStratton:
This topic is full of a lot of incorrect assumptions about mainstream economics, it's a shame that these criticisms are being advanced. Especially since Austrians should know better than to make such assertions when they're complaning that the mainstream treats them in such a way. Also, I'm firmly of the belief that all Austrian layman should pick up a mainstream textbook and get a deeper understanding of other schools of thought. To call neoclassical economics "stupid" is silly, Mankiw, Krugman (yes, I said it), Friedman, Lucas, Caplan etc. stupid is ridiculous, these are some great minds. The best criticism you can advance is that they've been distracted with math and incorrect methodology, not that they're stupid.

"Great minds" who believe something stupid are stupid and boneheaded for believing them. Period.

Re: You know economic theory is stupid when...

eliotn — Tue, 12 May 2009 03:31:43 GMT

liberty student:
This is a light hearted thread poking fun at goofy economic ideas.

Time for some moar:

Economics is stupid when it establishes that interest rates are always dependent on the supply and demand for money. DUDE! You don't need money for interest!

Economics is stupid when it paints deflation as the boogeyman, while ignoring the confiscatory deflation that actually harms.

Economics is stupid when it tries to paint a correlation/causitation between two statistics that have no relation to reality.

Economics is stupid when government creates da economic textbook. Then, it becomes mindless propaganda to promote government values.

Economics is stupid when it overstates the benefits of economic policy on a select group of people, and ignores everyone else.

Economics is stupid when it is based off of lousy assertions.