Economics Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Depression: Depression is a mental health disorder characterized by persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and a lack of interest in activities. It can affect thoughts and physical well-being._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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John Kenneth Galbraith on Depression - Dictionary of Arguments
Rothbard III 984 Depression/inflation/Galbraith/Rothbard: (…) Galbraith pours much of his scorn on the supply-and-demand explanation of inflation, and especially on the proper monetary explanation, which he terms "mystical." His view of depression is purely Keynesian and assumes that a depression is caused by a deficiency of aggregate demand. Inflation/Galbraith: "Inflation" is an increase in prices, which he would combat either by reducing aggregate demand through high taxes or by selective price controls and the fixing, by compulsory arbitration, of important wages and prices. If the former route is chosen, Galbraith, as a Keynesian, believes that unemployment would ensue. But Galbraith is not really worried, for he would take the revolutionary step of separating income from production; production, it seems, is important only because it provides income. Rothbard: We have seen that government activity has already effected a considerable separation. Galbraith: Galbraith proposes a sliding scale of unemployment insurance provided by the government, to be greater in depression than in boom, the payment in depression rising almost to the general prevailing wage (for some reason, Galbraith would not go precisely as high, because of a lingering fear of some disincentive effect on the unemployed's finding jobs). He does not seem to realize that this is merely a way of aggravating and prolonging unemployment during a depression and indirectly subsidizing union wage scales above the market. RothbardVsGalbraith: There is no need to stress the author's other vagaries, such as his adoption of the conventional conservationist concern about using up precious resources—a position, of course, consistent With Galbraith's general attack on the private consumer.(1) 1. Amidst the tangle of Galbraith's remaining fallacies and errors, we might mention one: his curious implication that Professor von Mises is a businessman. For first Galbraith talks of the age-old hostility between businessmen and intellectuals, backs this statement by quoting Mises as critical of many intellectuals, and then concedes that "most businessmen" would regard Mises as "rather extreme." But since Mises is certainly not a businessman, it is Odd to see his statements used as evidence for businessman-intellectual enmity. John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1958)., pp. 184-85. This peculiar error is shared by Galbraith's Harvard colleagues, whose work he cites favorably, and Who persist in quoting such nonbusinessmen as Henry Hazlitt and Dr. F.A. Harper as spokesmen for the "classical business creed." See Francis X. Sutton, Seymour E. Harris, Carl Kaysen, and James Tobin, The American Business Creed (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1956). Rothbard: The Affluent Society is a work that particularly lends itselfto satire, and this has been cleverly supplied in "The Sumptuary Manifesto," The Journal of Law and Economics, October, 1959, pp. 120-23._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Galbraith I John Kenneth Galbraith The Affluent Society London 1999 Rothbard II Murray N. Rothbard Classical Economics. An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. Cheltenham 1995 Rothbard III Murray N. Rothbard Man, Economy and State with Power and Market. Study Edition Auburn, Alabama 1962, 1970, 2009 Rothbard IV Murray N. Rothbard The Essential von Mises Auburn, Alabama 1988 Rothbard V Murray N. Rothbard Power and Market: Government and the Economy Kansas City 1977 |
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