4 ms·
Don Boudreaux has done a reasonable job of highlighting Akerlof and Shiller's dishonesty in their latest book: http://cafehayek.com/2015/12/phoolishly-against-
by vezzy-fnord 11y ago
Don Boudreaux has done a reasonable job of highlighting Akerlof and Shiller's dishonesty in their latest book:
http://cafehayek.com/2015/12/phoolishly-against-phreedom-of-speech.html http://cafehayek.com/2015/12/phoolishly-against-phreedom-of-...
http://cafehayek.com/2015/12/a-baseless-charge.html http://cafehayek.com/2015/12/a-baseless-charge.html
http://cafehayek.com/2015/12/daffy-elitists.html http://cafehayek.com/2015/12/daffy-elitists.html
http://cafehayek.com/2015/12/mostly-exaggerated.html http://cafehayek.com/2015/12/mostly-exaggerated.html
http://cafehayek.com/2015/12/more-on-phishing-for-phools.html http://cafehayek.com/2015/12/more-on-phishing-for-phools.htm...
http://cafehayek.com/2015/12/the-role-of-market-forces-in-protecting-against-phishing.html http://cafehayek.com/2015/12/the-role-of-market-forces-in-pr...
I would also like to note that anyone criticizing neoclassical economics (and it's full of dubious assumptions, don't get me wrong) based on straw men about "rationality" is fighting windmills. But don't take it from me, take it from a heterodox post-Keynesian: https://unlearningeconomics.wordpress.com/2012/06/29/how-not-to-criticise-economics/ https://unlearningeconomics.wordpress.com/2012/06/29/how-not...
And, unsurprisingly, Akerlof and Shiller stop at yelling "market failure" without proposing a theory of government and ignoring the very fruitful area of government failures.
Anyone who argues for intervention on basis of asymmetrical information without having read up on public choice is in no position to speak of anything, since their model is stuck in assuming government is a mystical exogenous equilibrator and that all of its constituents have virtually no expectations whatsoever (which is an even worse assumption than full rationality).
Akerlof and Shiller are obviously well aware, but their book is little more than a political polemic.
- notahacker 11y agoI can't see where Boudreaux's comments - themselves more polemic than analysis - expose any "dishonesty". I mean, one of his posts pulls out the old libertarian canard of "every potentially harmful product will be effectively countered by competitors taking the equal and opposite opportunity to sell good honest consumer-friendly protection" by speculating that a market solution to smells designed to induce customers to over-eat could be rival entrepreneurs selling a nose-attachment[1]! And as far as I can tell, he's actually not trying to parody his own argument. If that's one of the best objections he can raise to an example in Akerlof and Shiller's book it must be remarkably good by the standards of popular economics texts. [1]Perhaps the only reason America doesn't have a penchant for nose attachments and no obesity problem is because the market isn't free enough!
- vezzy-fnord 11y agoThe reason his proposed solution of a "nose attachment" sounds ridiculous is because the original complaint by Akerlof and Shiller of "pastries that just smell so good consumers can't resist them" is a complete non-issue that is straight out of Poe's law. To quote Alex Tabarrok: "Cinnabon pastries are hard to resist. Advertising can be deceptive. Humans sometimes act in foolish ways. If these statements strike you as anodyne then there is no need to read George Akerlof and Robert Shiller’s new book Phishing for Phools, a disappointing foray into behavioral economics from two recent Nobel Prize winners."
- punee 11y agoFull article here for anyone interested: http://newramblerreview.com/book-reviews/economics/a-phool-and-his-money http://newramblerreview.com/book-reviews/economics/a-phool-a...