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Valve Economist Yanis Varoufakis Appointed Finance Minister of Greece
- pillowpants2 12y agoFor those interested, here is a really interesting video of Gabe Newell at the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs talking about some of the in-game economic problems Valve has faced in the past few years. I think he briefly mentions Yanis somewhere in the middle of the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td_PGkfIdIQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td_PGkfIdIQ
- AdmiralAsshat 12y agoProposed solution to Greece's financial woes: free Bill's hat for everyone.
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- kaonashi 12y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpIsZL5FJVs&t=3m55s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpIsZL5FJVs&t=3m55s Here's a great talk he did on the problems of Maastricht.
- seliopou 12y agoGood video, but quite long. If anybody wants a more compressed summary of the policy points, check this one out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytXgMnm9tHs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytXgMnm9tHs Note that he is a mathematical economist with a PhD (focusing on game theory), and also a self-proclaimed Marxist. So his ideas and perspectives are very interesting, to say the least, and at times very unique.
- davidgerard 12y agoA Marxist who's into Hayek? Now that's interesting. Where did you find the Marxism? It's not in his Wikipedia article (which really needs updating).
- CapitalistCartr 12y agoHis blog: CONFESSIONS OF AN ERRATIC MARXIST IN THE MIDST OF A REPUGNANT EUROPEAN CRISIS http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2013/12/10/confessions-of-an-erratic-marxist-in-the-midst-of-a-repugnant-european-crisis/ http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2013/12/10/confessions-of-an-errat...
- seliopou 12y agoFrom this talk he gave, entitled "Confessions of an Erratic Marxist": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3uNIgDmqwI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3uNIgDmqwI
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- digi_owl 12y agoI don't think he can be nailed down to Marxism or any other -ism. He seems to be part of a eclectic gang of economists that find insight and inspiration everywhere, by simply putting reality ahead of thought models.
- davidgerard 12y agoI figured that from Marx plus Hayek :-)
- thomasz 12y agoCorrect me when I'm wrong, but are those two not economists who gave a flying fuck about empiricism?
- davidgerard 12y agoMarx was writing when it wasn't even called economics. Hayek was fine with empiricism, you may be thinking of his later followers Rothbard and von Mises.
- thomasz 12y ago
- gadders 12y agoSmart. Does this mean I can have a vote and decide to not pay for any games from Steam now?
- luch 12y agoYou're implying Greece did take Euro money without any intention to repay other countries. The reality is much more nuanced. Greek did take part of a fund destined to boost their economy, like Western european countries with the US's Marshall Plan. Whether the investments made with this money were profitable or not it's up to debate, but the end game (as for Spain, Portugal and Italy) always were to improve the greek economy and middle class in order to strenghten the overall euro economy. Now that the "southern" euro countries are in deep financial troubles, Euro bons were lended to them, not donated. Thoses bonds has to be repayed fully, but without sucking dry the Greek economy or burdening it for too long (western countries have a rap sheet of taking advantage of African countries in debt). Please do not mistake Greeks for their representatives.
- fuj 12y agoWhat about forging documents to get accepted in the eurozone? Forging documents to get more loans? The rampant corruption on every level of the Greek society? [1] Obviously this is not politically correct, so downvotes are expected. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_evasion_and_corruption_in_Greece http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_evasion_and_corruption_in_G...
- arethuza 12y agoWhat about working with Goldman Sachs to hide the true level of debt that Greece had from Eurostat? http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/greek-debt-crisis-how-goldman-sachs-helped-greece-to-mask-its-true-debt-a-676634.html http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/greek-debt-crisis...
- harywilke 12y agoLegal at the time. Same thing the Italians did.
- antman 12y agoThis [1] is one of his books that gives a bleak view on global economic politics. It's a comprehensive view, and it does not include a happy ending. [1] http://www.amazon.com/The-Global-Minotaur-Economic-Controversies/dp/1780324502 http://www.amazon.com/The-Global-Minotaur-Economic-Controver...
- cbgb 12y agoI found this book to be the most elucidating book on the 2008 financial crisis. Unlike other books that focus solely on the American economy, Varoufakis spins a narrative which places the American economy at the center of an increasingly complex and flawed global economy. The book makes it clear why the American economy's failing had such a dire effect on the rest of the world's economies. Moreover, it describes how the world economy developed in this way, starting all the way back to just after the second World War.
- j2kun 12y agoHe started a blog about his experiences at Valve [1], but stopped shortly after starting it. I was a bit disappointed, because the posts were very well written and insightful. I'd guess now he really has no time for it. [1]: http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/economics/ http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/economics/
- thu 12y agoSame for the Linux part of their blogs subdomain. But Varoufakis still blogs at http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/ http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/
- j2kun 12y agoYeah, perhaps it's sad but I'm more interested in the synthetic economic systems of a game than the macroeconomics of the world. Somehow the former is more honest (probably because one has all the data).
- JumpCrisscross 12y agoVaroufakis wrote a blog post two years ago on the history of political economic thought on the firm. It also delves into Valve's unique management culture [1]. "There is one last bastion of economic activity that proved remarkably resistant to the triumph of the market: firms, companies and, later, corporations. Think about it: market-societies, or capitalism, are synonymous with firms, companies, corporations. And yet, quite paradoxically, firms can be thought of as market-free zones. Within their realm, firms (like societies) allocate scarce resources (between different productive activities and processes). Nevertheless they do so by means of some non-price, more often than not hierarchical, mechanism! ... Many enlightened corporations do a song and dance about their readiness to let employees allocate 10% or even 20% of their working time on projects of their choosing. Valve differs in that it insists that its employees allocate 100% of their time on projects of their choosing. 100% is a radical number! It means that Valve operates without a system of command. In other words, it seeks to achieve order not via fiat, command or hierarchy but, instead, spontaneously." [1] http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/economics/why-valve-or-what-do-we-need-corporations-for-and-how-does-valves-management-structure-fit-into-todays-corporate-world/#more-252 http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/economics/why-valve-or-what-d...
- d23 12y agoWell, from what I understand, the hierarchy is basically entirely political / tribal. It clearly works for them, but let's not idealize it as a utopian dream without the typical petty human inter-office struggles.
- potatolicious 12y agoIndeed, and this is something common in startups/tech companies. When someone tells you there's no hierarchy in their company, there is, you're just not high up on it and no one's bothered writing the hierarchy down for a number of reasons - most commonly for Cool Startup Culture Points or because if the hierarchy was drawn out on paper it would scare the bejeezus out of anyone watching. Unspoken or undefined hierarchies don't mean you don't have one, it just means there's a covert one that isn't subject to scrutiny or accountability. Which isn't an endorsement for documenting every minutiae of rank and hierarchy, but rather an acknowledgment that hierarchy exists regardless of how badly you want it to not exist.
- CyberDildonics 12y agoTo bad the Greek government doesn't own Steam, then they would have more to export than just Ouzou.
- sebkomianos 12y ago*Ouzo.
- koichi 12y agoDoes this mean that hats are going to be the new Greek economy?
- dangerboysteve 12y agoI was going to write the exact same thing!
- xkarga00 12y agoVaroufakis is a great economist and his placement as the Finance Minister is a smart move from the new government. At this point I would like to suggest reading To Future And Back by I. Pitsouli[1]. Somewhere in it, there is suggested (or prophecized if you wish) that in years to come scientists will replace politicians in governments. Well, that has already started happening and is right IMO because science is closely related to philoshopy which in turn by definition deals with problems related to reality, existence, values, etc. ie. the everyday problems most politicians seem to ignore nowadays. ps. Varoufakis definitely needs to revisit Bitcoin though[2] [1] http://www.amazon.com/Future-Back--More-than-Prophecies-ebook/dp/B004C44G5K/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422303976&sr=1-3&keywords=pitsouli http://www.amazon.com/Future-Back--More-than-Prophecies-eboo... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7841186 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7841186
- numair 12y agoWow, what a futuristic concept, to have a government comprised of scientists! I wonder which forward-thinking Western government will implement this first? http://singularityhub.com/2011/05/17/eight-out-of-chinas-top-nine-government-officials-are-scientists/ http://singularityhub.com/2011/05/17/eight-out-of-chinas-top... ;)
- jahewson 12y agoGermany.
- arethuza 12y agoMrs Thatcher had a chemistry degree from Oxford and Jimmy Carter was a US Navy trained nuclear engineer.
- thomasz 12y agoPolitics in Germany is an apprenticeship trade that takes countless hours from adolescence onward. You do not have the time to become a successful scientist and a successful politician in the same life.
- Shivetya 12y agoIt will be interesting to see if they can pare down some of Greece's military expenditures, they have over a hundred thousand in their military, nearly ninety thousand soldiers. Granted the politicians can always point to Turkey as a threat but I would be very curious how the new administration handles this. Side effects of closing some of the nearly 500 military and releasing troops is not having jobs for them.
- crdoconnor 12y agoI would assume so. This type of thing: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/greece-spends-bailout-cash-european-military-purchases http://www.zerohedge.com/news/greece-spends-bailout-cash-eur... ...is against everything Syriza stands for.
- sebkomianos 12y agoIt's highly unlikely: The government is a coalition of SYRIZA and Independent Greeks, a quite right-winged party whose president was given the Ministry of Defense and first words were "I want to apologise to the people of our armed forces for the financial injustice they were done to by the previous government".
- crdoconnor 12y agoWhich probably means that wages/benefits will be raised even as expenditures on foreign military hardware are cut. They can still easily do that and cut armed forces expenditures.
- sebkomianos 12y ago"Easily" is a jump, I am not sure the right wing of this coalition will be happy to discuss any military spending. By the way, for what it's worth, "foreign military hardware" has been a very well-known ground for greek officials to receive bribes.
- mallamanis 12y ago
- curiouslurker 12y agoThe site (ibtimes) is full of malware and spammy ads. Beware!
- dang 12y agoCan anyone suggest a better URL for this story? Edit: It seems Bloomberg has the most substantive article that isn't behind a paywall, so we've changed to that from http://www.ibtimes.co.in/valve-economist-yanis-varoufakis-appointed-finance-minister-greece-621689 http://www.ibtimes.co.in/valve-economist-yanis-varoufakis-ap....
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- WhitneyLand 12y agoTangentially, what is the main reason for all the protest against the EU? I understand that people in Greece are suffering and that's a terrible thing. However from a lay perspective it seems Germany et al are just trying to help.
- fennecfoxen 12y agoGermany has asked Greece's government to raise taxes to pay bonds, and spend less than they earn in taxes. This is a problem for a country like Greece, because the economy is stagnant and government services were an unhealthy amount of their economy to begin with. Before the crash, the economy was mostly growing because the government was borrowing money (unsustainably) and spending it, producing most of their recent economic growth. What Greece actually needs is growth in the real economy, where there are businesses where people make things and do things and ship things around and otherwise trade with the rest of the world efficiently, but the current economy is insanely overregulated. The classic story of oliveshop.com comes to mind, where company shareholders were expected to submit lung x-rays and stool samples to the health department before the company could sell pre-bottled olive oil online. (Greek shipping is actually one sector which has escaped this, but it's had its own issues because of reduced global trade in the wake of the recession.) Of course, half the reason for the overregulation is so that people in the government can collect bribes to expedite your permit processing. (The rest is classic special-interest stuff). So real reform in these areas probably isn't going to happen, and the Greeks are unwilling to countenance that their previous economic gains were illusory. Which means Germany gets to be the bad guys, asking them to actually pay for what they borrowed (gasp!) and Greece is at extreme risk of doing something incredibly stupid and not just stagnating at 1995 levels but running the economy further into the ground.
- photex 12y agoThis has been what I've been worried about during all of this. I'm not entirely sure why Germany has to be "damned if they do and damned if they don't". It's as if people forget that the country has had to learn how to recover from total catastrophe and might be offering realistic and practical solutions to the problem.
- maceo 12y agoWow! I certainly wasn't expecting that. Mr. Varoufakis has been my favorite economist for many years now, and I think he has brilliant insights as to reasons for the Eurocrisis. Whether he can translate his genius into government policy is another matter, but I wish him the best luck. I've heard him tell the story about how he became Valve's economist. Mr. Varoufakis is a regular guest on the popular left-wing podcast, Doug Henwood's Behind the News. I imagine that Gabe Newell first heard of Yanis through this podcast, but I can't confirm that. Anyway, Gabe sent Yanis a cold email explaining to him what Valve is, and asking him to join the team. Mr. Varoufakis was a long-time economics professor at the University of Athens, but he was in the process of moving to the University of Texas-Austin. Once he learned more about Valve and its virtual economy (and I imagine the fat salary), he accepted the position. It should be noted that Mr Varfakis is a communist. Part of Gabe's pitch to Yanis was that he runs Valve on what he calls anarcho-syndicalist principles. Although I don't know anything about Gabe's politics, I suspect that his sympathies are not too far from Mr. Varafakis'. If you want to hear some of his recent thoughts on the Eurocrisis, check out this interview from a couple months ago. IMO, no one does a better job of plainly explaining the malaise in Europe better than this dude: http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2014/11/24/taking-stock-of-the-euro-crisis-interviewed-by-doug-henwood-for-behind-the-news/ http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2014/11/24/taking-stock-of-the-eur...
- _njy_ 12y agoλ is greek: HL3 confirmed