Been reading Joe Stiglitz' book

[rogerashton]

"The Price of Inequality."

Not quite finished but I'll probably be off the board for a while (vacation.)

It's not an easy book, even for a person with training in economics. Also, Joe is a believer in "real" capitalism. He thinks capitalism can be good for everybody if only we get good government. I doubt that. Nevertheless, the book is a resource for anybody who wants to work for equality. There are a LOT of footnotes -- Joe's arguments are supported by research, and that's the biggest reason it is a resource. It is very useful as a guide to the literature for those who want to support their arguments with research results. And Joe -- Nobel Laureate and consummate insider -- has some authority as a source himself.

For Joe, "good government" (my phrase, not one that he uses often) is government that does some redistribution and that actively opposes "rent seeking." Rent seeking is a technical term in economics, but for Joe it basically means two things: corrupting the government to create profits, and creating monopolies, including the destruction of government regulations that are obstacles to creating monopolies. But here is the problem as I see it: as long as there are billionaires who can afford to buy a congressman, and can make a profit on the investment, it would be irrational -- according to the economic theory Joe relies on -- for them not to do it. Thus, as long as we have a billionaire class, rent seeking and crony capitalism are unavoidable.

I'm reading via the Kindle app on my Ipad. It is a well-done ebook. You can actually read the endnotes.

[Octafish]

1. Thank you for the heads-up, rogerashton!

Stiglitz has integrity, unlike most public figures of recent decades. To wit:

''What would Goldman think?''

"Summers looked at Stiglitz like Stiglitz was some kind of naive fool who'd read too many civics books."

http://www.gregpalast.com/larry-summers-goldman-sacked/

[merrily]

2. Our species needs to evolve more. Not sure the planet will give it enough time, though.

As long as there's greed, there's going to be economic injustice, corruption and multiples kinds of shenanigans. JMO

[Pendrench]

3. I've been meaning to read this particular book for awhile.

Just out of curiosity, have you read Piketty's book "Capital in the Twenty-First Century"?

This is also on my "need to read" list, and imagine that both books cover similar territory....so I'm not sure which to try first.

Thank you for your post!

Tim

[rogerashton]

4. Yes, and worth reading.

Picketty's book is more about the data, is atheoretical, really. One interesting result: the bigger the fortune the higher the rate of accumulation. TP shows that by using the data on well-documented fortunes -- university endowment funds! Just tossed off, but powerful.

[Pendrench]

5. Thank you for your reply :)

Based on the fact that you've read the Piketty book (and are currently reading Stiglitz) do you have a suggestion as to which book I might want to tackle first?

I don't have much of a background in Economics, but I'm trying to remedy that situation by reading more - so if you have any other suggestions, I would be most grateful.

Thank you again -

Tim

[rogerashton]

6. Probably Stiglitz first -- more programmatic. eom

[Pendrench]

7. Excellent - thanks!

[CTyankee]

8. He and Paul Krugman give me hope that we can have sanity in our economic system.