That's a completely different argument, though. I abandoned reading Stiglitz after a barrage of completely unsupported assertions about what the economy "should" do.
In any case, I think the second formulation is wrong, too. I, for one, study economics for the same reason I study physics or CS or engineering: because I think it's useful to know how things work. Whether economics does an adequate job of that is debateable ;)
I'm curious about your concept of "waste". It seems ill-defined, based on preconceptions of sustainability and a closed system, and - in extremis - requires a violation of the second law of thermodynamics.
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Date: 2011-12-31 12:24 pm (UTC)From:In any case, I think the second formulation is wrong, too. I, for one, study economics for the same reason I study physics or CS or engineering: because I think it's useful to know how things work. Whether economics does an adequate job of that is debateable ;)
I'm curious about your concept of "waste". It seems ill-defined, based on preconceptions of sustainability and a closed system, and - in extremis - requires a violation of the second law of thermodynamics.