#jevons

What had happened in the meantime, to change so much the mind of the economists, and induce them to scrap all that had been done up to that time? (It was in fact scrapping the whole: Jevons, Preface, + Cannan, Theories, 379–383, “must be visited with almost unqualified condemnation” are right, from the point of view of Economics).

Socialism has been the cause of all this. In fact, classical P. E., with its surplus to be arbitrarily divided, leads straight to Socialism. When after the death of Ricardo the first timid attempts of using socialistically his Theory of value were made (Hodgskin, Thompson: the were misguided if (?) they used the moral argument that labour produces everything as Proudhon, but not Marx did), Senior + Mill + Cairnes fol rallyied to the defense by making cost psychological.

But when the mass attack of Marx, and the threat of the rampant International [and the Paris Commune] came, simultan a much more drastic defence was called for: not only sacrifice, but utility, ‒ and simultaneously J. M. W. and their success. The classical economy was becoming too dangerous as a whole, it had to be scrapped bodily. It was a burning house which threatened to set to fire the whole structure and foundations of capitalist society ‒ it was forthwith removed.

İktisatçılar bilirler, toplam fayda teorisi, marjinal fayda gibi kavramlar vardır. Marjinalist iktisatçılara göre dünyadaki toplam fayda sabittir ve bu fayda mallar ve hizmetler gibi insanlar arasında geçişkenlik gösterir. Peki fayda – mutluk teorisini burada kuracak olursak dünyadaki toplam fayda sabit ise toplam mutluluk da sabit midir?

İktisat ve hayat arasında nasıl bir ilişki vardır sorusunun bir başka cevabı da bu olabilir aslında. Dünyadaki bütün fayda sabit ise buradan sağlayacağımız mutluluk da sabittir ve bu mutluluk kişiler arasında yer değiştirir. Söz gelimi birileri mutsuz olurken birileri de mutlu olur. Bu dünyanın aslında farkında olmadığımız döngülerinden birisidir. Yani birilerinin ölüp birilerinin sürekli doğması gibi.

Thomas Sowell’s Best and Worst

Thomas Sowell retired from writing his syndicated column a few weeks ago. And so the tributes have been coming in. As they should. I note that Paul Jacob at ThisIsCommonSense.com, and Gene Epstein on the Tom Woods Show, both have praised Sowell for his astute and well-explained economics popularizing while expressing their chagrin that Sowell never seemed to apply the same “thinking beyond Stage…

Antiquarian Principles of Science W Stanley Jevons 1874 book Leather bound

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