I have at least three things on my mind.
First we had a prospective student visit who was an institutionalist and thought most economics was a bunch of shit. We shared many of the same views, but she was focused and somewhat optimistic. She also has not been through economics PhD courses yet. I cannot say if she motivated me or sunk me into another depression.
Second Sam wanted me to discuss the research him and I are supposed to be doing. Honestly he has done a lot of work. I have not. But it is an interesting problem. Basically African farmers are in between a rock and a hard place. They can spray their cotton and make money. But by spraying they also increase their chances for malaria. Nobody has a handle on the situation or exactly what is going on. This is where we step in and save the day.
Third I want to talk religion. My two or three readers and myself all have different views on the subject. But at the core, all of us are pretty much the same.
I do not feel like expanding on these subjects. I have to start a presentation that I have to give in less than twelve hours. But four things must be said:
1. I am not an institutionalist. JKG was an institutionalist . The final goal has to be individuals making decisions for themselves. Some institutions allow for this better than others. But the final goal is a society without institutions.
2. I am sure that the African farmers have a much better handle on the situation than either Sam or I do.
3. No matter what some say, religion is personal. This might be semantics, but anybody who gets out of the bed in the morning has some religion.
4. Pussy drives 95 percent of my actions. This is a conservative estimate. It is like with this blog. I want people to read me, and say, "Wow, that is an intelligent guy." "He is smart, philosophical (whatever the hell that means), and thought provoking." I want to get thousands of hits a day. This is not a bad thing, but I do not delude myself, it is not a good thing either. Blogging gets me no closer to happiness. Yeah it relieves some stress but so does masturbation.
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4 comments:
I was checking the site statistics for marginal revolution. They have about 12,000ish unique visitors a day. That is pretty impressive. Do you worry that too many people that check the blog already agree with him? Perhaps the best books (and blogs) really nail an issue so that they draw a wide audience. I am not sure where this is going, but it makes me think a lot harder about what I want to do for a dissertation topic.
"Nobody has a handle on the situation or exactly what is going on. This is where we step in and save the day."
If we had any free time or art abilities I think we should start a comic strip called "The Adventures of Economan!"
The hero could swoop in on people contemplating decision and inundate people with mathematics and then fly off again.
If either of us had sprayed insecticidies in our lives before we might have some credibility. The idea that we can contribute to agricultural and public health discussions because we are half-assed mathematicians is pretty ridiculous. Maybe we could visit a cotton farm in VA?
I have listened to a couple of Cowen interviews lately, and I think his breadth is amazing. He knows and can speak intelligently about a number of subjects. But the more you read him, the more you see that he rarely says anything controversial. He certainly has more depth than I do, but he does not compare to Roberts and Boudreaux. I think he is the typical new age economist who is at heart apolitical and purely positive.
So I think people read MarginalRevolution because it is a quality site and contains well written ideas on new economic topics.
The comic strip would be fun to economics graduate students. So I am afraid that we would not make any money with it.
We should plan a field trip to a farm. Get GGM to organize it.
I like the Economan idea.
BUT, I have come to a simple conclusion recently. People do make rational well informed economic decisions daily. However, everyone has different economic motivations. Understanding the synthesis of it all is beatiful, however, it is only that. It is not the end all be all. The beautiful aspect of economic theory is not economic theory. It is preference.
GGM
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