Your Weekly Occupy the Econ Dept Reading

[Peter McDonald]

Fellow darlings of the revolution,

Here were some of the greatest hits from the previous reading:

The assumption that all individuals are fully rational was generally accepted
in mainstream economics and game theory. Fully rational individuals are
presumed to know (1) all possible strategies available in a particular situation,
(2) which outcomes are linked to each strategy given the likely behavior of
others in a situation, and (3) a rank order for each of these outcomes in
terms of the individual’s own preferences as measured by utility.

While utility was originally conceived of as a way of combining a diversity
of external values on a single internal scale, in practice, it has come to
be equated with one externalized unit of measure – such as expected profits.

and

The classic assumptions about rational individuals facing a dichotomy of organizational
forms and of goods hide the potentially productive efforts of individuals
and groups to organize and solve social dilemmas such as the overharvesting
of common-pool resources and the underprovision of local public
goods. The classic models have been used to view those who are involved in
a Prisoner’s Dilemma game or other social dilemmas as always trapped in the
situation without capabilities to change the structure themselves.

and

The classic assumptions about rational individuals facing a dichotomy of organizational
forms and of goods hide the potentially productive efforts of individuals
and groups to organize and solve social dilemmas such as the overharvesting
of common-pool resources and the underprovision of local public
goods. The classic models have been used to view those who are involved in
a Prisoner’s Dilemma game or other social dilemmas as always trapped in the
situation without capabilities to change the structure themselves.

Now, I understand that it looks like it's been two weeks. I should point out that last week I was at a nationwide church gathering that was focused on social justice and I learned a lot of useful stuff to help take back. Also, technically, we are still in consecutive weeks, so the readings are weekly.

Anyway, I've got two things.

First is real short, it's the open letter that the students of Harvard's intro econ course wrote when they walked out of a class last fall. It's got some good stuff in it, but it's very, very Harvardy. I know we can bring something realer.

http://hpronline.org/harvard/an-open-letter-to-greg-mankiw/

Second is a study done about the conflicts of interest in economists that also do work on Wall Street. Like the last one, I haven't read it yet, but I will by the time I send out the next thing. I believe we're in here a little bit.

http://www.peri.umass.edu/fileadmin/pdf/working_papers/working_papers_201-250/WP239.pdf

Stay righteous and spread the word,

-SG