Krugman on Marx

michael perelman michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Thu Aug 13 07:25:04 PDT 1998


William S. Lear wrote:


> That's what Krugman and the neoclassicals would like us to believe,
> isn't it? You certainly can refute a theory by showing it is not
> consistent with empirical evidence, can you not?

I should have been more clear. You can not refute a theory in the eyes of an economist .... One of Milton Friedman's great contributions to economic thought was to argue, convincingly to most economists that a theory can be ridiculously out of whack with reality and still be a good theory if it comes up with the right conclusions (or predictions). I leave it to you to guess what the right conclusions are.

Nobody, absolutely nobody, could refute any neo-classical theory to the satisfaction of the neo-classical economists. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu



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