In Response to Jim Devine's Question

michael perelman michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Fri Sep 18 20:04:17 PDT 1998


Jim asked if I could elaborate on what I meant about the contradictions within Keynesian economic policy. I am pressed for time, but I can lay out a very rough outline.

Increasing government spending or the money supply relieves business, to some extent, the pressures of competition. Competition is supposedly what makes business efficient. The absence of competition allowance inefficiencies to accumulate and fictitious capital to multiply.

The Japanese bubble economy is a perfect, albeit extreme, example of this phenomenon. As the money supply was pumped up, business invested; investments prospered, creating an irrational exuberance that seemed to be validated because of the high-level of demand.

-- 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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