Polanyi's great transformation

[Brad De Long]

>Okay, okay, may be my own experience teaching with the book was not the norm
>and I shouldn't give up on it so easily. I do think it's a lovely book and
>one of my favorites. The consensus among my (largely rich, white, temporary
>liberal) students was that Polanyi's writing style was a barrier.
>
>Jeff

I agree it goes better if you cut out a bunch of the discussion of
Speenhamland...

Brad DeLong

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"Now 'in the long run' this [way of summarizing the quantity theory of
money] is probably true.... But this
long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. **In the long run** we
are all dead.  Economists set themselves too easy, too useless a task if in
tempestuous seasons they can only tell us that when the storm is long past
the ocean is flat again."

--J.M. Keynes
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J. Bradford De Long; Professor of Economics, U.C. Berkeley;
Co-Editor, Journal of Economic Perspectives.
Dept. of Economics, U.C. Berkeley, #3880
Berkeley, CA 94720-3880
(510) 643-4027; (925) 283-2709 phones
(510) 642-6615; (925) 283-3897 faxes
http://econ161.berkeley.edu/
<delong at econ.berkeley.edu>