[lbo-talk] Fatal Equilibrium -- and Larry Summers

[Jim Devine]

about  20 years back, I read a piss-poor economics mystery "novel"
titled "The Fatal Equilibrium" by Marshall Jevons (a pseudonym for two
Chicago-school economists). In it, the detective, an economics
professor who seems to be Milton Friedman but working at Harvard,
solves a mystery using economic concepts.

The major impression I had was of this creep talking to various
professors at Harvard. I remember thinking: "if I worked at Harvard as
a prof. and someone lectured me this way, I'd sucker-punch him."
Little did I know that this was preminiscent of economist Larry
Summers' behavior (and faculty response) at Harvard!

One notable thing about "The Fatal Equilibrium" is the arrogant
stupidity of the authors. The murderer -- an anthropologist -- is
caught because he (allegedly) faked his data. In the real world, say
the authors, the number of coconuts that it takes to buy a canoe
should be the same on the same island at the same time. Since the
anthropologist's data don't fit this economic principle, he faked it;
he must not have visited the Pacific island where the data came from
at all!  Of course, this totally ignores quality differences between
canoes.

As my wife says: you can be ignorant or arrogant, but the combination
of both is crossing the line.

This crappy book is part of a series, including "Murder at the
Margin." They come with instructors' manuals and other ancillary
materials, hoping that profs. use them in their classes.
--
Jim Devine / "There can be no real individual freedom in the presence
of economic insecurity." -- Chester Bowles