----- Original Message ---- From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 11:55:32 AM Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Official Economic stats (was: Roubini)
On Dec 16, 2008, at 8:05 AM, Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
> Take for example the concept of the boundaries of production used in national accounting, which in principle consists of all market transactions. However, as feminist critiques of that concepts pointed out, it leaves out a substantial chunk of productive activities, namely those carried out within the household sector or by unpaid labor (the latter is a bit more complicated and depends on the instituional setting of that labor) - both done predominantly by women. So the national accounts statisticians who adhere to the 1993 SNA dutifuly perform their jobs as any good public servants would do, but the methodology they use undercounts certain types of productive activities, namely those performed by women.
This is true, but market activity is regulated and measured by the exchange of money, while household activity is regulated by a mix of affection and coercion. They're really not comparable.
[WS:] That may be true to some degree in the US and other OECD countries, but certainly not in Africa and other underdeveloped countries where the bulk of economic activity is carried out by the household sector.
I would also question the assumption of bourgeois ecnomic and political theory/ideology that separates markets and society or formarl and purpose rationality in Max Weber's terms. There is far more values, norms, cultural expectations and affection in market/business behavior and far more market transactions in household activities than the bourgeois political economy wants us to believe.
Wojtek