Economists effectively assume that capitalism is unnecessary

Re:Economists effectively assume that capitalism is unnecessary by jedharris on Monday October 26, 2015 @02:27PM (#10453343)

Multiple commenters say "The title is a joke" -- but Keen is just reporting the direct implication of the Arrow Debreu theorems which economists regard as foundational for economic theory (not practice or empirical analysis).

So maybe a literal title would be "Economists prove that Economic Theory says Free Markets are Unnecessary". The joke is on mainstream economic theory.

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Re:Economists effectively assume that capitalism is unnecessary by bruu_ on Monday October 26, 2015 @04:32PM (#10454259)

Yeah. If you read the article, it is not asserting "Capitalism is Bad", it is saying that the rationality assumption implies that we don't need the market. If everyone was perfectly rational, we would all coordinate without the market.

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Re:Economists effectively assume that capitalism is unnecessary by sharemywin on Monday October 26, 2015 @07:23PM (#10455200)

I read it more as you need all knowing agents to make capitalism work which is the same requirement for a command economy.

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