Friday, February 8, 2013

Matias Vernengo on the surplus


Robert Paul Wolff comments on something I have often said about the economic history: Economics begins with the transition from tribal subsistence to surplus societies, and both political and economic history is chiefly about the surplus. According to Wolff:
"A good deal of Theology, Philosophy, History, Political Science, Sociology, Anthropology, and of course Economics is devoted to answering ... three questions.
The three questions are:
  1. Who Gets the Surplus?
  2. How do the Surplus Getters get the Surplus? and
  3. What do the Surplus Getters do With the Surplus After They Get It?"
Naked Keynesianism
And Now for Something Completely Different (very short)
Matias Vernengo | Associate Professor of Economics, University of Utah



2 comments:

Matt Franko said...

I find it hard to distill things down any simpler than this... rsp,

Unknown said...

Who gets the surplus? ans: Money hoarders via the resulting deflation.

The monetary sovereign should NEVER run a surplus deliberately and should rectify an accidental one quickly.

But yea, good questions!