Friday, February 28, 2014

Amy Farber — Historical Echoes: Open a Kiddie Book and Read about Economic Principles, or Read it and Sleep

Sometimes, economists think that children’s books get things wrong. Dr. Seuss’s “The Lorax,” about the destruction of a forest by a greedy industrialist, “assumes that there is no economic system in place,” [Indiana State University’s John] Conant said. In a modern capitalist economy, he said, the trees “would get very valuable as they got scarce, and the person with the property rights would harvest them at an economically reasonable rate.”
By and large, the economic lessons in children’s books lean left of center. “I think the writers are not particularly sympathetic to or don’t understand how a market works,” said Gary S. Becker, the Nobel laureate who teaches economics at the University of Chicago. “It’s not easy to convey that to a child. It’s not always easy to convey it to grown-ups.”
More neoliberal propaganda.  I guess Conant and Becker don't travel much and haven't seen vast tracts of clear cutting in the West, or mountain top removal in Appalachia, or polluted rivers, lakes and streams, or ...... Surprising that eminent economists have never heard of negative externality, also known as capitalize the upside and socialize the downside.

What a crock. It insults the intelligence.

FRBNY — Liberty Street Economics
Historical Echoes: Open a Kiddie Book and Read about Economic Principles, or Read it and Sleep
Amy Farber

1 comment:

googleheim said...

JUST LOOK AT THE FORRESTS WHEN YOU FLY OVER CENTRAL AMERICA

THE AUDABON SOCIETY HAS THE GALL TO SAY THAT IMMIGRATION CAUSES ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION ..

HOWEVER IT IS DEFORRESTATION BY CONSOLIDATED LAND OWNERS WHO PUSH IMMIGRATION INTO UNSUSTAINABLE LEVELS BY PUSHING OUT THE PEOPLE

CENTRAL AMERICA BARREN FOR RICE, BEANS, CORN, AND CAUSING MUD WASH OUTS SINCE THE FORREST IS NOT PRESERVED. MORE DESTRUCTION AND WASTE.

THE MAYANUT TREE WHICH GROWS 30 METERS TALL COULD BE THE ANSWER TO FOOD,NUTRITION, AND FORREST PRESERVATION ...

WWW.MAYANUT.ORG

www.mayanut.org

WWW.MAYANUT.ORG

www.mayanut.org