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Date: | Fri Mar 31 17:18:48 2006 |
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I don't see how acknowledging that economics is about choice excludes
Marx at all, or limits methods of analysis, or social phenomena.
Sorry to be empirical, but I would like to hear examples.
Clearly, for instance, one element of choice is the institutional
framework (whether cultural or legal) that a society chooses to
impose upon itself (or has imposed upon it); that frames choice. You
ignore it (as most economists in fact do) at your peril.
Marx's cash nexus and his respect for the instinct of workmanship are
also I think easily brought within the framework of understanding
"choices." And if you are Weberian, you recognize that in traditional
societies there is very little choice at the individual level.
This is a much richer way, I think, of understanding the insights
that economics offers than the very narrow focus on satisfying
material wants, which is where most introductory texts begin
(unfortunately).
Fred Carstensen
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