John Médaille wrote:
>One has to have great respect for Humberto's rather thankless task


I join John in his praise: Three cheers, one 
bottle of champagne and an extra slice of the Xmas turkey for Humberto!

1. Bringing back history into the discussion: 
there were economists before Folbre saying 
sensible things about raising children. J.B. Say 
discussed Napoleon's comment on lives lost in 
battle, 'Une nuit de Paris re'parera tout cela.' 
(One Parisian night will replenish the stock.)
I don't have the exact locus here, but Say's 
argument was: One night?! After that it takes 
eighteen years of parental care, education and 
training before one can rightly speak of full compensation of these losses.

2. What's wrong in linking history with the 
present? Croce's dictum 'All true history is 
history of the present' holds for economics as 
well. When people ask me what to read to better 
understand The Crisis, I recommend two timeless 
books on greed and bubbles. Antoin Murphy's 
'Cantillon' and 'John Law' are damn good 
economics and a damn good read as well.

Evert Schoorl