=================== HES POSTING ================== This leads us back to a discussion about Polanyi and _The Great Transformation_. If the structures assumed by neoclassical economics bear little resemblance to the actual structure of the contemporary U.S. economy, as Drue Barker wrote, the point is: how little is this little? Isnt it large enough to set a qualitative difference between contemporary market system, as oligopolized as it may be, and a rural fair where peasants and artisans meet to exchange products? As for the neoclassical paradigm, it is questionable that it fails so miserably by any criteria for good social science, in spite of its many shortcomings. OK, old ideas can survive as excrescences for a while, but not that long, I guess. Ana Maria Bianch ============ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ============ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]