tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6501692.post1988345458571052021..comments2023-10-24T01:31:22.914+10:30Comments on A live toad every morning: Say what?Shitheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17344573277078416570noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6501692.post-20720502018977399662009-02-23T12:50:00.000+10:302009-02-23T12:50:00.000+10:30Actually there is some reasonable criticism of the...Actually there is some reasonable criticism of the vulgar Keynesianism that underlies the "spend out of recession". For example estimates of jobs "created or saved" often seem to ignore the possibility that workers employed on government funded projects could have been employed elsewhere anyway. That's why the mantra includes "targeted". At a different level, one criticism is that Keynes' basic inisght was a social psychological insight about individuals' behaviour when economic activity is turning down. The empirical evidence is not conclusive for this approach - most assume that the New Deal is conclusive evidence but it isn't really - unemployment stayed very high through the thirties. Japan's experience of massive public works and pretty much zero growth seems a counter-example (espcially as it ended up with a national debt of 180 per cent of GDP). And when you see (as I have) people respond to this by saying "Ah well they didn't do it comprehensively enough" I get worried.<BR/>So in all I don't thnk you can just pack Keynesian economics in with all the other things that a decent secular society has to believe in.<BR/>PS When are you going to put a photo on your Facebook?<BR/><BR/>JAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com