Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Robert Solow steps in

Thomas Piketty is right says Robert Solow. It seems from the review that Robert Solow could have written a shorter and better book except that Solow says that nobody made the connection (between r and g) before.
P.S. Mark Thoma starts a discussion in Economist's view on the above article.
Meanwhile, there is an interesting article Adam Smith is not the antidote to Thomas Piketty. It seems that Smith's views were not too far off, seems even more radical  "The economic fundamental underlying these views was crystal-clear: For Smith, high profits were bad. They were “always highest in the countries which are going fastest to ruin,” because profit was “naturally low in rich, and high in poor countries.” High profits were not condemned for normative reasons, but efficiency ones: de facto, in countries that thrive, profits are low (except in new economies)."
P.P.S. Brad DeLong discusses Robert Solow review "To sum up: a very good book, a very, as Solow says, serious book. It has certainly moved me from thinking that the odds that two generations hence we will have a much more unequal and plutocratic society were 2-1 against to thinking that they are 3-1 for..."

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