It has always (well, maybe not when I was three) fascinated me that until someone thought of something, other people hadn’t. I realize that it is impossible to ever really identify the origin of an idea, and there are always seeds to be found further back, but one can identify ‘stepping stone’ ideas, so to speak, that really changed the way people think and act.
Early examples seem so simplistic, but there they are. From the hook to the button, from queueing to pillows, people didn’t have them until some smart ass rolled up his second skin into a cylinder and lay down to put his fat head on it, after someone told him to wait in line because he got there first and wasn’t going to miss getting tickets to Thog’s drum fest and mastodon roast. And then there are the more etherial ideas that have slowly arisen like notions of equality or liberty on the more complex side, used and abused in the modern age.
But what got me thinking again about the history of ideas was a podcast by my favourite podcasting, mostly Austrian, economist, Russ Roberts. His guest, Don Boudreaux, does hesitate looking for words occasionally, but the ideas they are discussing require careful semantics which they both search for, a feature of these interviews that makes them invaluable. They also mention lighthouses and Mike Munger which makes the whole thing worth toughing through.
Ronald Coase’s economic breakthroughs are the topic of the podcast, and his ideas seem obvious now, or would if more people tried to think about them.
He discovered that transaction costs applied to non-tangible things, like property rights, and that the lowest cost solution to a problem was often the correct one, even though on the surface that can seem bizarre. The hidden influence of transaction cost is esoteric perhaps, but actually explains a great deal about how the market works and laws are written and when bottom up versus top down decision making is or would be more appropriate.
But nobody believed Coase when he first brought any of this up. He eventually got a Noble prize in economics, and lived to be 102. He himself did an interview with Professor Roberts when he was 101.
All of these ideas are fascinating in themselves, but I do love the practical application of economics too, and two podcasts come to mind that I will also link to. One about how Lay’s potato chips get made and one about why milk is often at the back of the store. And that is where Mike Munger comes back in, you will be relieved to hear.
Don Boudreaux of George Mason University and Cafe Hayek talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the intellectual legacy of Ronald Coase. The conversation centers on Coase’s four most important academic articles. Most of the discussion is on two of those articles, “The Nature of the Firm,” which continues to influence how economists think of firms and transaction costs, and “The Problem of Social Cost,” Coase’s pathbreaking work on externalities.
Brendan O’Donohoe of Frito-Lay talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about howpotato chips and other salty snacks get made, distributed, and marketed. The interview follows an hour-long tour of a local supermarket where O’Donohoe showed Roberts some of the ways that chips and snacks get displayed and marketed in a modern supermarket. The conversation is a window into a world that few of us experience or are even aware of–how modern producers and retailers make sure the shelves are stocked and their products get noticed.
O’Donohoe on Potato Chips and Salty Snacks
Mike Munger of Duke University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about why milk is in the back of the grocery store. Michael Pollan and others argue that milk is in the back so that customers, who often buy milk, will be forced to walk through the entire story and be encouraged by the trek to buy other items. Munger and Roberts argue that competition encourages stores to serve customers and that alternative explanations explain where milk is found in the store. The conversation also discusses restaurant pricing, government “nudging” and related issues of grocery economics.
Plenty of food for thought to be found in the rich archives of that site, and with a feast for the mind on the table, more practical and tangible food is to be sought. And coffee, to go with the milk and potatoes.
Well, there’s the origin of an idea, and then there’s the manipulation and misuse of the idea forever after.
I suppose there was a time when Austrian economics was a legitimate school of economic thought, but what I’ve seen of it for the past 20-30 years has been strictly as a relentless tool for selling things. Whether it’s selling metals, miners, freeze dried food, doomsday prophesies, or truly heinous politcal dogma, it seems everybody and their brother trots out an Austrian economist to give some sort of gravitas to their sales pitch.
Just because I have a innate inclination toward gold, I’ve had this stuff pounded at me relentlessly for decades. I’m beyond immune. I’m openly hostile now. Whenever I see the word “austrian”, or the names “Hayek”, “von Mises”, or “Rothbard”, the hair stands up on the back of my neck, and I steel myself for the inevitable onslaught of right wing doomer propaganda.
Hucksters, charlatans, carnival barkers, and class warriors on behalf of the uber-wealthy. That’s what “Austrian” means to me these days. If there is anything about it that is not truly malignant, then I’m sure that you and the woodpecker will set me straight. 😆
And…First!
And now, a tune:
EO (all) you might like this. 2nd. Woodpecker is wandering.
❓
Maravich returns with quarters and confusion.
cats.
EO – such are the social sciences. i don’t have any problem with what you said. i think you guys know that i have an econ degree. so i believe they (economists) are all wrong! one can’t predict how one person will act, let alone predict that person’s behavior when influenced by a crowd! Xty – the first interviewer above talks about blackboard economists, and i agree. i believe that the social sciences should be more about real world observation, and less about searching for evidence to back a particular theory.
i will say this – Adam Smith got enough of it right 300 years ago. if the public only could be taught economics from the one book “Wealth of Nations”, then policy makers, politicians, and the radicals alike would lose most of the power gained by manipulating economic dogma.
there is some weird shit going on. i’m glad you guys are here tonight. i waited all day until now to open a beer. i do have some 16 oz Rolling Rock cans – the perfect shape and size to shotgun!
shot gun free association…
song that reminds me of you(less the d’ead) part.
😥 im going lazy, baked and overoptioned. 😛 😀 😎 🙄
ok. found it! check Jerry!
for Old King, and a dog named Mouse…
Looks like another Turdite overdosed on the kool-aid. And of course, there is a post up over there right now basically calling the whole thing a faked false flag, blah, blah, blah…
“The 23-year-old man who allegedly killed a TSA official at Los Angeles International Airport yesterday was carrying a one-page “manifesto” that included references to the “New World Order,” the Federal Reserve and “fiat currency,” according to a knowledgeable source with ranking law enforcement contacts.”
http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2013/11/02/hatewatch-exclusive-alleged-lax-shooter-referenced-patriot-conspiracy-theories/
And on that cheerie note, I bid you all a good night.
yep
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-S6md3LNgs
😛 👿 🙂 😳 😀 😮 😯 💡
site is causing grief likely me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6Kspj3OO0s
😳 😳 😳
😎 😎 😎
😳 😳 😳 😎 😎 😎
🙄
😯
😀
i’ll lock up.
you are up next Pete.
ideas inside
ideopraxists ignite
ideogenous
—-
i say, say it with paint. 😎
thanks for the emotes, they present themselves as party people and are likely to wonder about me as well.
😳 🙄