Tuesday, May 19, 2009

PK gets one right!!

When he says:

"So I’m actually reading Hyman Minsky’s magnum opus,... And I have to say that the Platonic ideal of Minsky is a lot better than the reality."

Mungowitz and I can attest to this from personal experience, but let's let PK elaborate:

"The rest is a long slog through turgid writing, Kaleckian income distribution theory (which I don’t think has anything to do with the fundamental point), and more."

Hyman P. had one of the best 15 minutes of wisdom ever, but that was pretty much it.

5 comments:

Mungowitz said...

With the gestures, and looks of infinite sadness when someone tried to interrupt or ask a question, he could make it last for 20 minutes, maybe 22.

I actually thought, and think, that Minsky's most lucid work was his corrections and extensions of Keynes. When he was trying to do his own stuff, he got lost.

Finally: Fifteen great minutes is pretty good. He's got me beat by about .... fifteen minutes.

Angus said...

regarding all of the above: Agreed.

But that book is a bad business.

Mungowitz said...

I just think it is great that Krugman tried to read it.

Makes me all happy, just thinking on it.

alejandro said...

Angus

Whay do you think about this?

My talk today is titled “A Minsky Meltdown: Lessons for Central Bankers.” I won’t dwell on the irony of that. Suffice it to say that, with the financial world in turmoil, Minsky’s work has become required reading. It is getting the recognition it richly deserves. The dramatic events of the past year and a half are a classic case of the kind of systemic breakdown that he—and relatively few others—envisioned

taken from
Janet L. Yellen, President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
For delivery on April 16, 2009, 8:00 PM Eastern Time, 5:00 PM Pacific
A Minsky Meltdown:
Lessons for Central Bankers1
.
By the way.... that post about Mexican food and Tyler citation was great, isn´t it?

Alejandro

Tom said...

So, you're saying that even a blind squirrel can sometimes recognize sh!t when he sniffs it? Okay, one for PK.