Monday, February 11, 2013

Say's Law Is Alive And Well Among Free Market Theorists

Say's law is being revived by some economists to advance the conservative agenda.  If one accepts the assumption that every dollar that is earned will be spent in one form or another, it is not possible to have a general glut in which there is not enough demand to purchase the supply of goods that have been produced.  Say's law presumes that supply creates its own demand.

One of the implications of Say's law is that is impossible to have extended depressions like we had in the 1930's.  Most economists, faced with disconfirming evidence have rejected Say's law.  In this article Paul Krugman criticizes several prominent economists who have invoked Say's law.

One of the reasons why neo-classical economists cling to outdated "laws", is that they believe that markets follow some natural law like those that exist in the natural sciences.  If the "natural" laws of supply and demand were allowed to work without distortions, which arise primarily from government,  depressions would never occur.  In other words, they refuse to believe that economics is a social science, and that economies are human inventions.  Therefore, government intervention into the economy is a violation of natural law.  Everything would work out fine in the economy if government would stop interfering with nature.


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