Every time I listen to Anwar Shaikh, I'm always astonished at the depth and breadth of his knowledge and understanding of classical and modern economic theories. His overall theory of the modern capitalist economic system is incredibly complicated, but the fact that it has clear predictive and explanatory power means that his model should be far more well-known and used in further economic research. But the neoclassical bias of the vast majority of university economics departments means that his brilliant work will remain "fringe theory" discussed only among the Marxist left. We must disseminate his ideas and make it clear that neoclassical economics are nothing more than ideological "research" designed to justify capitalism, even if their models are worthless. I loved this interview. Bring Prof. Shaikh on more often! 👍👍
I wouldn't consider myself a part of the Marxist left, and I think Anwar Shaikh is a very important economic thinker. I bought his book but it is above my pay grade, lol. I also think Steeve Keen, Richard Duncan, and Michael Hudson are worth listening to.
"The works of the roots of the vines, of the trees, must be destroyed to keep up the price, and this is the saddest, bitterest thing of all. Carloads of oranges dumped on the ground. The people came for miles to take the fruit, but this could not be. How would they buy oranges at twenty cents a dozen if they could drive out and pick them up? And men with hoses squirt kerosene on the oranges, and they are angry at the crime, angry at the people who have come to take the fruit. A million people hungry, needing the fruit- and kerosene sprayed over the golden mountains. And the smell of rot fills the country. Burn coffee for fuel in the ships. Burn corn to keep warm, it makes a hot fire. Dump potatoes in the rivers and place guards along the banks to keep the hungry people from fishing them out. Slaughter the pigs and bury them, and let the putrescence drip down into the earth. There is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation. There is a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolize. There is a failure here that topples all our success. The fertile earth, the straight tree rows, the sturdy trunks, and the ripe fruit. And children dying of pellagra must die because a profit cannot be taken from an orange. And coroners must fill in the certificate- died of malnutrition- because the food must rot, must be forced to rot. The people come with nets to fish for potatoes in the river, and the guards hold them back; they come in rattling cars to get the dumped oranges, but the kerosene is sprayed. And they stand still and watch the potatoes float by, listen to the screaming pigs being killed in a ditch and covered with quick-lime, watch the mountains of oranges slop down to a putrefying ooze; and in the eyes of the people there is the failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage."
They had capital exports prevention. It's half laws, half high corruption - nobody allowed anybody in South Korea to invest anywhere but South Korea. That, and free access to american markets. It was the same for Japan, for the most part, with their yakuza and industrial conglomerates. This kind of protectionism falls apart eventually as capitalism in a country evolves, and at some point in time there's nowhere to grow but outside the protectionism bubble.
Just to put a little pressure for the next time you may be able to interview him. Anwar has created a more adequate framework for analysing capitalism than the orthodox from a classical perspective and is clearly critical of capitalism. He has hinted at alternatives in some conferences claiming they would represent "solar power" as opossed to "nuclear power" which is capitalism. I think it would do everybody a great honor if he could follow in the footsteps of his colleage Ducan Foley, who claims that "Left-wing critics of capitalism owe their readers an account of what alternatives to capitalism they advocate."
I do not think that's a good idea. Shaikh only has a negative contribution, his entire life work is about how bad capitalism is (he is not wrong). Arce needs Pavlina Tcherneva, who alongside Daniel Kostzer got close to getting full employment in Argentina right after their worst crisis, they had enormous success, but were later foiled by neoliberal chauvinists. Read her work: pavlina-tcherneva.net/job-guarantee-faq/ www.levyinstitute.org/topics/job-guarantee ideas.repec.org/p/lev/wrkpap/wp_534.html Kostzer's plan Jefes almost overnight pulled a million rural people into community purpose jobs. The neolibs hated it, it was allowing poor rural women to buy meat! They closed it down after 2 highly successful years. Some of the women had started businesses and some kept them going even after the job guarantee plan was shut down..
And who says how big their profits are supposed to be? Again, that is only if you come from the assumption that competition is just among small businesses that have no impact on profitability. Also, it doesn't follow that big corporations cannot be out of business.
I watched the lectures twice and read the book with quite some pain tbh. Neoclassical stuff is soo easy to understand, a straight line here, a straight line there, they cross, price is x, optimal number of produced items is 762. Easy. But his work, oh boy, it is soo hard to understand. I am currently trying to put his work into a series of more easily digestible videos, so a normal person can understand what he has to say, as it is in my opinion groundbreakingly fresh and has so much predictive power that I would even argue, he is the new Marx or Keynes. No kidding, I think even Marx did not have as clear a view on the matter as Anwar does.
Subject matter expert speaking in cogent, lucid consistent terms that explain established theoretical concepts and define advanced economic axioms. Connecting disparate realms when necessary. @ age 75. Compare to presidential can and vice presidential candidates.
Big shoutout to this guy! he has a few semesters on YT. That is what leftists need to do more. just doing 1h lectures is not enough. if you are a leftist professor - film yourself for a semster!!! why not?
Steve Keen (and other postkeynesians) was also exploring the idea of macroeconomy as a dynamical system outside equilibrium. It would be interesting if somebody demonstrated Shaikh's ideas about relation between labor and capital in Keen's modelling program, Minsky.
Yeah I just discovered Keen a few weeks ago, and I was thinking there was potentially room for some interplay between Keen's ideas on non-equilibrium and modeling and Shaikh's ideas. Unfortunately I don't know anything about economics.
Gotta read his book, he sounds so knowledgable about economics. Looking forward to comparing his analysis side by side with David Harvey’s, I’m interested to see where they overlap and how they diverge. Excellent guest, would love to see him on here again.
@@Barklord Seventeen Contradictions was the one I had in mind, it was a fantastic read. I love how he structured each chapter as a Dialectic, a Contradictory Unity. Anwar seems to avoid talk of a Historical Dialectical process, instead focusing on giving a more in-house Econ style analysis while rejecting Neoclassical and Heterodox economic analyses. I'm not sure if Anwar outright rejects the Hegelianism in Marx, or just avoids it as unnessessary to his own work and project. Im always interested in getting a better understanding of Capital, even if alot of the maths eludes my conprehension =]
@@Barklord That was a very interesting read. I think that a Legalistic argument for Co-ops would go down well with most Left Libs and Soc Dems, but Conservatives and Fascists just wouldn't care. If a Socialist party ever takes power in a developed nation, they could perhaps push that argument with some success. For your further investigation, I would recommend to you the Book "Private Government" by Anderson. She makes a very similar case, with more historical context added, especially some surprising facts about Adam Smith's early views which i found enlightening. Thanks for your link, i will look into Ellerman more in the future.
How does Jacobin view Public-Private Partnerships? Does Jacobin think that PPP infrastructure can use economies of scale to significantly reduce wealth inequality? For instance, if you examine companies like Nike, it becomes clear that there is a class hierarchy in their products that is perpetuating class conflict. Nike sells $40 and $200 shoes, but they cost relatively the same price to make. I argue if we used a PPP, and built textile factories in the USA, then perhaps we can form a partnership with Nike to produce the best items at significantly cheaper prices. And by doing so, Nike can enter new markets and make more profit by selling to the peoples of the world. But at the same time, wealth inequality would be significantly reduced because people could now buy Nike's products at a fraction of the costs. The only thing is that we must find a way to convince Nike to sell a few of its products to a global customer. I am not suggesting that Nike must completely wipe out its class hierarchy, but rather I am saying Nike should form a partnership to sell a few of their best products at the cheapest prices. It is in the best interest of everyone to make these items more affordable in the near future.
You want americans to compete with manufacturing at lower cost than Nike already does in countries where they are already making pennies on the dollar? I mean did you think about this? As you said Nike makes shoes that are cheap to make but charge exorbitant prices. Capitalism will never sacrifice profit for wealth equality.
@@michelle-jn7ul Yes, I have two solutions to that problem. The first would be to adopt a military pay schedule that enables workers to work for cheaper wages and receive benefits like the gi-bill as an incentive. The second option would be for Nike to pay $15 min wage, and perhaps have the government sponsor another $5 to $10 contribution to make the wages competitive. However, the main point is to be arguing for reduced prices in consumer goods. I think it's the only real way to reduce wealth inequality. Because if the Bourgeoisie won't pay the proletariat more, then perhaps it is better for the proletariat to demand cheaper prices for consumer goods. Capitalism may never sacrifice profit for wealth equality, but it is up to us to convince the capitalists that investing in public infrastructure which reduces the costs of everyday items can unlock more value for society.
I'd really like to hear more about Hayek openly acknowledging that success in capitalism is largely accidental, and not at all merit or skills based. Thanks for this fascinating discussion
Given how ignorant, and nasty the left is culturally, thinkers like Anwar Shaikh, and Michael Hudson are the only reason I still consider myself a leftist.. Good decision to have him on.
I was saddened that his book is 1000 pages and isn't for the common man. I understand Einstein's theory of simplicity, but those not economists will struggle to find the time or ability to comprehend the entirety of his theory.
Big shoutout to this guy! he has a few semesters on YT. That is what leftists need to do more. just doing 1h lectures is not enough. if you are a leftist professor - film yourself for a semster!!! why not?