In the last lecture I showed that the Neoclassical model of consumer behavior doesn't work, and is computationally impossible. In this lecture, I show that even if it did work, a market demand curve derived by aggregating the demands of numerous utility-maximizing individuals can have any shape at all. The so-called Sonnenschein-Mantel-Debreu conditions (first discovered in 1953 by Gorman) show that even market demand can't be represented by the demand of a single utility-maximizing consumer--yet Neoclassical DSGE models treat the entire economy as a single utility maximizer.
This is great! What kind of response do you get from currently teaching economics professors who have to dish this stuff out?
GalenAus 4 months ago
LOL, now that I think about it, the Neoclassical model of consumer behavior sounds like those "pop" historians or history books-- which conveniently describe whole dynasties or civilizations as if they behave as a single ("rational") individual....
You know, just cos it would explain things more "clearly"-- as clearly as a case of art or fiction trumping truth and reality!
ApocalypticAang 6 months ago
@danno321s Neoclassical economics is an attempt to reduce super-complex mass behaviors down to "universal laws". It's like trying to come up with the funniest joke possible - you can't, because preferences change and behavior is the result of an impossible number of variables.
juujuuuujj 6 months ago
There is another proof. There is no evidence that a "market" with one consumer and commodity (Micro Market) exists. It is a fiction with no concern for nature. So how can one speculate on a Micro Market which is a fiction and extrapolate those speculations to an Aggregate Market without creating an even bigger fiction?
danno321s 6 months ago
Greatness with this f'n plain ath common sense economics. Thanks for the upload!!!
slhines7 6 months ago