Daniel J. Smith

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Daniel J. Smith

Daniel J. Smith

@Smithdanj

Professor of Economics | Political Economy - Public Choice - History of Economic Thought - Austrian Economics

Murfreesboro, TN Katılım Ağustos 2014
1.4K Takip Edilen3.6K Takipçiler
Daniel J. Smith
Daniel J. Smith@Smithdanj·
Grok’s ranking of famous economists of all time by how polemic their writing is: Marx > Krugman > Stiglitz > Bastiat > Hayek > Friedman > Keynes > von Mises > Malthus > Buchanan/Galbraith/George
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Daniel J. Smith
Daniel J. Smith@Smithdanj·
Beyond economics, this reminded me of Elements of Justice:
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Daniel J. Smith
Daniel J. Smith@Smithdanj·
It is amazing, looking back, at the early conceptions of important economic concepts that Mises developed in Socialism (1922).
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Daniel J. Smith
Daniel J. Smith@Smithdanj·
This is what Grok said about Smith: “Adam Smith: The Wealth of Nations contains sharp critiques of mercantilism and the “man of system,” but the work is overwhelmingly a positive, system-building treatise on how markets coordinate prosperity. Polemic is incidental, not structural. • David Ricardo: Principles of Political Economy and Taxation is abstract, deductive theory (comparative advantage, rent, etc.). Almost no rhetorical combat or public warning; purely analytical. • John Stuart Mill: Principles of Political Economy and related essays are reformist and nuanced, engaging opponents philosophically rather than through demolition or alarm. The tone is balanced and synthetic.”
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Daniel J. Smith
Daniel J. Smith@Smithdanj·
But redistribution based on income statistics would encourage this behavior. I don’t know the magnitudes of how pervasive this problem is or if it is even worth factoring in at all. We need more theorizing, on the margin, to inform modern empirical debates, especially when contributing to policy debates.
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Daniel J. Smith
Daniel J. Smith@Smithdanj·
This naturally extends to people making lifestyle choices to reject higher valued uses of land (Corb Lund’s song “S Lazy H” highlights this). One of the economic efficiency arguments for property taxes, of course, is to discourage unproductive (or less productive) uses of land.
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Daniel J. Smith
Daniel J. Smith@Smithdanj·
Mises (1922): “it cannot be “artificially” imitated under Socialism.”
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Daniel J. Smith
Daniel J. Smith@Smithdanj·
Mises also had to deal with socialists attempting to draw a distinction between state socialism and social democracy:
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End Libertarianism
End Libertarianism@EndLibertarians·
@HayekianBanker @ajxyred Public choice theory is not economics, it is far right propaganda created by James McGill Buchanan, the architect of the radical right.
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Daniel J. Smith
Daniel J. Smith@Smithdanj·
So clearly, I would prefer Grok if we were going to use AI to plan the economy. Others would obviously prefer an AI set up with parameters to favor central planning. Thus, central planning, even with AI, succumbs to some of the very same problems.
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Daniel J. Smith
Daniel J. Smith@Smithdanj·
Grok says, even if granted the power to plan the economy with its AI capabilities, that it would allow the market to operate.
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Daniel J. Smith
Daniel J. Smith@Smithdanj·
I asked @Grok if it would engage in monetary discretion or adhere to a rule if we haded monetary policy over to it. Grok: “A monetary rule.”
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Daniel J. Smith
Daniel J. Smith@Smithdanj·
This problem still exists even with AI:
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Daniel J. Smith
Daniel J. Smith@Smithdanj·
In Socialism (1922), Mises writes, “Society is best served when the means of production are in the possession of those who know how to use them best.” Private property, prices, and profit & loss achieve exactly that. They solve the knowledge & incentive problems that make central planning impossible. While capital is nominally owned by investors, it is constantly being reallocated to best serve customers, who direct the investment of capital with their decisions or risk losing it. AI can optimize known data and run predictive models. But without entrepreneurial discovery and adjustment of economic actors under dynamic prices and profit/loss, new information, innovations, and even better AI uses itself stop emerging (also those in charge of the AI and interpreting and executing AI decisions, will face substantial incentive problems).
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Daniel J. Smith
Daniel J. Smith@Smithdanj·
A problem for all major political parties identified by Mises (1922). Quick to defend Constitutional rights and other values when out of power, but drop their concern when in power.
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