tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post5135640639000336677..comments2024-03-29T17:12:19.648+13:00Comments on Bowalley Road: Perfect Information?Chris Trotterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09081613281183460899noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-55003843610947903032011-04-25T10:25:58.466+12:002011-04-25T10:25:58.466+12:00Since psychologists have shown that people don'...Since psychologists have shown that people don't behave in ways that free marketeers believe they do, and since physicists have shown that the equations they base their theories on are rubbish, free market economic theories are about as much use as your daily horoscope in the paper. (Please don't use this as I'm thinking of using it in a letter to the editor)<br />Oh what the hell, just use it – they'll never print it anyway :-).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-2203682438509208072011-04-22T17:46:25.303+12:002011-04-22T17:46:25.303+12:00Perfect information is one of the theoretical post...Perfect information is one of the theoretical postulates that make neo-classical economic theories work, even when they obviously don't in an empirical sense. Of course, the theory is only about the trading of commodities, which is all we are supposed to be doing on this planet. Right wingers seem to forget that the market mechanism is meant to be amoral, so any information is value-neutral, supposedly. However, right-wingers usuaully make moral judgments about economic actors, especially workers, who apparently become lazy when the wrong 'incentives' are in place, like welfare payments.<br /><br />Information in the financial markets was supposed to be perfect, since the market signals could be transmitted so quickly. Shame that the big Wall St players keep breaking the rules. Was not the financial crisis caused by the likes of Goldman Sachs not informing their clients that the bundles of high risk mortgages would likely be defaulting, and that they were also betting on that being the case. If you can't trust the financial experts in the market context, why would you trust their analysis in the wider public sphere, i.e. in the media.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-9600294831260177552011-04-21T06:05:33.095+12:002011-04-21T06:05:33.095+12:00Don,
I was not expecting anything but simply tryi...Don,<br /><br />I was not expecting anything but simply trying to point out that "perfect" information does not exist for either the left or right theory.<br /><br />So Chris Trotters argument falls over in regards the state (left theory) being able to provide "perfect" information over the private individuals ability (right theory) to source the information from other (free market) sources.<br /><br />I agree that there is room for middle ground.<br /><br />And have been around near 3 score years to know that there is no such thing as "perfect" information.<br /><br />Information steadily and continually evolves and there is no magic point at which it can be deemed "perfect" for release to the public or utilised by a left theory state to set policy on.<br /><br />Nor a right theory individual to make an accurate 100% correct personal decision.<br /><br />I find the notion that state funded broadcasters would be totally unbiased, a long bow drawn.<br /><br />If we look at China's state information service versus the reality as sourced from non state news distributors, it is not at all certain that state funded "perfect information" disemmination is the be all and end all.Gerritnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-31302476420439572011-04-20T21:14:13.238+12:002011-04-20T21:14:13.238+12:00Chris
Anyone who relies upon a TV Advertisement t...Chris<br /><br />Anyone who relies upon a TV Advertisement to guide their personal investment decisions deserves what's coming to them.<br /><br />A fool and his money are soon parted.<br /><br />As for your primary point regarding perfect information. It doesn't exist, regardless of the political environment we operate in. Every business person makes management and investment decisions using the best information they have to hand, combined with their experience, and a certain amount of intuition.<br /><br />More fail than succeed.<br /><br />However, the rewards of success make a few failures acceptable. <br /><br />All successful business people I know have experienced failure, take advice, minimize risk and back themselves.<br /><br />None of them take advice from their television sets.<br /><br />Kind regards<br />BrendanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-38727334957901694112011-04-20T20:15:10.618+12:002011-04-20T20:15:10.618+12:00There is no alternative. I was listening to the Na...There is no alternative. I was listening to the National program on the radio and they interviewed the BNZ Professor of Finance. And, for irony, they also have the Ernst & Young Chair in Financial Accounting.<br /><br />Later that day, Gordon McLaughlin said New Zealand tends to go from A to Z. If A doesn't work, try Z. When that doesn't work, go back to A. We never try anything in between.<br /><br />It sounds as though this is what Gerrit expects. We can choose extreme free market 'orthodoxy' or communist totalitarianism. There is some middle ground.Don Robertsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07818756364561598971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-13840714859151670562011-04-20T19:24:08.620+12:002011-04-20T19:24:08.620+12:00No, he is saying for the free market to work (i.e....No, he is saying for the free market to work (i.e. the good companies succeed and the bad companies fail) then people have to have information about the good companies and the bad companies. With that information people can make an informed choice about where to invest. Governments who support free labour markets should be supporting access to all this information.<br /><br />Of course, this government isn't interested in free market policies because they aren't interested in letting business fail. The Government has spent the most of welfare of any government but the increase is not in welfare for people but welfare for business. <br /><br />And selling state assets is another form of corporate welfare.MPledgerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15845074140006920009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-81265829620068427972011-04-20T19:00:27.746+12:002011-04-20T19:00:27.746+12:00Considering that in the previous post, commenters ...Considering that in the previous post, commenters were seemingly using the now-trendy term "narrative" as a synonym for "spin", I'm not even sure perfect information exists.<br /><br />I'm not a free-marketeer but I suspect that we shouldn't confuse the right to perfect information with a duty for it to be provided. In a completely free market society - as I understand it anyway - individuals would fund researchers (whether they be journalists or not) to provide the information directly; and not rely on private organisations who serve the interests of advertisers.Adzehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11813585763033310686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-74942929278516858602011-04-20T16:05:51.386+12:002011-04-20T16:05:51.386+12:00So you suggesting that under a left wing theory th...So you suggesting that under a left wing theory the state will have perfect information and thus there is no need for individual choice and free markets?<br /><br />Puts an awful lot of power into the state hands but more so into the state servants hands.<br /><br />Not sure I like either the left or the right theory.Gerritnoreply@blogger.com