On: Finance is Not the Economy

[xapata]

You don't have to go that far even. Many people don't realize the economy is not the whole of society.

The idea that economy is embedded in society rather than the other way around is a radical thought.

[macawfish → xapata]

You have no idea how deep what you're saying resonates with me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2owZXPyeilc

[xapata → macawfish]

The big two analyses are Smith and Marx. For some reason, few people know about Polanyi. Read "the Great Transformation". It's worth the effort.

I'll summarize: Smith says people like to haggle; Marx says people like to be the boss; Polanyi says people change.

[parasubvert → xapata]

Big Polanyi admirer.

David Graeber's Debt: The first 5000 years, is a great anthropological exploration of some of the things Polanyi was saying about how market economics were forced on people rather than being the natural state of affairs (though grain of salt is needed in later chapters due to factual errors)

Also I really think Liaquat Ahmad'a Lords of Finance is a useful exploration of gold bug central bankers causing global instability, this one focuses on WW2 more