Sunday, July 24, 2011

Second Poetry Writing Contest

Poets, it's time to start thinking about your next poem(s)! The next contest deadline will be June 30. I'll do a reminder with more details soon.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Poetry Contest Winner

Congratulations to the winner of the Austrian Economics and Literature poetry contest, Stephanie Herman, for her poem "Ode to the Labor Theory of Value".

"Ode to the Labor Theory of Value"

From Smith to Marx, a value came about
When work and time were measured, in and out.
And prices? They were set by measurements
of worker's time and sweat and nourishments.

"A sweater's worth the time it took to knit;
A prune will cost the toil it took to pit.
Two deer are worth a beaver in the field,
'Cause hunting beavers brings a lower yield."

But Menger saw that value wasn't fixed;
Jevons and Walras said a value's mixed.
My value's on the margin: last bite chewed -
Not based on how the baker's work ensued.

From different needs the buyer brings to bear,
And costs the seller pays to make the ware,
The value varies when a market's free;
Exchanges happen when we can agree.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Letters to Castro


Max Borders also linked to this, and commented. It is rare for anyone to have as complete a transformation in political economic ideology as happened with Llosa.

Two Small Points

Today is the last day to submit to the poetry contest. I hope I get a few stragglers.

Also, on a completely unconnected topic, I have noticed that when I view the daily stats for this blog, we have a lot of hits from online searches for "Austrian economics and Shakespeare." Sounds like there is a bit of interest in this topic.