Thread View: sci.econ
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Started by fbonsignore
Sun, 15 May 2005 12:54
Refuting Say's Law
Author: fbonsignore
Date: Sun, 15 May 2005 12:54
Date: Sun, 15 May 2005 12:54
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Say's Law states that production doesn't create demand. This places the engine of economies on the consumer. If the consumer wants it, somebody will produce it and will make an income (profit), but if consumers don't want it, production won't make them demand it, so they won't make a profit. Yet this is true only if the principle of biological diversity is overlooked! Humans are diverse, actually we are the most diverse of all living beings! This means there will always be demand for *any* good we can conceive of. (This is particularly true if we take into account great fortunes, as they will demand any goodto make their consumption efficient: they will buy it because they can). So Say's Law is a matter of equilibria, as always: producers will make a profit only if demand is sufficient, but for demand to be sufficient doesn't mean a big market size, it means efficient technology! Given an efficient technology cost will be so low that even a small demand will be enough to make profits *even if those profits are not enough to make a living*. So prodction can create demand, or rather, any produced good can be matched by some potential demand waiting to be expressed. This is the value of novelty, for instance, and it is guaranteed by the principle of biological diversity. Fabrizio J Bonsignore, now Danilo J Bonsignore
Re: Refuting Say's Law
Author: Fabrizio J Bonsignore
Date: Sun, 15 May 2005 13:06
Date: Sun, 15 May 2005 13:06
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fbonsign...@beethoven.com wrote: > Say's Law states that production doesn't create demand. This places the > engine of economies on the consumer. If the consumer wants it, somebody > will produce it and will make an income (profit), but if consumers > don't want it, production won't make them demand it, so they won't make > a profit. Yet this is true only if the principle of biological > diversity is overlooked! Humans are diverse, actually we are the most > diverse of all living beings! This means there will always be demand > for *any* good we can conceive of. (This is particularly true if we > take into account great fortunes, as they will demand any goodto make > their consumption efficient: they will buy it because they can). > > So Say's Law is a matter of equilibria, as always: producers will make > a profit only if demand is sufficient, but for demand to be sufficient > doesn't mean a big market size, it means efficient technology! Given an > efficient technology cost will be so low that even a small demand will > be enough to make profits *even if those profits are not enough to make > a living*. > > So prodction can create demand, or rather, any produced good can be > matched by some potential demand waiting to be expressed. This is the > value of novelty, for instance, and it is guaranteed by the principle > of biological diversity. > > Fabrizio J Bonsignore, now Danilo J Bonsignore On another venue of thought, Say's "Law" has a hidden, nasty meaning: it places a constraint on production! In other words, don't produce variety, as there may be no consumers for the new goods! The fact is that with computers and flexible production techniques (are they in place?), in fact, with taylored production, which ought to be possible by now with appropriate technologies, any product should be able to be produced not only efficiently but in the right amount to the demand. While Say's Law may have been adequate for the century it was conceived in, with advances in technology it becomes not a law but more like a pattern. Of course, it has also been argued that it can be defeated with marketing, though marketing is a cost of production too and establishes another tradeoff and equilibrium. I want to emphasize that as wealth increases this law loses meaning and becomes an *inferior* law, in terms of theory (metaeconomics! even economic theory is ubject to economic "laws", i.e. theoretical work is also subject to economics! Economics is a fnudamental Science.) Higher leveks of wealth (and income) will produce more diverse economies in terms of diversity of goods (standard deviation higher). Fabrizio J Bonsignore, now Danilo J Bonsignore (don't believe the rumor: I am not drug addicted, though I do smoke tobacco...)
Re: Refuting Say's Law
Author: fbonsignore
Date: Sun, 15 May 2005 14:07
Date: Sun, 15 May 2005 14:07
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Fabrizio J Bonsignore wrote: > fbonsign...@beethoven.com wrote: > > Say's Law states that production doesn't create demand. This places > the > > engine of economies on the consumer. If the consumer wants it, > somebody > > will produce it and will make an income (profit), but if consumers > > don't want it, production won't make them demand it, so they won't > make > > a profit. Yet this is true only if the principle of biological > > diversity is overlooked! Humans are diverse, actually we are the most > > diverse of all living beings! This means there will always be demand > > for *any* good we can conceive of. (This is particularly true if we > > take into account great fortunes, as they will demand any goodto make > > their consumption efficient: they will buy it because they can). > > > > So Say's Law is a matter of equilibria, as always: producers will > make > > a profit only if demand is sufficient, but for demand to be > sufficient > > doesn't mean a big market size, it means efficient technology! Given > an > > efficient technology cost will be so low that even a small demand > will > > be enough to make profits *even if those profits are not enough to > make > > a living*. > > > > So prodction can create demand, or rather, any produced good can be > > matched by some potential demand waiting to be expressed. This is the > > value of novelty, for instance, and it is guaranteed by the principle > > of biological diversity. > > > > Fabrizio J Bonsignore, now Danilo J Bonsignore > > On another venue of thought, Say's "Law" has a hidden, nasty meaning: > it places a constraint on production! In other words, don't produce > variety, as there may be no consumers for the new goods! > > The fact is that with computers and flexible production techniques (are > they in place?), in fact, with taylored production, which ought to be > possible by now with appropriate technologies, any product should be > able to be produced not only efficiently but in the right amount to the > demand. While Say's Law may have been adequate for the century it was > conceived in, with advances in technology it becomes not a law but more > like a pattern. Of course, it has also been argued that it can be > defeated with marketing, though marketing is a cost of production too > and establishes another tradeoff and equilibrium. > > I want to emphasize that as wealth increases this law loses meaning and > becomes an *inferior* law, in terms of theory (metaeconomics! even > economic theory is ubject to economic "laws", i.e. theoretical work is > also subject to economics! Economics is a fnudamental Science.) Higher > leveks of wealth (and income) will produce more diverse economies in > terms of diversity of goods (standard deviation higher). > > Fabrizio J Bonsignore, now Danilo J Bonsignore > (don't believe the rumor: I am not drug addicted, though I do smoke > tobacco...) Actually, from a very theoretical point of view, Say's Law is not consistent with consumer theory; it defeats it. Rational consumers are able to establish a hierarchy of preferences for *ALL* goods. This implies by necessity that even nonexistent goods will have a place in the hierarchy function of *ANY* consumer, even if the consumer doesn't know the good exists! Preferences hierarchies are demand hierarchies; as Hegel said, the superstructure of human needs is inexhaustible and is only limited by budgetary constraints. So stating that production won't *create* demand is like saying that the good produced won't be included in the hierarchy of predferences of consumers. But by definition preference hierarchies are such that they can *accept* any good. They are a theoretical construct that is open and abstract and embeddable in the space of all possible goods. Production will create "demand", even if that demand cannot be effective given budgetary constraints. Fabrizio J Bonsignore, now Danilo J Bonsignore
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