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From: nrh@inmet.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Re: 'Majority' rule
Message-ID: <1810@inmet.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 11-Nov-84 00:52:58 EST
Article-I.D.: inmet.1810
Posted: Sun Nov 11 00:52:58 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 12-Nov-84 07:16:03 EST
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Nf-ID: #R:ea:2054964996:inmet:7800176:000:1738
Nf-From: inmet!nrh    Nov  9 13:57:00 1984

>***** inmet:net.politics / dciem!ul /  3:12 pm  Oct 30, 1984

>In writing my B.A.Sc. essay I cam across a very interesting
>paper by S. Bagno "The Communication Theory and Economics" IRE Convention
>Record, 1955.  He identified money transfer with a complex network of
>information channels, which leads to a large number of interesting
>economic predictions that don't seem to be obtainable in more orthodox
>ways.  Be that as it may; in the course of this article (which I can't
>find, so I'm relying on memory) he identified one NECESSARY function
>of government as the redistribution of wealth from rich to poor. In
>the Dark Ages and perhaps the Middle Ages, there were no governments
>to perform this function, and their place was in fact taken by robbers
>and robber bands.  If there is any truth to this approach to economics,
>SOMEONE has to function as a robber, if the economy is to continue
>in a stable fashion.  The argument is complex, and may be wrong, but
>it is interesting to contemplate, nevertheless.
>-- 
Naturally, I'm fascinated.  To what extent must the transfer be
involuntary?  Can charititable agencies do the job, or is a certain
component of threat ("your money or your life") required by the theory?
Must the transfer be from the rich, or may it be merely from the
middle class?

What bad effects (the economy becomes unstable) preceede the instability?
Can the rich, perceiving this, do something about it (as individuals,
not as a government). 

I didn't understand the acronym "IRE" (talk about your acrimonious
acronyms :-)) -- would that be enough to give a reference librarian
helping me find the paper?  
Any idea whether Bagno's ideas have been refuted or supported?

					Thanks
					- Nat Howard