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From: mcgeer@ucbvax.ARPA (Rick McGeer)
Newsgroups: net.politics.theory
Subject: Re: Re: Health Care, Wonderful Market fo
Message-ID: <10300@ucbvax.ARPA>
Date: Sat, 7-Sep-85 19:18:38 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.10300
Posted: Sat Sep  7 19:18:38 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 9-Sep-85 02:46:48 EDT
References: <1764@psuvax1.UUCP>
Reply-To: mcgeer@ucbvax.UUCP (Rick McGeer)
Organization: University of California at Berkeley
Lines: 34

>/* Written  1:20 am  Sep  4, 1985 by psuvax1!berman in inmet:net.politics.t */
>/* ---------- "Re: Health Care, Wonderful Market f" ---------- */
>Warning: may be boring.

No, just wrong.

>Market forces indeed.  More schizofrenics,
>obviously, will cause more people to care about schizophrenics.
>Why?  Because in the economics course they teach that demand increases
>supply.  What about another economical law - supply generates demand.
>More charitable contributions - more schizofrenics (another way of
>cutting unemployement in Libertaria).

If you meant "economics" rather than economical -- in which case I don't know
what you're talking about -- then it occurs to me that Samuelson, Hirshlifer
and Addison were all remarkably reticent about this supposed "law".  Offhand,
I can't think of *any* economics text which states this "law", and I can't
think why demand should rise to meet supply; nor can I think of any instance
in which demand has arisen in response to a supply.  I can think of instances
where the consumption of certain products has risen when their supply curves
moved leftward and down, but the demand for the product already existed.  The
consumption of small computers is an excellent example: the demand for their
product, information, existed and was largely unmet -- as witness the (then-
existing) demand for a host of substitute products.  In contrast we can find in
abundance many goods for which there is no demand whatever -- toxic chemicals
and sand are two that spring to mind immediately.

Piotr, I suggest a good freshman or sophomore economics course.  If "PSU"
is a university, I am sure that they have one or two to offer.  However, if
the reading list includes anything at all by noted nitwits such as Galbraith,
go take a course at a reputable university.

					-- Rick.