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Theoretische und Angewandte
Mikroökonomik
Prof. Dr. Jörg Schimmelpfennig |
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Fundstücke | |
“Nisi Dominus Frustra“
(a heraldic contraction of a verse from Psalm 127 –
its full (King James) translation is “Except the Lord
build the house, they labour in vain that build it”; a
shorter one would be “Nothing without God” – a motto
adopted by several English institutions such as, among
others, the Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea, the
Wellington School, Somerset, and Chelsea Football Club
upon its formation in 1905) |
“Die? My dear doctor, that’s the last thing I shall do.”
(Reported last words of Lord Palmerston, British
prime minister, who died in office) |
“Intelligence reports say Castro is very worried about
me. I’m very worried that we can’t come up with
something to justify his worrying.”
(Ronald Reagan, in his diaries) |
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“I think I’m hardline and will never appease but I do
want to try and let [the Soviets] see there is a better
world if they’ll show by deed they want to get along
with the free world.” (Ronald Reagan, in his diaries)
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"I don’t mind to sound snobby or judgemental but I
went and stayed with some mates when they were at
university and I didn’t like the way they were living.
There seemed to be a lot of time spent doing very little
and experimenting with smoking dope and that stuff and I
have to admit that on that basis I wouldn’t necessarily
send my kids to university. A lot of them didn’t know
what they wanted to do when they went to university and
changed their minds a few times in the process. I
realize that higher education can be of great benefit
and is quite a privilege bit I also think it can be a
bit of a waste of time unless you apply yourself. It can
also give you bad habits in life."
(Frank Lampard, professional footballer, Chelsea FC
and England) |
"Peace is Our Profession"
(Motto of the Strategic Air Command since 1958. It
was adopted from words to be put on top of a 50 ft
Christmas tree erected in front of the SAC HQ at Omaha,
Nebraska, a year before; it should have read
“Maintaining Peace is Our Profession” but “Maintaining”
had to be dropped as otherwise the slogan would have
become too long.) |
"Peace – the old fashioned way"
(From a car sticker showing a black B-52, the SAC’s
primary weapon system central to the philosophy of
Mutually Assured Destruction during the late 1950s and
throughout the 1960s) |
"But by the time we had returned, we knew that
patriotism had nothing to do with it. Our country had
demonstrated quite clearly what it thought of the
[Vietnam] war and the people who had fought it. There
was no desire to win the war and there was no
identification of national interest in Southeast Asia.
We looked around and saw a generation of long-haired,
slogan-chanting hippies, concerned exclusively with
themselves and unwilling to undergo the discomforts of
defending their country. The prevailing philosophy was
expectation, not obligation. The function of society was
to meet the needs of the weak, providing food, clothing,
shelter, drugs and sex by taxing the evil, wealthy rich
and distributing to the poor, peace-loving masses. If
there were ever a threat to the Republic, someone else
would defend us. Hell no, they wouldn’t go."
(Ed Rasimus, “When Thunder Rolled”) |
“The nation that will insist on drawing a broad line of
demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking
man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its
thinking done by cowards.”
(Sir William Butler, Lieutenant-General, 1838 – 1910) |
“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things:
the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic
feeling which thinks that nothing is worth a war, is
much worse. When a people are used as mere human
instruments for firing cannon or thrusting bayonets, in
the service and for the selfish purposes of a master,
such war degrades a people.
A war to protect other human
beings against tyrannical injustice; a war to give
victory to their own ideas of right and good, and which
is their own war, carried on for an honest purpose by
their free choice, — is often the means of their
regeneration.
A man who has nothing which he is willing
to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he
does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature
who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so
by the exertions of better men than himself. As long as
justice and injustice have not terminated their
ever-renewing fight for ascendancy in the affairs of
mankind, human beings must be willing, when need is, to
do battle for the one against the other.”
(John Stuart Mill) |
"You can always tell when he's lying, his lips are
moving!"
(David Frost, broadcaster, on the former UK Prime
Minister Harold Wilson) |
“[Economists are] people who see something work in
practice and wonder if it would work in theory.”
(President Ronald Reagan) |
“I find
myself more and more relying for a solution to our
problems on [Adam Smith’s] invisible hand which I tried
to eject from economic thinking 20 years ago.”
(John Maynard Keynes, a few days before his death in
1946) |
“To me
it is a time of giving – so who wants my relatives?”
(Tim Maloney, Letter to The Sun “to reflect on the
true meaning of Christmas”) |
“Kent,
sir – everybody knows Kent – apples, cherries, hops, and
women.“
(Charles Dickens) |
"We
have to challenge some of the hippy tendencies of the
Left. Actually what works is structure, discipline,
uniform and hierarchy."
(Institute for Public Policy Research) |
"Almost
everything you touch in British culture, whether it's
art, literature or the language itself has been shaped
by the Judaeo-Christian tradition, by the Bible, by the
Churches, worship and belief."
(Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester, on the
notion that Britain is a "multi-faith society") |
"An appeaser is one
who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.“
(Winston Churchill, 1874 - 1965) |
"An investment in knowledge always
gives the best return."
(Benjamin Franklin, 1706 - 1790) |
"It comes dangerously close to an
expression of opinion."
(The Duke of Wellington when hearing soldiers
cheering their officers) |
"Aid is the process by which poor
people in rich countries give money to rich people in
poor countries."
(Lord Bauer of Market Ward in the City of Cambridge,
professor emeritus of economics at the London School of
Economics) |
"You may speak with the tongues of
angels and write with the pen of Shakesoeare but you
cannot beat news in a newspaper."
(Arthur Christiansen, editor of the Daily Express) |
"We must print the bad news, but
let us print the good news too - there is plenty of it
if you look."
(Lord Beaverbrook, owner of the Daily Express) |
"Modern capitalism and new
technology make it possible for millions to scramble on
to the plateau hitherto exclusively occupied by the
elite."
(Arthur Christiansen, editor of the Daily Express) |
"Sunlight is the best of
disinfectants."
(Louis Demsetz Brandeis, US Supreme Court judge) |
"If you outlaw guns, only the
outlaws will have guns."
(National Rifle Association) |
"What does it matter where this
path leads, nowhere or elsewhere?”
(Dominique de Villepin, Premierminister von
Frankreich) |
"Weakness is a provocation.“
(Donald Rumsfeld, Verteidigungsminister der USA) |
"And these are the nudes: they are
Botticellis, but I call them chilly bottoms."
(Prime Minister Harold Wilson während einer Tour
durch No. 10 Downing Street zu den 1974 neu gewählten
Labour-Abgeordneten.) |
"Fat and impotent"
(... wünschte sich Winston Churchill
Nachkriegsdeutschland.) |
„Nations earn their right to rise by service
and by sacrifice.“
(once recited by Richard Austin “Rab” Butler, KG, CH
) |
„You can enjoy wine or women, but to seek to
enjoy both leads to downfall.“
(H. E. Wortham) |
„Even though a number of people have tried, no
one has yet found a way to drink for a living.“
(The Miller’s Arms, Canterbury, attributed to Jean
Kerr) |
Remember
It was the Veteran, not the reporter, who has given us
freedom of the press.
It was the Veteran, not the poet, who has given us freedom
of speech.
It was the Veteran, not the lawyer, who has given us the
right to a fair trial.
It was the Veteran, not the campus organizer, who has
given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the Veteran who salutes the flag,
who served under the flag,
and whose coffin is draped by the flag,
who allows the protester to burn the flag.
All gave some, some gave all.
(Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, Sergeant, USMC) |
„Der Autoritätsverfall in unserer Zeit beruht
auch auf der Feigheit, Autorität auszuüben.“
(Mario Scelba, 1901 - 1991) |
„In 1969, Ronald Reagan came to London to
address the Institute of Directors in the Albert Hall. I
hurried there in my capacity as a London reporter for a
northern English daily. He had come to elective office
late, and must already have been nearly 60. He looked 40.
Magnificently, he assured the assembled directors that
they were entrepreneurs yearning to breathe free if only
government would throw off their shackles of regulation
and punitive taxation. Most of them were doing perfectly
well out of the Wilsonian, soon to be Heathian, corporate
state, in league with the unions. But Reagan seemed
somehow to make them wish that a more heroic destiny was
possible for them.
I next set eyes on him about ten years later when he came
to Europe in an effort to establish ‘foreign policy
credentials’, having decided to contest the Republican
nomination against President Carter. I was one of a group
of Tory journalists invited to have breakfast with him at
his hotel ...
The governor arrived after about an hour. More importantly,
so did the brekker. A young man from the Institute of
Economic Affairs (IEA) — the first and greatest of the
London free-market think tanks — asked the first question.
Could the governor explain how he had privatised garbage
collection in California? A Reagan aide took it upon
himself to answer: ‘The governor began with a pilot scheme
in Santa Barbara.’
Reagan intervened: ‘No, it was Santa Monica.’ The aide
corrected himself: ‘Excuse me, Governor, you’re right. We
had some problem with the bigger trash bins we needed, and
we got on top of that at our next pilot in Laguna Beach.’
The governor: ‘No, we only got on top of the bigger trash
bins once we tried them out in Palo Alto. Then we went
statewide with the whole programme. That was the year we
changed those road signs from steel to rubber, figuring
that we’d rather have the signs crushed than the motorists
hitting them get killed. It sure cut down on fatals.’
Who said this man had no grasp of detail? The IEA stalwart
pressed for further and better particulars on that garbage.
As a result, we touched only briefly on the Soviet threat.“
(aus: Frank Johnson, "There was nothing slow about
Ronald Reagan. He spotted me for an Englishman right away.",
Spectator, June 12, 2004) |
„We've done our part. And as I walk off into the
city streets, a final word to the men and women of the
Reagan revolution, the men and women across America who
for 8 years did the work that brought America back.
My friends: We did it. We weren't just marking time. We
made a difference. We made the city stronger, we made the
city freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not
bad, not bad at all.“
(Ronald Wilson Reagan (1911-2004), the fortieth President
of the United States (1981-1989), Farewell Address to the
Nation, January 20th, 1989.) |
„The study of economics does not seem to
require any specialised gifts of an unusually high order.
Is it not, intellectually regarded, a very easy subject
compared with the higher branches of philosophy and pure
science? Yet good, or even competent, economists are the
rarest of birds. An easy subject at which very few excel!
The paradox finds its explanation perhaps, in that the
master-economist must possess a rare combination of gifts.
He must reach a high standard in several different
directions and must combine talents not often found
together. He must be mathematician, historian, statesman,
philosopher - in some degree. He must understand symbols
and speak in words. He must contemplate the particular in
terms of the general, and touch abstract and concrete in
the same flight of thought. He must study the present in
the light of the past for the purposes of the future. No
part of man's nature or his institutions must lie entirely
outside his regard. He must be purposeful and
disinterested in a simultaneous mood; as aloof and
incorruptible as an artist, yet sometimes as near the
earth as a politician."
(John Maynard Keynes, 1883 - 1946) |
„Schreibe kurz - und sie werden es lesen.
Schreibe klar - und sie werden es verstehen. Schreibe
bildhaft - und sie werden es im Gedächtnis behalten.“
(Joseph Pulitzer, 1847 - 1911) |
"Like it or not, consumer surplus theory, as
cost-benefit analysis, is the bread and butter of the
practicing economist."
(R.B. Ekelund/R.F. Herbert, History of Economic Theory
and Method) |
[Cost-benefit analysis is a] " ...worse than
useless concept .... with limited appeal as a purely
mathematical puzzle ..."
(Paul A. Samuelson, 1915 - ) |
„Dem Denken sind
keine Grenzen gesetzt. Man kann denken, wohin und soweit
man will.“
(Ernst Jandl, 1925 - 2000) |
„Wer hohe Türme
bauen will, muß lange beim Fundament verweilen.“
(Anton Bruckner, 1824 - 1896) |
„Es reicht nicht,
keine Meinung zu haben. Man muß auch unfähig sein sie
auszudrücken.“
(Karl Kraus, 1874 - 1936) |
„The Americans will
always do the right thing … after they’ve exhausted all
the alternatives.“
(Winston Churchill, 1874 - 1965) |
„There are only two
kinds of economists - good economists and bad economists.
We're good economists.“
(Milton Friedman, 1912 - ) |
„Es ist eine typisch
deutsche Eigenschaft, das Neue so lange zu zerreden, bis
es keinen Sinn mehr hat, es zu schaffen.“
(Paul Hoffmann, 1902 - 1990) |
„There are only
three kinds of economists in the world. Those who can
count and those who can't.“
(Edward George, Gouverneur der Bank of England von 1993
bis 2003) |
„Economy is the art
of making the most of life."
(George Bernard Shaw, 1856 - 1950) |
„Economics is the
study of money and why it is good."
(Woody Allen, 1935 - ) |
„A cynic is a man
who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."
(Oscar Wilde, 1854 - 1900) |
„[N]eoclassical
economics will be dethroned if and when satisificing
theory and psychology join forces to produce a simple and
robust explanation of aspiration levels, or sociological
theory comes up with a simple and robust theory of the
relation between social norms and instrumental rationality.
Until this happens, the continued dominance of
neoclassical theory is ensured by the fact that one can’t
beat something with nothing.“
(Jon Elster, “Introduction”, zu: Elster, Jon (Hrsg.),
Rational Choice, Oxford: Blackwell, 1986, Section V.) |
Die “unsichtbare
Hand”
„As every individual, therefore, endeavours as much as
he can both to employ his capital in the
support of domestick industry, and so to direct that
industry that its produce may be of the greatest
value; every individual necessarily labours to render the
annual revenue of the society as great as
he can. He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote
the publick interest, nor knows how much
he is promoting it. By preferring the support of domestick
to that of foreign industry, he intends only
his own security; and by directing that industry in such a
manner as its produce may be of the
greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in
this, as in many other cases, led by an
invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his
intention. Nor is it always the worse for
the society that it was no part of it. By pursuing his own
interest he frequently promotes that of the
society more effectually than when he really intends to
promote it.“
(Adam Smith, An Enquiry into the Nature and Causes of the
Wealth of Nations (1776), zitiert nach der Glasgow Edition
of
the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, hrsg. von R.
H. Campell und A. S. Skinner, Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1976, S. 456.) |
Aufstieg und
Fall von Unternehmern
„... auch heute noch ist die Unternehmerfunktion nicht
nur das Vehikel fortwährender Umorganisierung
der Wirtschaft, sondern auch das Vehikel fortwährender
Veränderung der Elemente, aus
denen die oberen Schichten der Gesellschaft bestehen. Der
erfolgreiche Unternehmer steigt
sozial, mit ihm die Seinen, denen die Resultate seines
Erfolgs eine von persönlichem Tun nicht
unmittelbar abhängige Basis geben. Dieses Steigen stellt
den wichtigsten Auftrieb in der kapitalistischen
Welt dar. Weil es im Weg des Niederkonkurrierens alter
Betriebe vor sich geht und damit
auch der mit diesen verknüpften Existenzen, so entspricht
ihm immer ein Prozeß des Sinkens, der
Deklassierung, der Eliminierung. Dieses Schicksal steht
auch dem Unternehmer bevor, dessen
Kraft erlahmt ist, oder doch seinen Erben, die mit der
Beute nicht auch die Klaue geerbt haben.
Ein amerikanisches Sprichwort sagt: Three generations from
overall to overall - drei Generationen
vom Arbeitskittel bis wiederum zum Arbeitskittel. Und so
dürfte es sein. Ausnahmen sind selten
und mehr als kompensiert durch Fälle, in denen es noch
schneller abwärts geht. Weil es immer
Unternehmer und Angehörige und Erben von Unternehmern
gibt, übersieht die öffentliche Meinung
auch die Phraseologie des sozialen Kampfes gerne diesen
Sachverhalt. Sie macht aus "den Reichen"
eine dem Lebenskampf entrückte Klasse von Erben. Allein
die Oberschichten der Gesellschaft
gleichen Gasthöfen, die zwar immer voll von Leuten sind,
aber von immer andern.“
(Joseph Schumpeter, Theorie der wirtschaftlichen
Entwicklung (1911), Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 61964, S.
238f.) |
Modern-Day Trafalgar
Nelson: "Order the signal, Hardy."
Hardy: "Aye, sir."
Nelson: "Hold on, that's not what I dictated to the
signal officer. What's the meaning of this?"
Hardy: "Sorry sir?"
Nelson (reading aloud): "England expects every person to
do his duty, regardless of race, gender, sexual
orientation, religious persuasion or disability". "What
gobbledygook is this?"
Hardy: "Admiralty policy, I'm afraid, sir. We're an
equal opportunities employer now. We had the devil's own
job getting 'England' past the censors, lest it be
considered racist."
Nelson: "Gadzooks, Hardy. Hand me my pipe and tobacco."
Hardy: "Sorry sir. All naval vessels have been
designated smoke-free working environments."
Nelson: "In that case, break open the rum ration. Let us
splice the main brace to steel the men before battle."
Hardy: "The rum ration has been abolished, Admiral. Its
part of the Government's policy on binge drinking."
Nelson: "Good heavens, Hardy. I suppose we'd better get
on with it ....full speed ahead."
Hardy: "I think you'll find that there's a 4 knot speed
limit in this stretch of water."
Nelson: "Damn it man! We are on the eve of the greatest
sea battle in history. We must advance with all dispatch.
Report from the crow's nest please."
Hardy: "That won't be possible, sir."
Nelson: "What?"
Hardy: "Health and safety have closed the crow's nest,
sir. No harness. And they said that rope ladder doesn't
meet regulations. They won't let anyone up there until a
proper scaffolding can be erected."
Nelson: "Then get me the ship's carpenter without delay,
Hardy."
Hardy: "He's busy knocking up a wheelchair access to the
fo'c'sle, Admiral."
Nelson: "Wheelchair access? I've never heard anything so
absurd."
Hardy: "Health and safety again, sir. We have to provide
a barrier-free environment for the differently abled."
Nelson: "Differently abled? I've only one arm and one
eye and I refuse even to hear mention of the word. I
didn't rise to the rank of admiral by playing the
disability card."
Hardy: "Actually, sir, you did. The Royal Navy is
under-represented in the areas of visual impairment and
limb deficiency."
Nelson: "Whatever next? Give me full sail. The salt
spray beckons."
Hardy: "A couple of problems there too, sir. Health and
safety won't let the crew up the rigging without hard
hats. And they don't want anyone breathing in too much
salt - haven't you seen the adverts?"
Nelson: "I've never heard such infamy. Break out the
cannon and tell the men to stand by to engage the enemy."
Hardy: "The men are a bit worried about shooting at
anyone, Admiral."
Nelson: "What? This is mutiny."
Hardy: "It's not that, sir. It's just that they're
afraid of being charged with murder if they actually
kill anyone. There's a couple of legal-aid lawyers on
board, watching everyone like hawks."
Nelson: "Then how are we to sink the Frenchies and the
Spanish?"
Hardy: "Actually, sir, we're not."
Nelson: "We're not?"
Hardy: "No, sir. The Frenchies and the Spanish are our
European partners now. According to the Common Fisheries
Policy, we shouldn't even be in this stretch of water.
We could get hit with a claim for compensation."
Nelson: "But you must hate a Frenchman as you hate the
devil."
Hardy: "I wouldn't let the ship's diversity co-ordinator
hear you saying that sir. You'll be up on disciplinary."
Nelson: "You must consider every man an enemy, who
speaks ill of your King."
Hardy: "Not any more, sir. We must be inclusive in this
multicultural age. Now put on your Kevlar vest; it's the
rules. It could save your life"
Nelson: "Don't tell me - health and safety. Whatever
happened to rum, sodomy and the lash?"
Hardy: "As I explained, sir, rum is off the menu! And
there's a ban on corporal punishment."
Nelson: "What about sodomy?"
Hardy: "I believe that is now legal, sir."
Nelson: "In that case ... kiss me, Hardy".
(Anonymous) |
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