Economics and Its Discontents

374 Pages·2016·3.516 MB·English

by  Jędrzej Malko

ATROPOS PRESS
new york • dresden
General Editor:
Wolfgang Schirmacher
Editorial Board:
Giorgio Agamben
Pierre Alferi
Hubertus von Amelunxen
Alain Badiou
Judith Balso
Judith Butler
Diane Davis
Chris Fynsk
Martin Hielscher
Geert Lovink
Larry Rickels
Avital Ronell
Michael Schmidt
Fredrich Ulfers
Victor Vitanza
Siegfried Zielinski
Slavoj Žižek
© 2015 by Jędrzej Malko
Think Media EGS Series is supported by the European Graduate School
Cover art: Adam Borowski
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E conomics and Its Discontents

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Acknowledgements:
I am grateful to many for their invaluable discussions, insights, and
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Prof. David Hawkes, Prof. Jerzy Jedlicki, Jakub Krzeski, Dr Bartosz
(cid:46)(cid:88)(cid:296)(cid:81)(cid:76)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:93)(cid:15)(cid:3) Prof. Germano Maifreda, Krzysztof Pacewicz, Tadeusz
(cid:55)(cid:72)(cid:79)(cid:72)(cid:298)(cid:92)(cid:276)(cid:86)(cid:78)(cid:76)(cid:3)and to Aleksandra Piejka, my love, for taking their time to
read the early manuscript of this book and help me refine the argument. I
am also very grateful to Elena Rozbicka for proof-reading the manuscript
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cover idea.
I would like to express my gratitude to the internet communities of
anonymous pirates and intellectual property thiefs who break copyright
laws and let academic books and articles into circulation. Without you I
would never have been able to do my research.
Finally, I would like to thank my family and my dear friends for the
support they gave me while I was working on these pages. Also,
apologies are in place for all those times I lost myself in the library and
didn’t show up when I should have. I owe you one!
Contents:

Chapter 1…………………………………………………………………..…………..11
In which the purpose of this study is outlined.
Chapter 2…………………………………………………………………..…………..13
In which the analytical approach of discoursive materialism is explained.
Chapter 3…………………………………………………………………..…………..19
In which the myth of barter is debunked.
Chapter 4…………………………………………………………………..…………..23
In which the concept of debt regime is introduced.
Chapter 5…………………………………………………………………..…………..29
In which the violent beginnings of the institution of money are recalled.
Chapter 6…………………………………………………………………..…………..35
In which it is shown how Greek economic discourse was shaped byopposing political
factions.
Chapter 7…………………………………………………………………..…………..41
In which it is argued that the existence of a longing for the good old daysdoesn’t mean
that they have ever existed.
Chapter 8…………………………………………………………………..…………..45
In which we point out that economic growth is relatively new phenomenon.
Chapter 9…………………………………………………………………..…………..51
In which the interplay between religious and economic discourses is introduced.
Chapter 10…………………………………………………………………..…………55
In we recognize the institutional character of private property and visit timewhen it was
of secondary importance to constellations of power.
Chapter 11…………………………………………………………………..…………61
In which it is argued that the issue of usury was so dire because it violated thelogic of
arithmetical justice and endangered interests that hinged upon it.
Chapter 12…………………………………………………………………..…………67
In which, by acknowledging the significance of Arabic economics,we pretend that this
study is not soEurocentric.
Chapter 13…………………………………………………………………..…………71
Which puts Friedmanite monetarism in an appropriate, medieval, context.
Chapter 14……………………………………………………………………………..77
In which a transition from feudal to capitalist Europe is sketched.
Chapter 15…………………………………………………………………..………...83
Which shows how the market became a space of spontaneous order and how exchange
ceased to be arithmetical.
Chapter 16…………………………………………………………………..…………87
In which it is shown how money became capital.
Chapter 17…………………………………………………………………..…………91
In which we see that the Italian Renaissance didn’t give rebirth to humanity;
nevertheless it left offspring in the form of modern bookkeeping.
Chapter 18…………………………………………………………………..………..99
In which historical, static patterns of consumption are explained, and then their
breakdown, as well as legal attempts to defend them are presented.
Chapter 19…………………………………………………………………..………..107
In which we study an economic school that has never existed.
Chapter 20…………………………………………………………………..………..115
In which the emergence of population as an economic subject is considered.
Chapter 21…………………………………………………………………..………..119
In which the synthesizing effects of bodily and organic metaphors are explained.
Chapter 22…………………………………………………………………..………..125
In which the relationship between Protestantism and the rise of capitalism is discussed.
Chapter 23…………………………………………………………………..………..129
In which it is explained that supposedly secular liberal political economics are more
sacral than the economics of Aquinas ever were.
Chapter 24…………………………………………………………………..………..133
In which two main outlooks on international commerce are outlined.
Chapter 25…………………………………………………………………..………..145
Which shows how perilous passions were turned into legitimate interests.
Chapter 26…………………………………………………………………..………..149
In which iconoclasm as a mode of critique is critiqued.
Chapter 27…………………………………………………………………..………..153
In which an example of iconoclastic argument from seventeenth-century England is
presented.
Chapter 28…………………………………………………………………..………..157
In which we see that economic freedom was instrumental for the market equalizing
machine.
Chapter 29…………………………………………………………………..………..165
In which we see the roots and fruits of the scarcity figure.
Chapter 30…………………………………………………………………..………..173
In which it is shown how liberal political economy was used to legitimize nineteenth-
century economic genocide.
Chapter 31…………………………………………………………………..………..179
In which a time is shown when everyone understood that economic and political
freedoms aren’t the same.
Chapter 32…………………………………………………………………..………..183
In which we see that classic liberals were rebellious pro-statists.
Chapter 33…………………………………………………………………..………..191
In which impact of banking on the regime of debt is inspected.
Chapter 34…………………………………………………………………..………..199
A short but important chapter which shows how economics is blind to the political nature
of money and its disciplining effects. Also, a chapter in which the worthlessness of the
radical notion of value is outlined.
Chapter 35…………………………………………………………………..………..205
In which it shown how intellectual property was established by business fighting business
in British courts.
Chapter 36…………………………………………………………………..………..211
Which argues that Adam Smith was not the father of economics.
Chapter 37…………………………………………………………………..………..215
Which shows that socialist and liberal economics are not that different.
Chapter 38…………………………………………………………………..………..221
Which inspects a few important tropes of labor struggles.
Chapter 39…………………………………………………………………..………..229
In which essential shortcomings of Marx’s economics are outlined.
Chapter 40…………………………………………………………………..………..239
Which explains why the “working class” can never win the “class struggle.”
Chapter 41…………………………………………………………………..………..245
In which we take look at the so-called “marginalist revolution.”
Chapter 42…………………………………………………………………..………..249
In which psychological premises and logical tautologies behind the figure of homo
economicus are inspected.
Chapter 43…………………………………………………………………..………..257
In which the historical role of historical schools of economics is outlined.
Chapter 44…………………………………………………………………..………..265
In which mathematicization of economics and its use of abstract theorizing is criticized.
Chapter 45…………………………………………………………………..………..273
Which shows why Keynes was no Keynesian.
Chapter 46…………………………………………………………………..………..279
In which it is explained why in the twentieth century the enthusiasm for central planning
was shared on the both sides of the Iron Curtain.
Chapter 47…………………………………………………………………..………..283
Which shows that economic game theory is a war game.
Chapter 48……………………………………………………………………………291
In which modern consumption is studied as a field of power and domination.
Chapter 49…………………………………………………………………..………..299
In which the sad frutilessness of the postmodern left is explained.
Chapter 50…………………………………………………………………..………..307

Notes……………………………………………………………………………………311

Bibliography………………………….………………………………………………353