It is hard to understand how Naomi Klein has done so well in the world of ideas, particularly after reading this review, which takes her down from the left.
This review reminded me of when I read the first few chapters of "If Women Counted" by Marilyn Waring, who had her 15 minutes of lefty fame back in the 1980s. Her point, which is actually not a stupid one, is that non-market work should be included in the national accounts. Her arguments for this omission were, though, truly silly, as she blamed a sort of conspiracy of (classical) liberal economists staring with Adam Smith and continuing on through the Chicago school. She seemed completely unaware that most of the key theoretical and empirical work on female labor supply and time use that would be relied on in including non-market work in the national accounts came from Chicago people. Even worse, at one point she notes the deeply sinister and highly telling fact that we never hear about Adam Smith's wife, which clearly proves he was a misogynist. It took me only a few minutes (this was in the very early internet days) to verify that Smith was a lifelong bachelor. That was about the time I put the book the book down for good.
Hat tip on the TNR piece: instapundit
Who was my favorite student this term?
7 years ago
