Brad DeLong Knows Thermodynamics Like He Knows Monetary Theory

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After trashing Mises, Brad DeLong has a workplace accident. Be sure to note my wise aleck remark at Dec 6, 9:21 pm, and then someone talks a little Carnot* shop with DeLong at Dec 7, 9:20 am.

* I almost got caught bluffing. I had originally spelled it Cournot (like Cournot duopoly) but fortunately I googled it and realized the ideal heat engine was spelled Carnot. Heh heh damn I'm smooth.

Comments

  1. Silas Barta9:52 PM

    Oh come on, Bob, you must have known what Carnot engines were after all the times I mentioned them when talking to you around the time I earned my bachelor's, and you earned your PhD. I think one time I asked if economies would converge on using Carnot engines (which have the catch that they operate infinitely slowly) if time preference kept dropping, and you wittily remarked, "Can they read the future too?" (or something like that)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bob Murphy5:05 PM

    Silas,

    What are you talking about? Of course I know what a Carnot engine is; that's why I made the reference. (The guy commenting on DeLong didn't use the term; he just said "heat engine.")

    But I'm saying that I remembered it as "Cournot heat engine," obviously conflating it with Cournot duopoly from economics. So it would have looked pretty dumb if I tried to term-drop and misspelled it.

    If you got all that and were just making a joke based on it, then I am missing it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. John Goes9:09 PM

    I agree with warhammer gold.

    ReplyDelete
  4. TokyoTom2:08 AM

    Bob, I'm curious whether you will be responding to DeLong's analysis of the crisis and his criticism o Larry White: http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2008/12/liquidity-defau.html#comments

    ReplyDelete
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