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Valve Economist Yanis Varoufakis Appointed Finance Minister of Greece

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Re: Valve Economist Yanis Varoufakis Appointed Finance Minister of Greece

#11

Post by JumpCrisscross »

Varoufakis wrote a blog post two years ago on the history of political economic thought on the firm. It also delves into Valve's unique management culture [1].

"There is one last bastion of economic activity that proved remarkably resistant to the triumph of the market: firms, companies and, later, corporations. Think about it: market-societies, or capitalism, are synonymous with firms, companies, corporations. And yet, quite paradoxically, firms can be thought of as market-free zones. Within their realm, firms (like societies) allocate scarce resources (between different productive activities and processes). Nevertheless they do so by means of some non-price, more often than not hierarchical, mechanism!

...

Many enlightened corporations do a song and dance about their readiness to let employees allocate 10% or even 20% of their working time on projects of their choosing. Valve differs in that it insists that its employees allocate 100% of their time on projects of their choosing. 100% is a radical number! It means that Valve operates without a system of command. In other words, it seeks to achieve order not via fiat, command or hierarchy but, instead, spontaneously."

[1] http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/economics/why-valve-or-what-d...

Re: Valve Economist Yanis Varoufakis Appointed Finance Minister of Greece

#12

Post by fuj »

luch wrote: post #9
gadders wrote: post #6

Smart. Does this mean I can have a vote and decide to not pay for any games from Steam now?

You're implying Greece did take Euro money without any intention to repay other countries. The reality is much more nuanced. Greek did take part of a fund destined to boost their economy, like Western european countries with the US's Marshall Plan. Whether the investments made with this money were profitable or not it's up to debate, but the end game (as for Spain, Portugal and Italy) always were to improve the greek…

What about forging documents to get accepted in the eurozone? Forging documents to get more loans? The rampant corruption on every level of the Greek society? [1] Obviously this is not politically correct, so downvotes are expected.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_evasion_and_corruption_in_G...

Re: Valve Economist Yanis Varoufakis Appointed Finance Minister of Greece

#13

Post by thu »

j2kun wrote: post #10

He started a blog about his experiences at Valve [1], but stopped shortly after starting it. I was a bit disappointed, because the posts were very well written and insightful. I'd guess now he really has no time for it. [1]: http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/economics/

Same for the Linux part of their blogs subdomain.

But Varoufakis still blogs at http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/

Re: Valve Economist Yanis Varoufakis Appointed Finance Minister of Greece

#14

Post by davidgerard »

seliopou wrote: post #7
kaonashi wrote: post #5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpIsZL5FJVs&t=3m55s Here's a great talk he did on the problems of Maastricht.

Good video, but quite long. If anybody wants a more compressed summary of the policy points, check this one out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytXgMnm9tHs Note that he is a mathematical economist with a PhD (focusing on game theory), and also a self-proclaimed Marxist. So his ideas and perspectives are very interesting, to say the least, and at times very unique.

A Marxist who's into Hayek? Now that's interesting. Where did you find the Marxism? It's not in his Wikipedia article (which really needs updating).

Re: Valve Economist Yanis Varoufakis Appointed Finance Minister of Greece

#15

Post by arethuza »

fuj wrote: post #12
luch wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're implying Greece did take Euro money without any intention to repay other countries. The reality is much more nuanced. Greek did take part of a fund destined to boost their economy, like Western european countries with the US's Marshall Plan. Whether the investments made with this money were profitable or not it's up to debate, but the end game (as for Spain, Portugal and Italy) always were to improve the greek…

What about forging documents to get accepted in the eurozone? Forging documents to get more loans? The rampant corruption on every level of the Greek society? [1] Obviously this is not politically correct, so downvotes are expected. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_evasion_and_corruption_in_G...

What about working with Goldman Sachs to hide the true level of debt that Greece had from Eurostat?

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/greek-debt-crisis...

Re: Valve Economist Yanis Varoufakis Appointed Finance Minister of Greece

#16

Post by CapitalistCartr »

davidgerard wrote: post #14
seliopou wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good video, but quite long. If anybody wants a more compressed summary of the policy points, check this one out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytXgMnm9tHs Note that he is a mathematical economist with a PhD (focusing on game theory), and also a self-proclaimed Marxist. So his ideas and perspectives are very interesting, to say the least, and at times very unique.

A Marxist who's into Hayek? Now that's interesting. Where did you find the Marxism? It's not in his Wikipedia article (which really needs updating).

His blog: CONFESSIONS OF AN ERRATIC MARXIST IN THE MIDST OF A REPUGNANT EUROPEAN CRISIS

http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2013/12/10/confessions-of-an-errat...

Re: Valve Economist Yanis Varoufakis Appointed Finance Minister of Greece

#17

Post by seliopou »

davidgerard wrote: post #14
seliopou wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good video, but quite long. If anybody wants a more compressed summary of the policy points, check this one out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytXgMnm9tHs Note that he is a mathematical economist with a PhD (focusing on game theory), and also a self-proclaimed Marxist. So his ideas and perspectives are very interesting, to say the least, and at times very unique.

A Marxist who's into Hayek? Now that's interesting. Where did you find the Marxism? It's not in his Wikipedia article (which really needs updating).

From this talk he gave, entitled "Confessions of an Erratic Marxist":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3uNIgDmqwI

Re: Valve Economist Yanis Varoufakis Appointed Finance Minister of Greece

#18

Post by [deleted] »

davidgerard wrote: post #14
seliopou wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good video, but quite long. If anybody wants a more compressed summary of the policy points, check this one out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytXgMnm9tHs Note that he is a mathematical economist with a PhD (focusing on game theory), and also a self-proclaimed Marxist. So his ideas and perspectives are very interesting, to say the least, and at times very unique.

A Marxist who's into Hayek? Now that's interesting. Where did you find the Marxism? It's not in his Wikipedia article (which really needs updating).

[deleted]

Re: Valve Economist Yanis Varoufakis Appointed Finance Minister of Greece

#19

Post by seliopou »

fuj wrote: post #12
luch wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're implying Greece did take Euro money without any intention to repay other countries. The reality is much more nuanced. Greek did take part of a fund destined to boost their economy, like Western european countries with the US's Marshall Plan. Whether the investments made with this money were profitable or not it's up to debate, but the end game (as for Spain, Portugal and Italy) always were to improve the greek…

What about forging documents to get accepted in the eurozone? Forging documents to get more loans? The rampant corruption on every level of the Greek society? [1] Obviously this is not politically correct, so downvotes are expected. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_evasion_and_corruption_in_G...

Not to justify the practice, but pretty much every periphery country fudged the numbers in order to be admitted to the Eurozone because none of them had a strong enough economy then to be let in. One did it, then the next looked at the last one and said "If them, why not us?"

Greece is pretty corrupt though.

Re: Valve Economist Yanis Varoufakis Appointed Finance Minister of Greece

#20

Post by cbgb »

antman wrote: post #8

This [1] is one of his books that gives a bleak view on global economic politics. It's a comprehensive view, and it does not include a happy ending. [1] http://www.amazon.com/The-Global-Minotaur-Economic-Controver...

I found this book to be the most elucidating book on the 2008 financial crisis. Unlike other books that focus solely on the American economy, Varoufakis spins a narrative which places the American economy at the center of an increasingly complex and flawed global economy. The book makes it clear why the American economy's failing had such a dire effect on the rest of the world's economies. Moreover, it describes how the world economy developed in this way, starting all the way back to just after the second World War.
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