The new Greek Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis, is
a Marxist and a member of The
Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA is their acronym in Greek). He
calls himself a libertarian
Marxist FWIW. He is a dual citizen of both Greece and Australia, and he
is a very smart economist. He has an excellent grip on the history I explored
in Fiat 33, Dirty Float and
Global
Stagnation, especially in regard to our (America's) exorbitant privilege
as it emerged through the evolution of the international monetary system from
1944 to present, a privilege which he more or less now hopes to acquire for
Greece.
In addition to his PhD in Economics, he is also an expert in Game Theory, about which
he has written three books. Back in the late 80s while lecturing on economics
at the University of Sydney, he was quite popular for mixing Game Theory with
Economics. From the Sydney
Morning Herald last Wednesday:
"As a young man lecturing in Sydney, the
economist's area of expertise was game theory. Now he gets to put it into
practice…
In his late 20s, Varoufakis joined the university in 1988, cutting a striking
figure amid the earnest and crumpled academics of its economics faculties.
Long-haired, usually in jeans and a T-shirt, Varoufakis could deliver
electrifying lectures on his chosen topic, the somewhat arcane discipline of
game theory.
"He made economics a lot more interesting," said Helen
Goritsas, a former student, now a senior lecturer at the Academy of
Information Technology.
"He was young, very vibrant and dynamic. He had lots of charisma."
His specialty of game theory is possibly best known as the domain of
management consultants and military planners - as far away from left-wing
political economics as one could get.
The mathematical discipline studies strategic decision making in competitive
situations. Its best known "game" is the "prisoner's
dilemma", which shows how two individuals can "rationally"
come to a decision that is in neither of their interests.
"He was aware of the limitations of game theory, but I'm sure he will
apply what he learnt about strategic thinking to whole problem of Europe's
political economy," said Frank Stillwell, another former colleague at
the University of Sydney.
"And he will be doing it at a time when the future of the European Union
is in the balance."
[…]
Varoufakis wants Greece to be allowed not to repay a large part of that debt,
or at least have it restructured on favourable terms.
But he does not want Greece to leave the eurozone or dump its currency,
recognising that any new Greek currency could be battered and the country
would have trouble raising capital.
Game theory is, in the end, about getting the best outcome from a difficult
situation. Varoufakis used to tell his students that it showed that
collaboration between rivals often produced the optimal result, Goritsas
says.
With the parties remaining far apart on agreement, it will be a message he
hopes the rest of Europe hears."
So if economic game theory is his thing, and now he's in a position to put it
to the test, what's his first move? Well, here are a few quotes from him
courtesy of HuffPo
on Friday:
Varoufakis [said] "… to negotiate, to be taken
seriously, you have to have a credible threat. You have to be prepared
to blow the whole thing up…" […] " So, this is my
recommendation: Prepare for a very tough, very painful, potentially explosive
negotiation." […]
In a November 2014 interview, Varoufakis predicted that countries pushing
Greeks to accept austerity -- such as Germany -- would be doomed to repeat
the experience of the victors of World War I, who imposed such harsh
conditions on Germany that many believe it led to the rise of Adolf Hitler.
"I think we'll have a repeat performance of that," Varoufakis said
of Germany today.
Sounds like he's serious, in a libertarian Marxist kind of way! ;D
I must admit that, although he's a Debtor
and I'm a Saver and we are polar opposites politically, I really do like
this guy a lot! I may have to get hooked on watching him speak just to try
and figure out how he's going to get Greece to force Europe to push that damn
Freegold button! ;D
Sincerely,
FOFOA
