About normative economics

And, normative computing (all that such entails).

Before we get to that, The Atlantic had an article about the U.S. military this past month that is worth a read and that you can get to from this accompanying article by Joseph Epstein: How I Learned to Love the draft. Joseph was in Fort Leonard Wood in 1958. I was there, as a 17 year old, in 1960 and found it nice to read his story.

Especially this with regard to his sergeant's directive to the recruits: “It behooves all Christians among you,” I recall his bellowing out on our first night of training, “to get your sorry asses to church services on Sunday. As for those of you of the Hebrew persuasion, it is mandatory for each and every one of you young troopers to get his swinging dick to Friday-night services. Am I clear?”

What I learned early from the Army experience was to keep things neat and clean. In fact, I recall to this date the sergeant saying: Alright, I only want to see a**holes and elbows. God, if only we had that "norm" in a society that litters willy-nilly even to the extent of [people] discarding trash by dropping it where they are without regard to others or the ramification.

For those who might wonder, the command was for us to "police" up an area, as in pick up any debris that was not of a natural source (even those if they were unsightly). In those days, smoking was a norm, but the rule was to field strip the butt (which would be almost the whole cigarette if the smoke was interrupted). However, even tearing down the residue still left visible remains.

A**holes and elbows! I think that every time I see someone drop litter, even if by accident (which can be anticipated with proper review of potentials -- as in, if the person really cared about the risk of leaving something -- what about not wanting to be seen as a litterer?).

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All of that? Yes, the normative focus will be one thing. See the Fedaerated post.

Remarks:   Modified: 03/22/2015

01/15/2015 -- At last, a series that will establish the basis and extensions, as required. We are going to go back to something simple and come forward to the modern, complicated economy. Why? My long chain of ancestors (inherited via Prof. Lucio Arteaga) is one motivation.

01/16/2015 -- Related to the theme would be normative mathematics, of course. What? Yes, with all due respect to the old gal (remember, Queen) and her court, things have gone awry precisely from decisions on the wrong side of this wall. Part of the problem deals with a misunderstanding of the necessity to not allow hubris to get in the way of a proper quasi-empirical approach.

01/17/2015 -- Will revisit the quant issue.

01/23/2015 -- So much fun. Now, bankers are wanting their own dark pool in order to separate themselves from the front runners (who? yes, HFT, what else?). Our next post on this will show how such dealings (block trades) pull value from the other holders of equity (or whatever else might be the focus of a market). In other words, we see, with this, the proverbial skimming the cream (leaving, over time, less fat for the rest) or the butchers thumb on the scale (I showed that type of thing to the FEDS and was told to, as an individual and an old guy who sees, sue the perpetrators).

03/22/2015 -- Jealous? No way, Jose. FED gives Wall Street what it wishes.