The truth about markets / politics

Plux · 15-08-2005, 23:20

Since I have no educational background in economics worth mentioning but I am interested in the subject, I started reading a book called 'the truth about markets' by John Kay. I don't know if anyone knows it, but I am getting intrigued by the stuff I'm reading. I've just finished a section on great and horrible political decisions made by commercial and political big shots such as Henry Ford, Krutshev and Mao to name but a few. Right now, I don't want to write down here everything that Kay has to say on the matter, but I'm wondering if any of you guys interested in the correlation between politics, economics, marketing and chaos theory know about any interesting and live threads on other forums (eg CFC). If there is a demand to start a discussion here, though, I am willing to write down a bit of what I'm reading and we can discuss it.

Of course, everything that I'm reading also reminds me of how things work in Civ. Although the economic system (resources, trade and finances) and politics are not implemented extensively, there are some basic workings of supply, demand, production and exchange that can be recognized. Reading this book, I'm realizing (not for the first time) that real world political systems (democracy/ despotism/ fascism/ communism/ etc) are so hard to represent correctly in a game like civ when it comes to the process of political decision making. In civ decisions are always made by us despots

. Again, not necessarily wanting to start a discussion on it over here (but be my guest to state what you think about it), I am looking for some threads about how these systems could be implemented in a game like civ. Call me lazy, but I know that some of you probably know some url's by heart, which I would spend too much time trying to find, so thanks for your input

Whomp · 16-08-2005, 00:05

Plux this is an old but timeless book partly about economics but as well the human psychology.
Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds
I find understanding human nature, specifically the madness of crowds, in economics fascinating.
So what do you want to discuss?

15-08-2005, 23:20	#1
Plux King Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 1,213	The truth about markets / politics Since I have no educational background in economics worth mentioning but I am interested in the subject, I started reading a book called 'the truth about markets' by John Kay. I don't know if anyone knows it, but I am getting intrigued by the stuff I'm reading. I've just finished a section on great and horrible political decisions made by commercial and political big shots such as Henry Ford, Krutshev and Mao to name but a few. Right now, I don't want to write down here everything that Kay has to say on the matter, but I'm wondering if any of you guys interested in the correlation between politics, economics, marketing and chaos theory know about any interesting and live threads on other forums (eg CFC). If there is a demand to start a discussion here, though, I am willing to write down a bit of what I'm reading and we can discuss it. Of course, everything that I'm reading also reminds me of how things work in Civ. Although the economic system (resources, trade and finances) and politics are not implemented extensively, there are some basic workings of supply, demand, production and exchange that can be recognized. Reading this book, I'm realizing (not for the first time) that real world political systems (democracy/ despotism/ fascism/ communism/ etc) are so hard to represent correctly in a game like civ when it comes to the process of political decision making. In civ decisions are always made by us despots . Again, not necessarily wanting to start a discussion on it over here (but be my guest to state what you think about it), I am looking for some threads about how these systems could be implemented in a game like civ. Call me lazy, but I know that some of you probably know some url's by heart, which I would spend too much time trying to find, so thanks for your input

16-08-2005, 00:05	#2
Whomp King Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Chicago. Posts: 2,388	Plux this is an old but timeless book partly about economics but as well the human psychology. Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds I find understanding human nature, specifically the madness of crowds, in economics fascinating. So what do you want to discuss? __________________ If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no point in being a damn fool about it.--W. C. Fields