First of all, thank you for the link to the Misis book Theory and History. I am in NH right now and traveling back to central Mass tonight, and I downloaded the audiobook version that I will begin to listen to on my way home. This will make the ride enjoyable.
As for my comments on fear, I can appreciate what you say about the boundaries that economists feel they must operate in…..so stopping at the point where one begins delving into psychology seems like a perfect point of demarcation.
Having said that, I will also say that I have gone back and am listening to this class a second time (again on my trips up and down between Ma and NH) and I think I can appreciate how one’s emotion can affect the future value speculation that might go on in both the entrepreneur (supplier) as well as in the consumer. (several hundred years ago, humans treated their crops with great care and went to great lengths to pickle/dry/preserve every bit of crop because this was it until the next harvest….unlike today where it is all readily available…..but that human nature to store and conserve would quickly come back if the conditions that existed back them did as well….and to a point even if people “believe” they might be coming)
<soap box mounted>
As an Electrical Engineer, I suppose I am a bit of a “bull in a china closet” in that I don’t always mentally color within the lines, mixing together/up and blurring the lines between scientific disciplines…..but then, I suppose I am not so much interested in pushing the boundaries of knowledge, as to understand the world so that I might survive and thrive in what might be a very uncertain future. <soap box mode off>
BTW: Your explanation and treatment of the material is excellent. I really enjoy your care with in using the correct terms, and doing it so consistently that it makes my appreciation for the lessons so much better. (I myself use the english language in such an awkward and clumsy way, that I really appreciate your systematic and careful treatment. I also really enjoy your apparent interest in certain goods like Toyota Tundra trucks and Apple iPad products as you sprinkle references to them throughout many of your situation examples. I am not sure why that makes me smile, but I do enjoy it. Thank you for all that you do.