Organizations and Markets

| Nicolai Foss |

An earlier post in the O&M Readers’ Favorite, the Pomo Periscope Series, concerned “queer economics.” Many commentators took issue with the association between pomo and queer, and they may well be right, so I will refrain from making that association here. I was, however, quite baffled about the queer/economics connection, failing to see any, but I think I may now be understanding what it is about (namely, codes).

In a recent article in Intelligent Life, a new Economist-sponsored internet-based outlet, Queen’s College (NY) professor Evan Zimroth discusses John Maynard Keynes’ early sex life. That Keynes in his younger years was very actively practicing his homosexuality is no secret (Austrians will recall a famous Margit von Mises anecdote). It is also well known that Keynes kept a meticulous “sex diary,” but apparently he kept a second — coded — one. The main part of Zimroth’s article is an attempt to break the code. Note: the article may be a bit too strong for some people.

(Thanks to Lasse Lien for the pointer).