The Weekend Quiz – May 27-28, 2017

Welcome to The Weekend Quiz, which used to be known as the Saturday Quiz! The quiz tests whether you have been paying attention or not to the blogs I post. See how you go with the following questions. Your results are only known to you and no records are retained. 1. If a nation's external sector is in balance (and thus making no contribution to real GDP growth) then the private domestic sector cannot save if the government runs a...

Just face it — austerity policies do not work!

Just face it — austerity policies do not work!  If failing to understand some basic Keynes­ian relations is a part of the explanation of what happened, there was also another, and more subtle, story behind the confounded economics of austerity. There was an odd confusion in policy thinking between the real need for institutional reform in Europe and the imagined need for austerity – two quite different things … An analogy...

Neoliberalism — an oversold ideology

From Lars Syll So what’s wrong with the economy? … A 2002 study of United States fiscal policy by the economists Olivier Blanchard and Roberto Perotti found that ‘both increases in taxes and increases in government spending have a strong negative effect on private investment spending.’ They noted that this finding is ‘difficult to reconcile with Keynesian theory.’ Consistent with this, a more recent study of international data by the...

Michael Norman for President!

Here:[embedded content]Sounds great to me. My own feelings on American politics are: imagine if the Left had a billionaire (as Trump was) but to run as a Democratic party candidate with an MMT program. As much as I like Bernie, he was for many people tainted by his Marxist past. But imagine a rich, successful charismatic businessman who could push a left Keynesian program and say, “look, this is good for capitalism and the middle class!,” but...

In Defense of Vanguard

Share the post "In Defense of Vanguard"Here’s an article criticizing Vanguard. I guess we need to get used to this. As low fee indexing continues to eat the world the high fee alpha salesman are going to have to step up their game or they’ll all go out of business. But this “takedown” is particularly bad. Let me explain.The article repeatedly refers to Vanguard as a non-profit even though the author, at one point, admits Vanguard is...

What if my analysis is used for evil purposes?

One of my Patrons posed a very good question to me: in a nutshell, how would I respond to a politician who took my ideas and perverted them for political gain? Here’s Andre’s full query: Hi Steve, thank you, you’ve given me the gift of some of the most important ideas and explanations I’ve come across in my lifetime. I was wondering how you might respond to a politician who misreads your latest book, and then declares: 1.  People will love me,...

Open thread May 26, 2017

What reforms for France?

Partager cet article Will the election of Emmanuel Macron enable France to relaunch itself and revive Europe? We would like to think so but this is not guaranteed. The new president does have some good insights but the overall impression is of a programme in draft version and somewhat opportunist. The most promising project is the modernisation and unification of our social protection. In France more than elsewhere, our social system has...

On Priming the Pump and Trumponomics at the Rick Smith Show

[embedded content] My interview with Rick this week. I should say that I'm quite skeptical that impeachment will actually take place. In part, because Trump is not a real populist, and will not deliver for the working class people in the Rust Belt that voted for him. But he will, probably, pass several things that Republicans want, and that might provide the support that would shield him from political disaster. Share Get link...

Trade, Inventories, Tax receipts

Larger than expected and last month revised higher, indicating GDP was a bit lower than estimated, and weak sales matched with weak inventories don’t clear the shelves: Highlights A key early indication on the strength of second-quarter GDP is not favorable as the nation’s goods deficit widened $2.5 billion in April to $67.6 billion. Exports of goods continue to show weakness, down 0.9 percent in the month to $125.9 billion that show sharp...

Ομιλία Γιάνη Βαρουφάκη στην εκδήλωση στο ΣΠΟΡΤΙΓΚ, 19 Μαΐου 2017

ΠΡΩΤΗ ΕΚΔΗΛΩΣΗ DiEM25 ΕΛΛΑΔΑΣ ΣΤΗΝ ΑΘΗΝΑ, ΓΗΠΕΔΟ ΣΠΟΡΤΙΓΚ, 19 Μαΐου 2017 Όπως βλέπετε, φίλες, φίλοι, σύντροφοι, ΕΜΕΙΣ ΔΕΝ ΜΕΝΟΥΜΕ… ΕΜΕΙΣ ΕΙΜΑΣΤΕ Η ΜΑΧΟΜΕΝΗ ΓΙΑ ΤΗΝ ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΙΑ ΚΑΙ ΤΗΝ ΑΞΙΟΠΡΕΠΕΙΑ ΕΥΡΩΠΗ! Ο απομονωτισμός δεν βοηθά κανέναν να πάρει πίσω την πατρίδα του. Όπως η κλιματική αλλαγή έτσι και η αντιμετώπιση του χρέους, των τραπεζικών κρίσεων, των χαμηλών επενδύσεων, της φτώχειας – απαιτούν μεν δράσεις σε τοπικό και εθνικό επίπεδο, αλλά...

Squaring the circle on immigration

It had to happen. Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, has refused to commit to a net migration target. Facing a barrage of complaints from the hospitality industry about potential staff shortages post-Brexit, Rudd appears to be softening the government's line. She told BBC Radio 5Live's Pienaar's Politics: "My personal view is we need to continue to bring immigration down. I want to make sure that we do it in a way that supports businesses.”...

Announcing the First International Conference on Modern Monetary Theory 

Economics for a New Progressive Era University of Missouri-Kansas City September 21–24, 2017 Conference site: pkconference.com/2017-2 With Support From Robert Skidelsky and Morton Sosland UMKC Economics Club Journal of Post Keynesian Economics Featured Speakers Include Warren Mosler, Robert Skidelsky, Jamie Galbraith, Jan Kregel, and Randall Wray Modern Monetary Theory has transformed the economics discipline. Its influence extends beyond...

Money for Nothing…

April 18th, 2017 The production of money is ultimately the struggle for control over resources, wealth, people and our environment. But there is a surprising level of ignorance around how banks create money out of thin air and the benefits which flow from it. So on this programme we shine a much-needed light on who should get the privilege of creating our money. Host Ross Ashcroft is joined by the economist and author of the recent book The...

The threat of an overheated German economy

You are here: Political Economy » The threat of an overheated German economy The Eurozone economy is doing really well. Some data points to 3% growth. The German economy is doing even better – with some data pointing to 5% annualized growth. But there’s a downside – overheating. And with the ECB at negative rates and engaged in 60 billion Euros of QE to boot, overheating in Germany is a reasonable...

Some Interesting Links On Politics

John Pilger recently wrote an excellent article, Getting Julian Assange: An Untold Story, about Julian Assange on his website. The article was endorsed by Assange himself on Twitter. It tells the story about how Julian Assange has been made a political prisoner. The article was written in response to the closing of an investigation against him by Sweden. Although this is positive, the United Kingdom police has declared that it will still...

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The Real Reasons for Trump’s Anti-Globalization Circus

Trumponomics: How Trump skillfully used anti-globalization as bait to cover up his extremely neoliberal switch. A key element of Trump’s political success has been his masquerade of being pro-worker, which includes posturing as being anti-globalization. However, his true economic interests are the exact opposite. That creates conflict between Trump’s political and economic interests. For political ...