When intra-governmental relations became absurd – the US-Fed Accord – Part 3

I am writing this while waiting for a train at Victoria Station (London), which will take me to Brighton for tomorrow’s presentation at the British Labour Party Conference. The last several days I was in Kansas City for the inaugural International Modern Monetary Theory Conference, which attracted more than 200 participants and was going well when I left it on Saturday. A great step forward. I believe there will be video for all sessions...

Seven sins of economics

Seven sins of economics There has always been some level of scepticism about the ability of economists to offer meaningful predictions and prognosis about economic and social phenomenon. That scepticism has heightened in the wake of the global financial crisis, leading to what is arguably the biggest credibility crisis the discipline has faced in the modern era. Some of the criticisms against economists are misdirected. But...

Economics as science in the world of great power politics (1800-present)

From Robert Locke Recently there has been a spate of postings and comments in the rwer blog about economics as science; they invariably deal with the relative degree of autism of orthodox economics along the lines that originally spawned the post-autistic economics movement, the rwer and the blog. The subject debated is the relative failure of an economics discipline based on the behavior of individuals in markets to guide policy formulation...

Steve Keen on How Austerity Works

Steve Keen on how austerity works at the micro (or individual) level as opposed to the macroeconomic level:[embedded content]

Let’s Throw Some “Keynesian” Bombs

Share the post "Let’s Throw Some “Keynesian” Bombs"People really like to throw bombs at “Keynesian” economics because it’s become synonymous with big government and unfettered spending. The really common (and incorrect) understanding of Keynesian economics is that people shouldn’t save and should just consume until they are so fat that the economy is at full employment. The other (slightly less incorrect) version is that the...

Shutting down membership

I have recently estab­lished a Patreon site https://www.patreon.com/ProfSteveKeen, where peo­ple can sup­port my research and advo­cacy work with dona­tions start­ing at $1/month. That is now where I will engage in con­ver­sa­tion in response to posts. So if any­one here wants to con­tinue a dia­logue with me and oth­ers, please sign up there. This site was flooded by a large num­ber of spam users at the same time as I became unable to...

State Monies are Fundamental to Modern Monetary Economies

What is the most appropriate entry point to the study of a monetary economy in which government is currency issuer? Is it “the market”? Is it the definition: total spending equals total income? Is it real exchange? Real production? Is it total output? Total employment? Total value? Distribution of income? The origin of profit? Price formation? Competition? I would answer “no” to all these suggestions. They are all important aspects of the...

On Not Rising for the National Anthem

Apropos #takeaknee and the previous post:Most of the discussion about whether NFL and other athletes should stay on their feet during the pre-game singing of the Star Spangled Banner miss the point.  Kneeling is a political statement, but so is not kneeling.The public staging of the national anthem is a political event.  It began in professional baseball during World War I as a demonstration of support for the war effort (before the SSB was...

Gentrification

By Peter Dorman (originally published at Econospeak) Gentrification This is the bane of urban development, right? Old housing stock, built for yesterday’s working class, is spiffed up and priced far out of reach of today’s regular folk. High end shops replace hardware stores, bric-a-brac recyclers and appliance repair centers; a tide of designer coffee flushes out the cheap, refillable kind. Who can afford to live there? But wait! Those...

Putting the blame where it belongs

Queensland Premier Anna Palaszczuk has followed Bill Shorten in blaming privatisation for the woes of the electricity network. She’s basically right, although there’s much more wrong with the National Electricity Market than that. Equally importantly, in terms of getting a good outcome, she’s on a political winner in the fight with the Turnbull government and particularly the Abbott faction pulling Turnbull’s strings. No one fully understands...

Self-insurance for workers doesn’t work

This is a guest post from Rod Hill, a Professor of Economics at the University of New Brunswick, Saint John campus. A previous version of this post first appeared in the New Brunswick Telegraph Journal. In a report this month for the Halifax-based Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS), entitled “An Alternative to Employment Insurance”, Justin Hatherly proposes replacing the Employment Insurance (EI) system. A look at the proposal...

Re-thinking the capital code

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Stylised Facts

I don’t want to say too much about Nicky Kaldor’s actual stylised facts, but about the methodological implication of the stylised facts approach. Paul Samuelson famously said, “those who can do economics, do it; those who can’t, babble about methodology”. Kaldor could certainly do economics, but he needed a methodology to enable him to do what he wanted to do. This is my excuse for babbling. But let me start with his inaugural lecture at...

Book Launch in Parliament Earlier This Year

On Tuesday 16th of March 2017 Robert Skidelsky and I launched my book The Reformation in Economics in the Clement Attlee room in the House of Lords. It has taken some time to upload these videos of Robert’s and my comments. Most of the speeches were captured but I have included my own text below (I did not end up sticking to the written comments verbatim). On a separate note, Brian Romanchuk has written a short review of the book here....

New Economics Foundation calls for ‘Khan’s Cars’ as mutually-owned alternative to Uber

In response to today’s decision by TFL to deny Uber a new license, the New Economics Foundation calls for ‘Khan’s Cars’ as a mutually-owned, publicly-regulated alternative to Uber. Transport for London (TFL) and the Mayor of London have today made a huge intervention in the so-called ‘gig economy.’ The move comes in reaction to Uber’s poor record of responding to concerns regarding passenger safety and security, and will affect thousands of...

Another Example Of A Real Wicksell Effect Of Zero

Ukraine’s Chief Military Psychiatrist Fired After Uncovering Horrifying Secret

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has sacked chief military psychiatrist Oleh Druz, who told lawmakers that 93% of veterans from the conflict in the country’s east need treatment for mental health issues. Radio Sputnik contributor Vladimir Filippov says Druz’s remarks, and Kiev’s reaction, are a testament to the senselessness of the country’s civil war. Filippov suggested that as far as Kiev is concerned, the only problem posed by the vets is the...

Marx Capital turns 150

Marx's capital (Volume 1) was published September 14, 1867, exactly 150 years ago. Below a few links to posts on Marx written over the years.What makes capitalism capitalism? (on the definitions of capitalism as a mode of production) Sraffa and Marxism or the Labor Theory of Value, what is it good for? (on the labor theory of value) Was Marx right? Nice of you to ask, but... (on common misconceptions about Marx)A Note on the Concept of...

Ten years after: is the system “Safer, Simpler & Fairer”?

On 9 August, 2017, PRIME held an event at the TUC to mark the date ten years ago when inter-bank lending froze, and the global financial system began to unravel. We invited Andrew Simms of the New Weather Institute, Frances Coppola and Prof. Daniela Gabor to take stock and assess the state of both the financial and eco systems ten years after the first signs of economic failure. The event was chaired by PRIME’s director, Ann Pettifor.Prof....

A New Economic Vision, in 27 Words

By James Kwak A couple of weeks ago I posted a 6,000-word essay laying out a new economic vision for the Democratic Party. It kind of vanished into the ether, although Stephen Metcalf was kind enough to say this: Reupping. I really think this is a critical, possibly foundational, document, and I seriously urge anyone following my account to read it. https://t.co/CXRxe4OfhU — Stephen Metcalf (@Metlandia) June 16, 2017 So here it is, in 27...

The Center of the Universe 1970-01-01 00:00:00

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IMF Provides Cover for Europe’s Dysfunctional Currency Union

The Council on Foreign Relations’ Brad W. Setser has produced a couple of interesting blogposts on Germany’s fiscal policies of late. The first one, titled “Germany Cannot Quit Fiscal Consolidation,” was published at the end of August. On September 18th, the second one appeared, titled “The Global Cost of the Eurozone’s 2012 Fiscal Coordination Failure.” The latter is more limited in scope and draws heavily on a recent report by the Banque de...

Germany needs a frank debate, not this tepid election campaign – Op-ed in Deutsche Welle

The Greek people are paying dearly for having been lulled into a false sense of security, writes former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. Germans, he says, are laboring under the same illusion today. Complacency is a country’s worst enemy.  My compatriots were, once upon a time, lulled into a false sense of having “made it.” I very much fear that a majority of Germans feel their land is “doing fine.” That the federal election campaign is...

We need to talk about productivity

"We need to discuss the complete disconnect between the marginal product of labour and labour wages," said Sir Chris Pissarides, speaking on the closing panel of the Lindau Economics Meeting.I tweeted this comment. Laurie MacFarlane of the New Economics Foundation promptly responded with this chart that brilliantly illustrates Sir Chris's point: "Quite why marginal productivity theory is still taught as something which explains...

Massachusetts First to Sue Equifax Over Massive Hack

NEP’s Bill Black was on The Real News Network and discussing that several government agencies and at least 34 state attorneys general have opened investigations into the Equifax data-breach scandal–which is ‘the gift that keeps on giving.’ You can view with transcript here. [embedded content] [Translate]

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...

Hurricane Irma, jobless claims and economic growth

Irma, the devastating hurricane that hit Florida with its full force, was not as destructive as it could have been. But the impact on the economy, beginning with unemployment, has already been felt. As the Hurricane made its way toward the US mainland, damage estimates ratcheted up. But the ‘Bermuda High’ dampened the impact. Here’s how Bloomberg describes it: The credit goes to the Bermuda High, which acts like a sort of traffic cop for the...

UNCTAD On The Case For A Global New Deal

The United Nations 🇺🇳 Conference On Trade And Development (UNCTAD) publishes wonderful annual reports on trade and development. These are written by heterodox authors many times. Alex Izurieta, Francis Cripps, Jayato Ghosh are a few contributors. This year’s report is here. 200 pages!The report has detailed discussion on robots and its impact. This is quite different from what one hears normally.From the press release:With the United States...

Don’t Tolerate The Trumpists

Armed with his famously short temper, and the kind of weapons of mass destruction that America once went to war to prevent men like him from obtaining Trump is quite possibly the man that will end civilization as we know it. His supporters are an unfortunate mix of three groups. (All three groups, of course, have some overlap). First, wealthy people, who care mostly for tax cuts and whether the president is deferential to big business. Second,...

A Theory of Economic Policy Lock-in and Lock-out via Hysteresis: Rethinking Economists’ Approach to Economic Policy

This paper uses hysteresis to develop the concept of policy lock-in and lock-out. Policy changes may near-irrevocably change the economy’s structure, thereby changing the distribution of wealth, income and power. That may lock-in policy by changing the political equilibrium. Exit costs that block policy reversals also cause lock-in. Conventional thinking treats policy as a dial ...

Richard Wolff interviews

[unable to retrieve full-text content]A discussion on duplicitous economics with Richard Wolff. Our conversation begins at 30.50.