The 2022 Globie: Money and Empire

by Joseph Joyce

Every year we name a book the “Globalization Book of the Year” (aka the “Globie”). The prize is (alas!) strictly honorific and does not come with a monetary award. But announcing the award gives me a chance to draw attention to a recent book—or books—that are particularly insightful about globalization. Previous winners are listed at the bottom of the column (also see here and here).

This year’s recipient is Money and Empire: Charles P. Kindleberger and the Dollar System by Perry Mehrling, Professor of International Political Economy at the Pardee School of Global Studies of Boston University. The book is an intellectual biography of Charles Kindleberger, who came to MIT in 1948 after having

How much would it cost consumers to give farmworkers a significant raise? A 40% increase in pay would cost just $25 per household, Economic Policy Institute, Daniel Costa and Philip Martin, October 15, 2020

A 40% increase in pay would cost just $25 per household . . .

This was up in 2020 at posted by Dan. Doing some of the housework around Abgry Bear, I ran across this post as displayed by Dan. I added the chart. Framers are still the smallest portion of costs. Due for an increase?

Two years later, the costs would not be that much more.

The increased media coverage of the plight of the more than 2 million farmworkers who pick and help produce our food. Whom the Trump administration has deemed to be “essential” workers for the U.S.

This is kind of a big deal. We have all heard about peanut allergy and how dangerous a reaction can be. A new skin patch might increase their tolerance of the legume, according to the results of a late-stage clinical trial. It is not 100% protection if exposed or ingested. It does offer protection equivalent to 3-4 peanuts and for children 1-3 years of age. A start to something better.

Just in passing.

Good News for Toddlers with Peanut Allergy, NEJM, Alkis Togias

New England Journal of Medicine: Greenhawt and colleagues report the findings of the EPITOPE (Epicutaneous Immunotherapy in Toddlers with Peanut Allergy) trial, a phase 3, multinational, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of Viaskin Peanut 250 μg, a patch that

Open Thread May 16, 2023, Angry Bear, angry bear blog

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Dan’s Open Thread May 10, 2023 – Angry Bear (angrybearblog.com)

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Open Thread April 29, 2023, Angry Bear, angrybearblog.com

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Dan had this one in drafts. Read it, liked it, relevant today, relevant to the SCOTUS BS, relevant to how Congress lets them get away with stuff, and where the hell is Joe Biden on this stuff? Sirota sums up the issues with the let-alone-Democrats rather well. Did some editing.

The Democrats Are Enabling the Right’s Supreme Court Takeover, rsn.org, David Sirota/Jacobin 02 july 22

Chief Justice John Roberts is spearheading the right’s judicial coup — and Democrats’ worship of norms is allowing it to accelerate.

As the director of the horror show that was the Supreme Court’s 2022 term, Chief Justice John Roberts on Thursday opted to script his movie with the same plot twist as Don’t Look Up. In an environmental ruling literally issued

Open Thread April 25, 2023, Angry Bear, angrybearblog.com

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By Joseph Joyce

The Costs of the Defragmentation of the Global Economy

The integration of markets across borders has slowed down, and in some cases, reversed. These changes come in the wake of the global financial crisis, Donald Trump’s embrace of trade restrictions, Great Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, the disruptions in global supply chains during the pandemic, and the invasion of Ukraine. President Biden has shown a willingness to use trade and financial restrictions in response to what he views as Chinese and Russian threats to U.S. strategic interests, and there are responses to the use of sanctions and other tools of disruption. The fallout from this rift will take years to play out.

A team of IMF economists have written

Open Thread April 20, 2023, Angry Bear angrybearblog.com

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Open Thread April 8, 2023, Angry Bear, angrybearblog.com

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Intelligent Economist, Top 100 Economics Blogs of 2023, Prateek Agarwal

Just a heads up . . . Angry Bear makes the list again in 2023. You will also find Econospeak, Naked Capitalism, One-Handed Economist, CEPR, Calculated Risk, Bonddad blog (New Deal democrat), Capital Ebbs and Flows are listed also. If I missed anyone, it is not on purpose.

We are in good company thanks to Dan Crawford. And we have good writers who touch upon many topics. Thank you, readers and commenters.

Top 100 Economics Blogs 2022, Angry Bear, angrybearblog.com

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The 90/10 rule of motivations

by Davis Zetland

Since 2009, I have talked about a 20/80 rule of motivations, e.g., “My rule of thumb is that about 20 percent of people conserve [water] because it’s the right thing to do, and 80 percent conserve because it’s expensive NOT to [because prices are high].”

My point is that far more people (80%) are motivated by price (extrinsic incentives) than doing the right thing (intrinsic incentives).

This rule can apply to many areas where personal action has collective consequences, e.g., eating meat, flying, littering, cheating, etc.. (Read my The Little Book of The Commons for more. 

The trouble is that my 80/20 rule is easy to confuse with other “80/20 rules,” such as 80% of profits (or problems)

This is relatively old news from almost a year ago. Old news about the media reporting versus reality.

Politico carried an interesting article on the direction modern media is taking. The speculation regarding changes of staff and tone at CNN bring to mind the importance of ownership regarding media. There is another story here and one which I have adhered too over the years. Honesty and truthfulness. It may cost you over a short period of time. Integrity is important to maintain and honesty goes hand in hand with it.

Dan had this in our drafts area and I just picked it up and finished it. He is still out and battling ailments. I left Dan’s name as the author since he chose it.

What I Learned About Media Rage After Getting Fired From Fox,

Open Thread April 3, 2023, Angry Bear, angry bear blog

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Open Thread March 28, 2023, Angry Bear, Angry Bear Blog

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Open thread March 17, 2023, Angry Bear (angrybearblog.com)

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Katie Porter on Social Security. Can you spare a bit more than three minutes?

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Three of the many Republicans who are absolutely not for the People.

Social Security & the Debt Limit, Angry Bear, Bruce Webb.

Tags: debt, Katie Porter

Via Diane Ravitch’s blog comes this note and bio to watch Dr. Fenwick livestream presentation. I am pointing to her work as somebody worth a look.

Living with Histories That We Do Not Know with Leslie Fenwick

 Tuesday, April 11, 4 p.m. ET Dr. Fenwick will draw on her sustained contribution to education policy research and groundbreaking findings from her recently published award-winning and bestselling book, Jim Crow’s Pink Slip. Dr. Fenwick’s research upends what we know and understand about Brown vs. Board of Education and details why the newly excavated history she shares is important to the nation’s racial justice and educational equity goals. Livestreamed at www.wellesley.edu/live.

By Joseph Joyce

The IMF’s Position in a Fragmented Global Economy

Ten years ago Cambridge University Press published my book, The IMF and Global Financial crises: Phoenix Rising? I had written a series of journal papers on the IMF and used the format of a book to summarize what I had learned about the Fund. I also made some evaluations and projections about the IMF and its reputation; a decade later, how has the IMF done?

The book reviewed the history of the IMF from its founding at Bretton Woods through the global financial crisis. One of the theses of the book was that the IMF had paid a high price for its handling of the Asian financial crisis. The Fund had formulated programs for Indonesia, South Korea, and Thailand that proved to be

The NYT addresses the increasing use of child labor in the US (the link allows access to the article whether you have a subscription or not):

Arriving in record numbers, they’re ending up in dangerous jobs that violate child labor laws — including in factories that make products for well-known brands like Cheetos and Fruit of the Loom.

“It was almost midnight in Grand Rapids, Mich., but inside the factory everything was bright. A conveyor belt carried bags of Cheerios past a cluster of young workers. One was 15-year-old Carolina Yoc, who came to the United States on her own last year to live with a relative she had never met.

About every 10 seconds, she stuffed a sealed plastic bag of cereal into a passing yellow carton. It could be

This NYT story just dredges up the stories we would read and hear in the fifties and sixties. Popular song when I was hanging around the coffee houses then. No Starbucks then or laptops. If the song was of your ilk.

Arriving in record numbers, the children escaping other countries are ending up in jobs violating child labor laws. Their presence can be found in the factories making the products your own and safe children might be eating or wearing. Well-known brands such as like Cheetos, Cheerios, Fruit of the Loom may be packaged or made by children as young as your own.

Surprisingly, their presence in manufacturing environments is not just confined to places such as Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. Places where a northerner might expect to run

Open Thread March 3, 2023, Angry Bear, angrybearblog.com

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By David Zetland (originally published at The one-handed economist)

Don’t take water for granted

In his 1987 hit, “Diamonds on the soul of her shoes“, Paul Simon sings:

She said, “You’ve taken me for grantedBecause I please youWearing these diamonds”

This lyric, although a bit paradoxical, has always resonated with me, and I’ve applied it in many “taking-for-granted” situations.

One of them concerns clean water, which most of us have certainly taken for granted, and in a way that is naive (to people who do not have access to affordable, clean water) as well as dangerous (the value of water in our lives is so high — relative to its price — that we do not think of the disastrous consequences of losing access to that water).

Well, it’s

F.D.R.’s statement on signing the Social Security Act reminds us to pay attention to ‘reform’ or schemes to ‘privatize’

PRESIDENTIAL STATEMENT SIGNING THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT. AUGUST 14,1935

Today a hope of many years’ standing is in large part fulfilled. The civilization of the past hundred years, with its startling industrial changes, has tended more and more to make life insecure. Young people have come to wonder what would be their lot when they came to old age. The man with a job has wondered how long the job would last.

This social security measure gives at least some protection to thirty millions of our citizens who will reap direct benefits through unemployment compensation, through old-age pensions and through increased services

By David Zetland (originally published at The one-handed economist)

Climate loss, grief and migration

The climate we grew up with is leaving. International action to slow climate chaos is not really working. National action and market innovations are having some useful impacts, but they are far too few on the mitigation side and far too weak on the adaptation side. We are going to face consequences with weak defenses.

When I moved to Amsterdam in 2010, I joked that it was going to get “California weather” due to climate change. 

Now, California is turning from heaven to hell, in terms of drought, floods and fire.

2022 was Amsterdam’s warmest year on record (since 1951) and the country’s second warmest year since 1901. The 2022 drought

Open thread February 18, 2023, Angry Bear, (angrybearblog.com)

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