Lars P. Syll

MMT and corona policy measures Many commentators seem to view MMT as merely a blueprint for turning on the printing press … These commentators have it all wrong. MMT does not support quantitative easing (QE), nor does it prescribe “helicopter drops,” for the simple reason that there is no such thing as a “helicopter-money” alternative to financing a fiscal-stimulus package. Instead, what MMT does is describe how a government that issues its own currency...

 [embedded content]

Read my lips — using an RCT guarantees nothing! The claimed hierarchy of methods, with randomized assignment being deemed inherently superior to observational studies, does not survive close scrutiny. Despite frequent claims to the contrary, an RCT does not equate counterfactual outcomes between treated and control units. The fact that systematic bias in estimating the mean impact vanishes in expectation (under ideal conditions) does not imply that the...

Pandemic depression antidote (VI) [embedded content] Spending most of my time nowadays — in the shadow of the pandemic — at my summer residence on my island in the Karlskrona archipelago, yours truly has plenty of time watching his favourite movies. And Mia Wasikowska is absolutely ripping in this rendering of Charlotte Brontë’s classic Jane Eyre.

 [embedded content]

‘Sunda’ statsfinanser — en synnerligen osund fixering Om ekonomin riskerar att överhettas finns det skäl att hålla igen. Men den risken är i nuläget milt sagt inte så stor. Världsekonomin är i fritt fall. Det finns all anledning att oroa sig för prishöjningar och varubrist när globala leverantörskedjor bryts upp och mängder med företag går omkull. Men denna form av inflation kan inte bekämpas genom att staten spenderar mindre, utan kräver tvärtom att den...

Loving you is sweeter than ever (personal) [embedded content] Come sempre, questo è per te, Jeanette. Though I speak with the tongues of angels, If I have not love … My words would resound with but a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy ​… And understand all mysteries … and all knowledge … And though I have all faith So that I could remove mountains, If I have not love … I am nothing.

Don’t let me be misunderstood  [embedded content]

TV4:s Marcus Oscarsson pratar i nattmössan Satt vid frukosten ute på min skärgårdsö i morse och strötittade på ett morgonprogram i TV4. Efter en stund dök det upp något slags politisk kommentator vid namn Marcus Oscarsson. Denne så kallade “expert” var upphetsat überjoyed över att Sverige nu hade en så låg statsskuld. Attityden var ungefär som om det handlade om en slags landskamp där det självklart var “jätteviktigt” och “jättebra” att ha lägst statsskuld...

Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī  [embedded content]  O day, arise! The atoms are dancing. Thanks to Him the universe is dancing. The souls are dancing, overcome with ecstasy. I’ll whisper in your ear where their dance is taking them. All the atoms in the air and in the desert know well, they seem insane. Every single atom, happy or miserable, Becomes enamoured of the sun, of which nothing can be said. Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (1207-1273)