Lars P. Syll

Mr. Innes’s next point is that the idea, that “in modern days a money-saving device has been introduced called credit, and that, before this device was known, all purchases were paid for in cash, in other words in coins,” is simply a popular fallacy. The use of credit, he thinks, is far older than that of cash. The numerous instances, he adduces in support of this, from very remote times are certainly interesting … Mr. Innes’s development of this thesis is of unquestionable...

Paul Davidson and yours truly on Keynesian and Knightian​ uncertainty A couple of years ago yours truly had an interesting discussion — on the Real-World Economics Review Blog — with Paul Davidson on ergodicity and the differences between Knight and Keynes re uncertainty. It all started with me commenting on Davidson’s article Is economics a science? Should economics be rigorous? : LPS: Davidson’s article is a nice piece – but ergodicity is a difficult...

OECD varnade redan 1992 om skolreformens följder Häromveckan publicerade OECD återigen en rapport där de konstaterade att skolvalet har lett till ökad skolsegregation och minskad likvärdighet. Segregationen ökar i den svenska skolan och resultatskillnaderna mellan skolor blir större. Men vad som är mindre känt är att OECD redan 1992 var starkt kritisk till de reformer Bildt-regeringen tänkte genomföra och varnade för att konsekvenserna av dem kunde innebära...

On the impossibility of objectivity in science Operations Research does not incorporate the arts and humanities largely because of its distorted belief that doing so would reduce its objectivity, a misconception it shares with much of science. The meaning of objectivity is less clear than that of optimality. Nevertheless, most scientists believe it is a good thing. They also believe that objectivity in research requires the exclusion of any ethical-moral...

Unemployment and real wages Not exactly the story that Mankiw et consortes tell you. But Heiner Flassbeck did.

Noah Smith’s new MMT critique — more nonsense on stilts In recent years … macroeconomists have redoubled their efforts to match theory to data … This kind of research is not dramatic, headline-grabbing stuff. It doesn’t give instant answers to the big questions of macroeconomics … What it is, is science … Empirical macro represents a real, honest, ongoing attempt by dedicated researchers to explore the ins and outs of a hideously complex and hard-to-measure...

Debating MMT with Randall Wray  [embedded content]

Vickrey on deficits and obfuscatory financial rectitude We are not going to get out of the economic doldrums as long as we continue to be obsessed with the unreasoned ideological goal of reducing the so-called deficit. The ‘deficit’ is not an economic sin but an economic necessity […] The administration is trying to bring the Titanic into harbor with a canoe paddle, while Congress is arguing over whether to use an oar or a paddle, and the Perot’s and budget...

Mainstream​ economics — the true picture Mainstream economists’ picture of economics looks like this: In reality, I would argue, it looks more like this:

My friends — you bow to no one​ Edward Snowden and Daniel Ellsberg. Bravest of the brave. [embedded content]