Lars P. Syll

Die hinkende Logik hinter der Schuldenbremse .[embedded content]

Uncertainty, learning, and rational expectations The rational expectations hypothesis presupposes — basically for reasons of consistency — that agents have complete knowledge of all of the relevant probability distribution functions. When trying to incorporate learning in these models — trying to take the heat of some of the criticism launched against it up to date — it is always a very restricted kind of learning that is considered. A learning where truly...

Time is on my side .[embedded content]

Top 100 Economics Blogs Mainstream economics has sadly made economics increasingly irrelevant to the understanding of the real world. Trying to contribute to making economics a more realist and relevant science, yours truly launched this blog in March 2011. Now, thirteen years later and with millions of page views, yours truly’s blog is ranked on Top 100 Economics Blogs. I am — of course — truly awed, honoured and delighted.

Being a class mongrel We were working class, and you don’t lose that. Later on, I bolted on middle classness but I think the working-class thing hasn’t gone away and it never will go away. Quite a few of my interactions and responses are still the responses I had when I was 18 or 19. And the other things are bolted on and it is a mix. It is what it is, and a lot of people are like that. I’m a class mongrel. Melvyn Bragg Most people think of social...

I sin senaste bok — Superrika och jämlika — argumenterar Daniel Waldenström för att vi i Sverige idag är mer jämlika än någonsin. De flesta andra jämlikhetsforskare delar inte denna uppfattning. Vad stämmer egentligen? I dagens Starta Pressarna gästades Daniel Suhonen av Daniel Waldenström och medie- och kommunikationsvetaren Axel Vikström. I Tidningen Näringslivet kunde vi för några år sedan läsa en intervju med Waldenström, där denne gång på gång bagatelliserade den...

Debunking the barter myth .[embedded content] Even in the most advanced industrial economies, if we strip exchange down to its barest essentials and peel off the obscuring layer of money, we find that trade between individuals and nations largely boils down to barter. Paul Samuelson You will find similar nonsense stories told in almost all mainstream textbooks today. And the truth, as so often when it comes to economics fairytales, is quite another: No...

Economists have sometimes misled us with their belief that it is their job to tell “white lies” to scare the population into “behaving themselves.” We think that is the wrong approach. This book trusts you, the reader, with that truth. We trust you to do what you can to spread the truth and to hold policymakers accountable. The truth is that government faces political constraints. It faces resource constraints. It faces technological constraints. But it does not, cannot, face...

The Deficit Myth: The Biggest Lie In Politics .[embedded content] In modern times legal currencies are totally based on fiat. Currencies no longer have intrinsic value (such as gold and silver). What gives them value is basically the simple fact that you have to pay your taxes with them. That also enables governments to run a kind of monopoly business where they never can run out of money. A fortiori, spending becomes the prime mover, and taxing and...

.[embedded content] Riksbanken har en nästintill oinskränkt makt över penningpolitiken, en politik som i hög grad styr inflation, sysselsättning och ekonomisk stabilitet. Denna makt bör vara föremål för större demokratisk övervakning för att säkerställa att den överensstämmer med vad vi som samhällsmedborgare har för intressen. När man diskuterat  Riksbankens oberoende har man oftast definierat detta i förhållande till regeringar och intressegrupper. Men hur är det med...