Mike Norman Economics

Eric Lonergan has recently written a post about the fiscal rules debate that has cropped up around the U.K. Labour Party's adoption of such a rule. As usual, his post covers a lot of territory -- if I were to attempt to cover all the points he raised when following my preferred writing style, it would be a 10 part article. Meanwhile, I am supposed to be working on finishing off my breakeven inflation book, as well as dealing with other projects. As a result, I just want to respond to a...

Funny (and sad) satirical post from Bill today.I have concluded that the "debate" has now degenerated to the point it is now longer worth the time to keep up and comment. Bill's post captures the essence of it regarding MMT but this syndrome has also affected almost all other areas of interest.The crazy is now the "reality."Bill Mitchell – billy blogCorbyn more scary than BrexitBill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at...

Economists use a lot of math and so like to keep the study of individual preferences very simple, says this article. But psychologists know that an individual's preferences are strongly related to the group they are in.For instance, go to a party where everyone is knocking the beer and wine back and you might think that having two glasses of wine is very moderate. But go to another party where everyone is teetotal but they say they will open up bottle of wine for you if you want, you might...

Quite a nice little podcast, I thought, but the show is funded by HSBC.Fran Boait, from Positive Money, and Josh Ryan-Collins discuss quantitative easing for the people. Now that people have seen that the government can create money and spend it without causing inflation the ice had been broken, they say.Ed Miliband and Geoff Lloyd said they didn't fully understand everything about quantitative easing for the people despite Geoff having a master's degree in economics. Well, I'm not doing too...

Apple are going to buy back $1 billion of its shares. Ralph Nader says they have so much money they don't know what to do when it. Under Steve Jobs Apple did but own one cent, but dunce he has gone they have borrowed $1.5 billion. Nader says why didn't they pay fair share of taxes, or pay its workers a decent wage, or invest in its company, or spend some money ensuring that discarded i Phones don't harm the environment?US companies have bought back $7 trillion of stock over the years. The...

Do you like hats, I do, especially a Trilby hats? I go Lindy Hop dancing - 1930's swing - and we love to dress up for it looking very Gatsby. I even even have a violin case which I carry in and I've heard of people having fake tommy guns inside too.  Flat caps look great at dancing as well.Anyway, I haven't just posted this for the great advice on selecting the right hat for your body size and face shape, but because the video is so darn entertaining. I just love it, and the guy is so dapper...

Jan Hatzius made some macro projections about wages, unemployment, and inflation: Goldman’s Jan Hatzius wrote Sunday that unemployment should continue to decline to 3% by early 2020, noting the labor market also has room to accommodate more wage growth. Hatzius predicted that average hourly earnings would likely grow in the 3.25% to 3.50% range over the next year. ... For now, Goldman has a baseline forecast of 2.3% for core PCE ... Well, these are all roughly consistent with Dynamic...

How ideas move through academia may depend on where those ideas come from as much as their quality, a new study suggests. Science DailyHow ideas go viral in academia: Where idea starts is key University of Colorado at Boulder

[embedded content] More and more Americans are not scared to call themselves socialists. Many were not brought up in the 1950's where children were drilled in 'Duck and Cover '  - as if hiding under your classroom table was going to make any difference -  and other anti communist propaganda and so view socialism much more favourably.  Time us running out, says Paul Jay, as we have just 13 years to turn the climate around too save the planet. And Francesca Fiorentini says the left doesn't...

Venezuela has paid for the insulin needed for 60 thousand patients but the US has blocked the shipment. Without the insulin these people, including children, could die.The U.S. is really mean to inflict such a horrible death, but where's the outcry in the Western media? Washington is hoping to force the Venezuelans into removing their government.John Bolton says he's a Christian and so do many others in the Trump government.  But they are the devil after the oil. [embedded content] Anya...