Mike Norman Economics

We were buyers of crude at $64. 7% higher now.

We have long been told that corporations “rule the world”, their interests seemingly taking precedence over states and their citizens. Yet while states, civil society, and international organisations are well drawn in terms of their institutions, ideologies, and functions, the world’s global corporations are often more simply sketched as market actors which are mechanisms of profit maximisation. In The Political Power of Global Corporations I seek to demonstrate why they should be seen as...

Not particularly important unless you are interested in the history of economics, but it is interesting owing to the Reagan connection compared with post 9/11 Islamophobia.Digressions&ImpressionsOn Ibn Khaldun and Ronald Reagan (and a now obscure Belgian scholar)Eric Schliesser | Professor of Political Science, University of Amsterdam’s (UvA) Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences

Customs and Border Patrol data show the magnitude of the increase in Central American migrants over the past decade. In 2000, 28,598 non-Mexicans (primarily Central Americans) were apprehended at the U.S. border. By 2014, this number had increased to 252,600.In an effort to understand what is driving this surge, my colleagues and I have carried out research on what leads a person to consider emigrating. In a broad study of more than 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries, we found that...

When the poorest gain, the lower bound, or ‘floor’, of the distribution of living standards rises. Using microdata spanning the last 30 years, this column argues that the floor in the US has been sinking, alongside rising top incomes. The floor would have fallen further without public spending on food stamps, which helped protect the poorest in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. vox.euAlongside rising top incomes, the level of living of America’s poorest has fallen Martin...

Worth a read. More or less balanced although written by a Western establishment type. Are these the major scenarios to expect?World Economic ForumThree scenarios for the future of geopolitics David Law | Senior Fellow, Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of Armed Forces

The growing threat to the rules-based postwar order has become a defining feature of current discussions about world politics. Over the last two years, a RAND project team, working with outside experts, has sought to understand the existing international order, assess current challenges to the order, and recommend future U.S. policies to advance U.S. interests in the context of a multilateral order. This summary report of that project, Building a Sustainable International Order, outlines...

The Chinese economy has plenty of ways to counter US President Donald Trump's import tariffs apart from simply imposing parallel measures, writes Politico's authors Adam Behsudi and Doug Palmer, that have been used in the past and proven to be very effective. One misapprehension in the article, perhaps since the authors are American and influenced by American views of how China functions, is that the Chinese government can suggest a boycott of US imports that would be effective. The reality...

Jinri Toutiao, one of China’s largest media agencies, has unveiled an article arguing that while the conflict in Syria might seem like a civil war between government and opposition forces, it is in reality “a deadly battle between Russia and NATO countries.”...  In other words, the Chinese media giant has a firm grasp on the geopolitics of the Syrian conflict and Russia-NATO confrontation. This is an important indication of China’s orientation. What’s more, other analysts, in addition to...

Must-read. as governTake-Away: Some Russian leaders, including Vladimir Putin, want Russia to be a democracy and they do not think that America is one. They want a real democracy as governance of, by and for the people. The Russian ObserverYes, Putin Once Dreamed the American Dream Patrick Armstrong