Mike Norman Economics

The BRI, for Beijing, is all about geopolitical but most of all geo-economic projection – including the promotion of new global standards and norms that may not be exactly those practiced by the EU. And that brings us to the heart of the matter, not enounced by the leaked internal report; the intersection between BRI and Made in China: 2025. Beijing is aiming to become a global high-tech leader in less than seven years. Made in China: 2025 identified 10 sectors – including AI, robotics,...

False Flag is a concept that goes back centuries. It was considered to be a legitimate ploy by the Greeks and Romans, where a military force would pretend to be friendly to get close to an enemy before dropping the pretense and raising its banners to reveal its own affiliation just before launching an attack. In the sea battles of the eighteenth century among Spain, France and Britain hoisting an enemy flag instead of one’s own to confuse the opponent was considered to be a legitimate ruse...

This is the first in a series of blog posts on financing infrastructure assets. Multiplier EffectThe Massive Need for Infrastructure in the Emerging and Developed World Felipe Rezende | Director, Finance program and Associate Professor of Economics & Finance, Bard College and Levy Economics Institute

What sense can we make out of all these strategic events in Syria? We encounter a baffling array of players: Syrian troops, Syrian insurgents, jihadis of varying ideologies, Iranians, Russians, Americans, Israelis, Turks, Saudis, Qataris, Emiratis, Shi’ite militias, Iraqis, Kurds, Hizballah—all locked in a deadly dance. But as complex as it may be, this seven-year bloody conflict still continues to pose the very same long-term fundamental questions to US policy in Syria and the region....

There are two reasons why the aluminium metal markets are not making long-term bets on the price of the metal, the alumina required to make it, and the share prices of the metal producers, including Russia’s aluminium monopoly United Company Rusal. The first reason is that the US Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin (lead image, right) has decided to eliminate Rusal’s controlling shareholder, Oleg Deripaska (left), but leave Rusal to carry on its business without him. The second reason is...

A statistics professor looks at the economics profession. This is an awkward topic to write about. I’m not saying I think economists are mean people; they just seem to have a default mode of thought which is a little perverse. In the traditional view of Freudian psychiatrists, which no behavior can be taken at face value, and it takes a Freudian analyst to decode the true meaning. Similarly, in the world of pop economics, or neoclassical economics, any behavior that might seem good, or...

Report.Economic Policy InstituteIt’s not just monopoly and monopsony: How market power has affected American wages Josh Bivens, Lawrence Mishel, and John SchmittSee alsoFrom Poverty to PowerThe World Bank’s flagship report this year is on the future of work – here’s what the draft says Duncan Green, strategic adviser for Oxfam GB

My blog post last week – On the path to MMT becoming mainstream (April 17, 2018) – discussed the way in which the language and concepts that have been developed by the Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) authors are now permeating mainstream narratives and the media. While this has increased the pushback and hostility from both the Right and Left opposition to MMT, it is also a sign that the public understanding of the way in which the monetary system works and the policy options available to...

Interesting post  on the current state of National Income Accounting from the CFR people out yesterday... 'must read' for us imo.... And the timing is interesting as Tim Cook has a meeting with Trump on the same day... hmmmm....Maybe Cook was having to explain what is REALLY going on to the Trump people?   Which is not accurately being depicted/illustrated by the current national accounting abstractions?  Kudlow the History major will be well over his head here for sure... maybe not...

This just in. Read.Putin talks about a big new fiscal expansion, which will be "paid for" with spending cuts and new taxes even though he has unlimited spending power in ruble.And we now find out Russia's been stupidly buying gold for years. Why??This is a total waste of financial and real resources and an even stupider subsidy to the mining industry.Then there's this...Russia's empty threats about retaliation against U.S. strikes on Syria. "We'll shoot down the missiles and target launch...