Mike Norman Economics

US and Europe still science superpowers, but China is rising fast. Ars TechnicaThe global state of scienceJohn Timmer Also Asia TimesChina on track to overtake US in R&D spending

Aristotle dealt with this in Nichomachean Ethics, Book One. Aristotle asserts as evident that every agent acts for an end that the agent perceives as being a good. Aristotle went on to say that agents disagree over what is perceived to be good. Then Aristotle examines various theories based on different conceptions of the meaning of "good." "Good" means desirable. So this reduces to desire is the chief motivator. But desire is not homogenous. The ancients distinguished between base...

Insightful post on international finance. Short.The Case for Concerted ActionChristine Lagarde On Germany’s Balance Of Payments V. Ramanan

Moronic. Whoever wrote this doesn't have any understanding of accounting and the credit-debit relationship that underlies accounting.  All borrowing results in a debt that is a payable and corresponding saving that results in a loan that is a receivable. A debt is account payable and loan is a account receivable.   A debt obligation is a financial liability and ownership of a loan is a financial asset. Some credit is used to to fund capital investment, and some credit is used to fund...

Must-read unless you are really up on transaction cost. As Simon says, companies that win tenders by bidding low have an incentive to cut quality. The question is: is it possible to stop this happening? It’s here that transactions cost economics enters. This perspective began with Ronald Coase’s famous essay, The Nature of the Firm (pdf). Whether we should do a job in-house or through the market depends upon the comparative costs. And, he said, “there is a cost of using the price...

Finian Cunningham is one of my favourite reporters. I have emailed him a few times and he is very pleasant indeed. It looks like Washington doesn't want peace between North and South Korea. Just as North and South Korea achieve important peaceful exchanges, Washington and its NATO allies appear to be moving with determination to sabotage the initiative for averting war on the East Asian peninsula. The Vancouver summit also called for proactive interdiction of international ships suspected...

I liked this as I thought this sounded optimist.How can we break the power of the corporate media and get messages like this out? A multi-polar world where we trade to each other to improve our lives and tackle the world's problems, like climate change, diseases, and slowing down the population growth, etc. The wonderful world we could have rather than this, but now the Western elite are starting another war in the Ukraine. These warmongers need to be arrested and put on trail for crimes...

I love this guy, even if he does get it wrong sometimes, like he defends the white working class bigoted male, but hey, these people elected Trump and may have saved us from a nuclear war that Hilary - the warmonger who was always up for for another war - could have caused. No wonder PCR defends them.  If Trump is real, he will arrest Mueller, Comey, Brennan, Hillary, Obama, the DNC, and break the presstitute media monoplies into a thousand pieces. In my opinion he should also arrest...

I have yet to read one analyst who believes that the U.S. administration can achieve any of the wishes it announced. It is a hapless policy of "doing something" which will fail when resistance on the ground will ramp up and the political costs of the occupation will become apparent. The YPK Kurds in the north-east, who agreed to their occupation, will be the ones who will have to to bear the wrath. All other parties involved in Syria will hold them responsible. Moon of AlabamaSyria -...

Liberal democracy, or theocratic apartheid state? Until today the state of Israel has not decided whether it is a theocracy for Jews or a democratic sovereign state. The ultra-orthodox appear to be on the road to winning this fundamental battle of principles. Ultra-orthodox radicals are increasingly occupying key positions, thereby imposing their stamp on the secular majority. Israeli’s secular democrats are growing increasingly worried that Israel’s future may resemble Saudi Arabia and...