Mike Norman Economics

A group of economists from both sides of the Atlantic, part of a project called core Econ, has put together a new introductory economics curriculum, one that is modern, comprehensive, and freely available online. In this country, many colleges encourage Econ 101 students to buy (or rent) expensive textbooks, which can cost up to three hundred dollars, or even morefor some hardcover editions. The core curriculum includes a lengthy e-book titled “The Economy,” lecture slides, and quizzes to...

Imagine if a well-paying job, with benefits and a high enough salary to pay for rent, transportation, and food, were a human right. Imagine the US federal government established a policy whereby anyone who didn’t have a job and wanted one could go into a local office for a government agency — call it the Works Progress Administration — and walk out with a regular government position paying a livable wage ($15 an hour, perhaps) and offering health, dental, and vision insurance, and...

Hillary doubles down on identity politics and McCarthyism.Some interesting history and observations too.Did you know that Pushkin was black by American standards? Take Alexander Pushkin for example. He’s Russia’s most beloved poet, embraced as the quintessence of Russian romantic poetry. He died in 1837, at a time when slavery was the law of the land in the American South, and serfdom (a form of slavery) was the law of the land in Russia for Russia’s peasant class. Pushkin’s...

Under Donald Trump's leadership, the U.S. is in the process of forfeiting its position of economic supremacy. An internal EU document shows that the Europeans are worried. Translation: Germany is worried about its trade surplus.Spiegel OnlineA Shrinking Giant: EU Worries Grow over U.S. Economic Chaos Christian Reiermann

Video and transcript.  Mark Weisbrot is one of the most knowledgeable people writing about the economic situation in English. SHARMINI PERIES: Mark, so let's start with President Maduro's economic policy announcements, which took place on Thursday night. From what you can tell so far, do you think they will work towards recovering Venezuela's economy here? MARK WEISBROT: Well, I think probably not. I think there's some good things there. The try to increase the food distribution,...

Another expensive and potentially dangerous boondoggle aimed at world domination? What is wrong with these people.Tom DispatchAlfred McCoy, How the Pentagon Snatched Innovation From the Jaws of DefeatAlfred McCoy | Harrington professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, author of the The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade, and In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power (Dispatch Books) from which this piece is...

In the past, we've witnessed Fox News take an editorial position against basic facts, but has it really influenced anyone's vote/ While it has presented itself as "balanced" over the years, there's little doubt that Fox News has consistently supported Republican candidates and positions even when that required taking an editorial position against basic facts. On some level, this has worked, as surveys have indicated Fox viewers are more likely to get those same facts wrong. But is it...

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has 25,000 members. Its growth over the past year has been massive — tripling in size — and no doubt a product of the increasing rejection of a bipartisan neoliberal consensus that has visited severe economic insecurity on the vast majority, particularly among young workers.No socialist organization has been this large in decades. The possibilities for transforming American politics are exhilarating.... Here’s a sketch of a practical approach...

Here’s a conjecture: the rise of “post-truth” politics (defined by the OED as a process whereby “objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than emotional appeals”) is in part the product of deindustrialization. What I mean is that in manufacturing, facts defeat emotions and opinions. If your steel cracks, or your bottles leak or your cars won’t start, all your hopes and fancy beliefs are wrong. Truth trumps opinion. Contrast this with sales occupations. In these,...

Comments on the 200 year world GDP chart linked to here at MNE previously.Naked KeynesianismReOrientMatias Vernengo | Associate Professor of Economics, Bucknell University