Mike Norman Economics

Chinese R&D investment has grown remarkably over the past two decades. It is now the second-largest performer in terms of R&D spending, on a country basis, and accounts for 20 percent of total world R&D expenditure, with the rate of R&D investment growth greatly exceeding that of the U.S. and the EU.… This steep improvement in S&T performance has been underpinned by significant strides in science and engineering education. China is now the world’s number one...

This is an important article socially, politically and economically based on its implications. While there is a "digital divide" between analog people and digitally capable people, the more significant divide is between those that grew up in the transition to the digital age, with the introduction of mass computing in around 1980. The Apple II was introduced in 1977. The most significant digital divide generationally is between analog natives and digital natives. Now a further...

Imagine we lived in a feudal society in which lords exploited peasants. A defender of the system might argue that wealthy lords perform a useful service; they protect their peasants from invasion and theft thus giving them security and a little prosperity. And competition between lords should improve these services; bad lords will find their lands and peasants seized by better lords who become wealthier as a result.Such an argument would, however, miss the point. The case against feudalism...

Although I do not bill myself as a forecaster, my generic inflation forecast has remained remarkably accurate: expect it to stick around 2%, barring a recession. Although this has been the correct forecast for years, it does not match what people want to hear: higher inflation (or deflation!) is around the corner! (This generic forecast is for the United States and Canada, but I will stick to U.S. data for this article.) To a certain extent, the entire social position of mainstream...

Geoff Tily in his paper on Keynes (pdf) has this quote (from the Collected Writings): S = I at all rates of investment. Y either definable as C+S or as C+I. S and I were opposite facets of the same phenomenon they did not need a rate of interest to bring them into equilibrium for they were at all times and in all conditions in equilibrium. (CW XXVII, pp 388–9) This is very enlightening. The “General Theory” also contained the issue of savings and investment, but the quote above nails it....

On June 3, 1951, the Socialist International association was formed in London. It is still going. It is “a worldwide association of political parties, most of which seek to establish democratic socialism”. Its roots date back to the C19th (to the First International formed in 1864) when it was considered beneficial to unite national working class movements into a global force to overthrow Capitalism. Internal bickering among various factions led to various dissolutions and reformations over...

Funny how some folks stop caring about federal deficits after an election.… This sort of behavior is intellectually dishonest, hypocritical, economically counterproductive and, at times, even dangerous. It has been going on for too long.... But Ronald Reagan (and you thought I was referring to Barack Obama) ignored the critics. His deficit spending and tax cuts helped stimulate the economy and led to an economic recovery that lasted for the better part of a decade. 1 This is further...

I agree that "unrealistic assumptions" has to be just about the laziest econ critique in existence. I wrote a post I was particularly proud of about how a lot of econ criticism is starting to look like vacuous art criticism. Information Transfer EconomicsLazy econ critique critiquesJason Smith

According to insurance experts, approximately 80 percent of the homeowners impacted by flooding in Houston may not have flood insurance policies on their home. That’s because much of Houston falls outside of designated Special Flood Hazard Zones where mortgage holders are required to maintain flood insurance policies. Hoping to relieve some of the panic by homeowners rescued from water-logged homes in Texas who have no idea when they may be able to return to their home or where the money...

Consumer credit may seem like a fairly new invention – but it’s actually been around for more than 5,000 years! In fact, many millennia before the credit score became ubiquitous, there is historical evidence that cultures around the world were borrowing for various reasons. From the writings in Hammurabi’s Code to the exchanges documented by the Ancient Romans, we know that credit was used for purposes such as getting enough silver to buy a property or for agricultural loans made to...