Mike Norman Economics

Estonia has proposed to launch its own state-backed cryptocurrency, called "estcoin". Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin apparently gave feedback on the digital currency. It would be launched via the digital coin community's version of crowdfunding - an initial coin offering (ICO). Provocative article. Last month Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid said that her nation was "the only truly digital society," underpinned by the state. "Almost all our citizens' interactions with the government,...

What does capital do in the digital economy? For one thing it applies the mass market. The huge asymmetry in income is lat least in part due to access to and use of mass markets. Contemporary managerial capitalism and digital entrepreneuring are based on creating new mass markets or capturing a share of existing or developing mass markets.   While this is well known in business, economists haven't yet picked up much on it implications, at least in my roaming around the field as an...

It’s an all-too common refrain among US corporations: we have jobs available, but simply can’t find qualified workers to fill them. Economists, including top Federal Reserve officials, lend credibility to this dubious claim by arguing there is a "skills gap" among US workers that is preventing firms from finding employees with the right backgrounds. However, ample research and basic common sense suggests that wage stagnation, which has dominated the US job landscape in recent decades, is...

There was an article in the Financial Times last week (August 16, 2017) – Central banks hold a fifth of their governments’ debt – which seemed to think there was a “challenge” facing policymakers in “unwinding assets after decade of stimulus”. The article shows how central banks around the world have been buying huge quantities of government (and private) bonds and holding them on their balance sheets. Apparently, these asset holdings are likely to cause the banks headaches. I don’t see it...

At the macro level, equilibrium requires that total demand in product markets equals total supply. This could occur at high or low levels of output and employment. For this reason, equality of supply and demand in product markets does not imply full employment. heteconomistShort & Simple 17 – A Notion of Macroeconomic EquilibriumPeter Cooper

The back story.  Similar in Brazil and other Latin American countries. In Brazil the Carnival queen was deposed for being too black.Defend DemocracyVenezuela’s long history of racism is coming back to haunt it Hazel Marsh

The more one looks at it, President Donald Trump’s real challenge is not about winning the war against the Taliban, but the high risk he’ll be incurring, by taking his generals’ advice, to put his imprimatur on a full-fledged proxy war in Afghanistan against Russia, Iran and China. Russia InsiderRussia Warns the US Over Afghanistan M.K. Bhadrakumar

The difference between Trump and Obama is that under Trump generals are in key civilian positions that are supposed to put a civilian check on the military. Now there is in effect a military junta running military policy with State under the control of a former Exxon CEO and treasury under the control of a Goldman Sachs alumnus. This is even worse that could be expected if HRC had been elected instead, and it is what a lot people that voted for DJT were voting to prevent.Sic Semper...

As summer draws to a close and the Wall Street titans enjoy the last of their lazy long weekends in the Hamptons, summering next door to the army of lawyers that keep them out of jail, it’s a curious time to be reading about a major new lawsuit that has the potential to shake Wall Streeters right down to their Gucci loafers. The charges include conspiracy to restrain trade in violation of the Sherman Act and unjust enrichment in a $1.7 trillion market. Since the Senate hearings of the...

Georg Lukács quote.Thoughts On Economics The Concept Of TotalityRobert Vienneau