Mike Norman Economics

A big reason that economics is not like a natural science. It's the subject matter, stupid. Economics is a social science, with all the limitations that come with it. Lars P. Syll’s BlogCherry-picking economic modelsLars P. Syll | Professor, Malmo University

The BBC in Britain carried a story yesterday (July 25, 2021) – UK will be paying for Covid for decades, say MPs – that began with the assertion that “Taxpayers will bear the costs of Covid ‘for decades'”. I guess there is some truth in that statement – families will remember their loved ones that died from the virus and those who are stricken with Long COVID will probably endure the negative effects for the rest of their lives. In that sense, if they are also ‘taxpayers’ they will be...

 It might be the caffeine that causes it, and in that case, then too much tea is not good too. I drink mugs of tea and I was fine after two of them yesterday, but then I had a third one about an hour later and I felt the caffeine, which I didn't like. I was surprised as it's rare for me to notice the caffeine because the very light teas I drink are low in it. In the early afternoon I had two cups of green tea and I felt fine. Mid afternoon onwards I always drink decaf green tea or redbush...

Video and transcript. A good follow up to J. W. Mason's recent post.Age of Economics — InterviewBranko Milanović, Professor of economics at CUNY, LSE and IBEI (Barcelona)

Thorium.Chinese government scientists have unveiled plans for a first-of-its-kind, experimental nuclear reactor that does not need water for cooling.The molten-salt nuclear reactor, which runs on liquid thorium rather than uranium, is expected to be safer than traditional reactors because the molten salt cools and solidifies quickly when exposed to the air, insulating the thorium, so that any potential leak would spill much less radiation into the surrounding environment compared with leaks...

 To much of the world America looks like a declining power, precisely because it is a declining powerThe people with big jobs in Washington came of age in the 1980s and 1990s, when America was the technological marvel of the world, and American inventions created the digital age. We haven’t done a lot lately except code some complicated software.China has installed about 80% of the world’s 5G mobile broadband capacity, the carrier for the Fourth Industrial Revolution as much as railroads...

 Russia remembers its old ally, while the US imposes more sanctions.Russia dispatched nearly 100 tons of humanitarian aid to Cuba, the Defense Ministry said Saturday, following unprecedented street protests over the communist country's worst economic crisis in decades.The delivery was directly ordered by President Vladimir Putin, it said.Russia Sends Aid to Cuba After Anti-Government Protests

Easily the best video I've seen about Space-time.  Is it possible to go faster than the speed of light? Would this mean going back in time? What is so fundamental about this precise speed?[embedded content]We all move at the Speed of Light

The website Age of Economics has been carrying out a series of interviews with economists about what the purpose of the discipline it is, and what its relationship is to capitalism as a historical social system. I believe there will be 52 of these interviews, one each week over the course of 2021. Earlier this spring, they interviewed Arjun Jayadev and myself. You can watch video of the interview here. I’ve pasted the transcript below....J. W. Mason's BlogAt Age of Economics: How Should an...

Yo, they  just had $700b in their account at the Fed and they can put IOUs in the FERS for a couple hundred $B… there is no hurry… they can spend their account down to zero in several months… and  they don’t need some stupid “coin!” …. they can take the rest of the summer off and worry about this in the fall…Secretary Janet Yellen said the Treasury Department will begin special steps to avoid breaching the U.S. debt limit, while urging lawmakers to act “as soon as possible”...