Mike Norman Economics

It is Wednesday and I am catching up on other things. But In a rather extraordinary article (May 16, 2021) – Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman explains why he’s more left-wing than the Modern Monetary Theory crowd – we learn about hubris. I provide some brief commentary on that claim before chilling out to some great post minimalist music.Bill Mitchell – billy blogRight becomes Left for Paul KrugmanBill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment...

 Many physicists now are saying that we do not have free will, and that everything is due to cause and effect, even our thoughts and feelings. I did once agree with this, and I can remember arguing in on-line groups saying that we did have free will, but then overnight I was thinking about it and I just flipped to the opposite conclusion, and I stayed believing that for years until I flipped back again, and then back again, and so on. Anyway, I've started to come around to a middle way, that...

The Trump administration’s pursuit of protectionist trade policies was predicated to some extent on the belief that America was too lucrative a market to face retaliation. Using the most detailed data set of bilateral trade flows constructed to date for the interwar period, this column shows that in fact the US faced substantial and widespread retaliation from trade partners in response to protectionist measures employed in the wake of the Great Depression. Exports to retaliating countries...

MMT explainer.In These TimesLies, Damn Lies, and InflationHamilton Nolan

The Bank of Russia does not see the risks of disconnecting the country from interbank payment system SWIFT, but if such a scenario is implemented, it will be possible to transfer internal Russian traffic to the Financial Messaging System of the Bank of Russia (SPFS), the bank's first deputy governor, Olga Skorobogatova, said.Cold War 2.0 Watch.Sputnik InternationalRussian Central Bank Sees No Risks of Disconnecting Russia From SWIFT

This is one indirect way the GSIBs benefit if the equity prices are reduced to their Fed mandated -55% hedge level... wipes out the ankle biting competitors ...Credit Suisse is experiencing an exodus of bankers following its $5.5 billion hit from Archegos https://t.co/oGEfo2CDgr— WSJ Markets (@WSJmarkets) May 18, 2021

Never... going... to... happen... keep... dreaming...With unified control of Washington, Democrats should take the opportunity to get rid of the debt ceiling once and for all, @fordm writes. https://t.co/ugaNqNQDop newrepublic— Dr. Joseph Frusci (@JFrusci) May 17, 2021

 Can you imagine how rich those at the very top are? I bet you can't! Wealth shown to scale

Some strong words from John Oliver. [embedded content]

My plan is to create a version of what I call the Monetary Monopoly Model -- a core Modern Monetary Theory model I describe in my latest book -- Modern Monetary Theory and the Recovery. The planned model will demonstrate the operation of a Job Guarantee in an economy that consists of two regions that share a currency....Bond Economics Status Update On My Agent-Based Model DabblingBrian Romanchuk