Mike Norman Economics

I have just posted a draft of a paper that will appear in a forthcoming volume, Edward Elgar Handbook of Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies. The paper draws on a number of my earlier posts on fiat currencies, bitcoins and cryptocurrencies, such as this, this, this and this.Here is the abstract of my paper.Uneasy MoneyMy Paper “Fiat Money, Cryptocurrencies and the Pure Theory of Money” is now available on SSRNDavid Glasner | Economist at the Federal Trade Commission

The two bills rushed through India’s parliament on September 20 were objectionable in every conceivable sense. The very fact that they were being rammed through the Rajya Sabha, without being put to vote despite demands for a division, was grossly anti-democratic. The fact that the Center made unilateral and fundamental changes in agricultural marketing arrangements that fall within the State List of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution was a blow against federalism. To resurrect the...

Victoria went the so-called ‘double doughnut’ again today with zero new infections and zero deaths – the fourth consecutive day. It now has the lowest number of people sick with the virus (known) since the start of the pandemic in Australia in February. Only 38 active cases remain in Victoria after its 12 week lockdown. There is no community transmission reported now in Victoria and the other day Australia recorded zero (community transmitted) cases overall. So things are less tense than...

In another article I read (SMCP) said that Xi was going to boost state run industries as they had performed so well during the covid crisis.  That will require 4.7% growth per year to achieve: BocomChina will also aim for high-income nation status by 2025Chinese President Xi Jinping said the economy can double in size by 2035 and the country can reach high-income status in the next five years as the Communist Party outlined ambitious plans for the nation’s future.Xi Says Economy Can Double...

 Yesterday in my MMT Trader report I said that the October market correction was over and we'd see an election rally and a sizable surge in bullish sentiment.Separately, fiscal support remains too strong to be bearish on the economy and stock market right now, but there's more to it.Starting from the market bottom in late March through the rise to new highs in the averages, sentiment remained bearish. I couldn't fathom why. However, in the last few weeks as Biden surged in the polls and talk...

 Except... he conveniently left out that the Bible passage was referring to Satan.Matt Barber, the former policy director of the Concerned Women for America, said that Jesus supported the right to bear arms.The only problem? The Bible passage he quotes isn’t about Jesus telling people to arm themselves – Jesus was presenting a parable about Satan. Christian leader says Jesus was ‘advocating for the 2nd Amendment*****Fuelled by fears of post-election protests, US gun sales hit historic highs...

Ant will be treated much the same as bank.Yahoo FinanceJack Ma Gets a Warning From China on Ant’s Rapid ExpansionBloomberg

One way to model model uncertainty is to have uncertainty about model parameters. Although there can be times where this technique is adequate, it does capture the true nature of model uncertainty. Model uncertainty refers to situations where a baseline model is missing dynamics found in the real world system. Ideally, analysis should be robust to this type of uncertainty.…More generally [in economics], the possibility of models being incorrect are effectively underweighted. The assumption...

Call out the West. Or putting the West on notice.The Vineyard of the SakerRussian and Belorussian Defense Ministers Give Important Update on BelarusRussian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu and Belorussian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin

You have to be very careful on twitter if you put out positive tweets about China, and always be civil, to never swear, or use swear words with an asterisk in, or use a v instead of a u, because if you do hundreds of paid Hong Kong trolls may complain to twitter to get your account closed down. People swear all the time on twitter, and are abusive, but a lot of people have to complain first before twitter suspends an account.    The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) is infamous...