Mike Norman Economics

 I'm going to have watch this one a few times, I think. [embedded content]

In the West changing the government only makes a minor difference to policy. We have freedom of speech although it does not make a lot of difference. In China people like their government and are fairly happy with their freedoms. The Chinese people being interviewed in the video below seem to be very happy and relaxed. Despite a recent report that China is poised to overtake the U.S. economy by 2020, China still remains very much a mystery in the eyes of the Western world and is often...

A great deal of significance has been attached to the fall in r*, which is the current preferred term for what was known as the natural rate of interest. My belief is that this fall is not due to structural factors in the real economy, rather it is an artefact of the means of estimating r*, as well as the reaction function of New Keynesian central bankers....Bond Economics Falling r* Is No AccidentBrian Romanchuk

Apt quote, from FT of all places.Lars P. Syll’s BlogReforming economicsLars P. Syll | Professor, Malmo University

The International Energy Agency (IEA) says the cost per megawatt to build solar plants is below fossil fuels worldwide for the first time.Public success stories like Elon Musk's solar and wind battery farm in Australia have helped move public sentiment.All four IEA scenarios include a mix of renewables as well as nuclear and the world's remaining fossil fuel plants.Popular MechanicsIt's Official: Solar Is the Cheapest Electricity in HistoryCaroline Delbert

[embedded content]Some of the defectors’ stories seem downright unbelievable. And perhaps there’s evidence that they are, in fact, fabricated. Here’s what we know.Are the Defectors Telling the Truth? Why the Horrifying Stories of Life in North Korea May Be Fabricated

Individualism vs Colectivism, is there a correct balance? Carl Jung was said to have had scintillating intelligence, but he found the works of Hegel impenetrable, despite this, professor Sean Kelly found a great deal of similarly between their works when it came to self-consciousness and individualism, where both believed mankind was further moving towards increased self consciousness. The word individual comes from the word indivisible, meaning we cannot be split any further. The collective...

Stephanie Kelton needs no introduction.The face of Modern Monetary Theory in a world suddenly awake to the realities of government finance in currency-issuing nations with high levels of monetary sovereignty, Kelton catapulted to near celebrity status in 2020, as the pandemic compelled policymakers to deliver trillions in stimulus virtually overnight to avert a global depression.Kelton’s The Deficit Myth became a New York Times bestseller over the summer. It’s a quick read, and the...

The man who wrote one of environmentalism’s most-cited essays was a racist, eugenicist, nativist and Islamaphobe—plus his argument was wrong....Garrett Hardin argued for privatization of the commons to increase efficiency and effectiveness of use under pure capitalism. Scientific AmericanThe Tragedy of the ‘Tragedy of the Commons’Matto Mildenberger | assistant professor of environmental politics at the University of California, Santa BarbaraSee alsoMoon of AlabamaPutin On The Role Of The...

Chengdu library, China