Mike Norman Economics

Russia doesn’t just look West, it looks East – and increasingly so. China’s economy has developed very rapidly over the past two decades, becoming the world’s largest exporter from a low base. Its goods have flooded Russia, eating into the EU’s export share. The changing global environment has helped re-orient Russia’s economic relationships eastwards, especially towards China. Chinese-Russian ties are also developing in the context of China’s massive Belt and Road Initiative. This raises...

“This set of circumstances is unsustainable and certainly can no longer be pushed as it has been pushed since 2008. That is why I believe that the world is approaching a big paradigm shift,” Dalio wrote. Governments are also battling large deficits, while pension and health care liabilities are increasing. The latter circumstance, he says, will result in an escalation of the wealth gap battle as the government decides whether to cut benefits, raise taxes or print money to address it. This...

This is a good analysis of the political economy of capitalism in general and as it applies specifically to the UK now. The links are important in developing the nuance.Stumbling and MumblingShoring up capitalismChris Dillow | Investors Chronicle

The concept of the fiscal multiplier can be viewed as simple, but there are many potential complexities to analysis. In this text, I keep the discussion simple (with a nod towards the complexities). There are multiple potential definitions of the fiscal multiplier, but I will use a straightforward one: it is the coefficient relating the expected change of nominal GDP based on an assumed change in a fiscal variable. For example, if a policy change scenario is expected to raise the fiscal...

She'll be a vegan next! But Buckingham Palace has signalled that the Queen is finally ready to move with the times, acknowledging that attitudes towards fur have shifted. Any new garments made for the monarch from now on, including coats, hats and ceremonial robes requiring fur, will be made with the fake variety. The Telegraph. Queen will no longer wear clothes with real fur, Her Majesty's dresser reveals

Where are all the bears now? What did I tell you?

The barely disguised secret is that India’s economy, as the historical record shows, is inherently protectionist. There’s no way a possible removal of agricultural tariffs protecting farmers would not provoke a social cataclysm.... The Vineyard of the SakerThe RCEP train left the station, and India, behindPepe Escobar

It isn't a trickle down, but rather, a gush up. Happily, the Federal Reserve just released some data that makes the state of this alignment easier to gauge. In its new Distributive Financial Accountsdata series, the central bank offers a granular picture of how American capitalism has been distributing the gains of economic growth over the past three decades. Matt Bruenig of the People’s Policy Project took the Fed’s data and calculated how much the respective net worth of America’s top...

  Backgrounder. Alastair Crooke also touches on Latin America and the declining prospects of neoliberalism as inequality and social unrest increase. Strategic Culture FoundationThe ‘War’ for the Future of Middle EastAlastair Crooke | founder and director of the Conflicts Forum, and former British diplomat and senior figure in British intelligence and in European Union diplomacy

On November 4th, the US announced it’s take on the a “standard for global #infrastructure development,” the Blue Dot Network....It is a joint project of the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). It is a global “sustainable infrastructure development in the Indo-Pacific region and around the world,” according to the OPIC press release.... SouthFrontUS Announces “Blue...