Naked Keynesianism

By Thomas Palley A key element of Trump’s political success has been his masquerade of being pro-worker, which includes posturing as anti-globalization. However, his true economic interest is the exact opposite. That creates conflict between Trump’s political and economic interests. Understanding the calculus of that conflict is critical for understanding and predicting Trump’s economic policy, especially his international economic policyAs part of maintaining his pro-worker masquerade,...

On Saturday, April 19th 1817 , David Ricardo published The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (price was 14s, and 700 copies were printed; later editions had 1000 copies each; my copy above is of the 3rd and definite edition published in 1821, and had at least two previous owners, a college and someone in Philly that signed it in 1901). Most comments on the book tend to emphasize things like rent theory and comparative advantage, but those are not central to the main point...

Nothing much to say about this really. I don't think I discussed it much here, but I'm certainly skeptical. I don't see why fiscal policy, which is discussed in congress and is an eminently political affair (budgets are negotiated between the executive and the parties in the legislative in most countries), should be different than monetary policy in this respect. But at any rate, the Lacker affair reveals how much the Fed is not independent from the financial sector, and that should be...

I've been reading The Nobel Factor: The Prize in Economics, Social Democracy, and the Market Turn by Avner Offer, Gabriel Söderberg, an interesting critique of the use of the Nobel Prize to undermine the Welfare State, essentially by conservative groups in Sweden, that were influential within the Central Bank (Riksbank), that disliked the Social Democratic policies in place in the 1960s. I have been critical of the Riksbank prize before (see, for example, here or here; check also Lars...

A brief guide to Kevin Hassett, Trump's new chief economist -- Dylan Matthews at Vox Let's Talk About CEA-Chair Nominee-Designate Kevin Hassett! -- Brad DeLong on his track recordThe Hassett Test -- Paul Krugman, a bit older, but worth reading  Share Get link Twitter Google+

So the BLS has the new job numbers for March. Recovery continues at slow pace, as expected. 98k jobs created, considerably below the 200k average of the last couple of years, and unemployment rate  reduced to 4.5% with the participation rate up a little bit, but still below its previous peak, at 63% of the labor force. The danger is that many more will suggested that we are now below the natural rate of unemployment (yes, that is a very problematic concept, something discussed here many...

The Review of Keynesian Economics (ROKE) is honored to announce the creation of the Godley-Tobin Lectures, an annual lecture to be delivered at the Eastern Economic Association meetings.Wynne Godley and James Tobin represent the best among Keynesian economists. Both scholars insisted they were non-hyphenated Keynesians, meaning Keynesianism transcends the political disputes that often accompany economics. There is a deeper scientific validity to Keynesianism, something we reaffirmed in our...

By Thomas PalleyThe euro zone (EZ) was created in January 1999. Its weak economic performance is significantly due to the euro’s neoliberal monetary architecture and the design of monetary policy. Those features undermine national political sovereignty and consign the EZ to severe economic under-performance, which in turn fosters political demands for exit from the euro. Escaping this dynamic requires restoring fiscal space to EZ countries, and also changing the design of EZ monetary...

I'm not sure the value of global brands should be taken too seriously, as compared to other more tangible assets. At any rate, for what is worth, below is the change in the list of Interbrand's Top 10 most valued brands between 2005 and 2016. Two auto companies left (unless you count Google). Nokia is gone, and Apple and Samsung (for now) are there. Also, no Marlboro, which is not a surprise, or McDonald's. In 2005, Apple was 41, Google 28, and Amazon 68 in 2005. And Amazon is the fastest...

The source of the graph is here. The data can be downloaded here. I think Anwar Shaikh had a paper with a title similar to this post. And the point is well illustrated in the graph. The working class itself pays for it. Share Get link Twitter Google+