Second and third parts of my interview with Diego Polanco. On Argentina, Brazil, heterodox economics, and more. In Spanish. First was here. [embedded content] Rest here:[embedded content]
Read More »What’s the deal with The Smiths
With friends like this... This is NOT a review of the Smiths (the band), and neither of (or at least not a full one) of Glory M. Liu's (relatively) new book Adam Smith's America: How a Scottish Philosopher Became An Icon of American Capitalism. For a proper review go read Kim Phillips-Fein's one. In a sense, the book remind me of Bernard Shaw's famous saying that UK and the US were two countries divided by the same language. Here the gap is between fields, and there are two gaps, one within...
Read More »Robert Solow (1924-2023), who was on the board of ROKE, is dead
Over the years, I had the opportunity to interact with Bob Solow, who was very open to discuss with people he disagreed with, and debate the substantive analytical and empirical issues, taking seriously the ideas of others. I first met him because when I was an Assistant Director at CEPA (now Schwartz Center, SCEPA), back in 2000 or 2001, working for Lance Taylor, I found out he was spending some time in NY at the Russell Sage Foundation, and I invited him for a talk (if memory doesn't fail...
Read More »A short note on Argentina’s depreciation, inflation and possible dollarization
That Argentina is in for a major crisis is, I think, pretty clear and well-known. I won't delve too much on the political aspects of what Finchelstein refers to as wannabe Fascistic tendencies of the new president. Today a major protest should take place, and the same people that suggested that Peronists groups forced the recipients of social transfers to participate (something that was never proved) under threat of being cutoff, are threatening to cutoff those that participate. You know,...
Read More »Argentina and the Philippines: Similar development struggles
By Jesus Felipe and Matías VernengoALTHOUGH the economies of Argentina and the Philippines are very different, the two share structural problems that make both nations’ development a complex process. The election of Javier Milei as the new president elect of Argentina, gives us the opportunity to review the differences and parallels between the two economies.Milei is a radical libertarian populist economist with authoritarian tendencies. His proposals range from the dangerous in economics...
Read More »Tony Thirlwall (1941-2023)
Leading academic and Keynesian best known for Thirlwall’s Law on economic growthJohn McCombieThe economist Tony Thirlwall, who has died aged 82, was, in his own words, an “unreconstructed Keynesian”. He saw this not as a pejorative title, but more as an accolade, considering that many of the insights of John Maynard Keynes, and in particular the importance of demand, are still relevant for understanding today’s economy.Tony is perhaps best known for his original way of thinking about...
Read More »Neoliberalism Resurgent in Argentina
Extended post with Sergio Cesaratto on the website of Brave New Europe. A comparison of dollarization with some of the effects of the euro, and the similarities and differences between Argentina and Southern European countries.
Read More »Was Keynes a Liberal or a Socialist?
A Socialist Rag My old Will Lyons Lecture at Franklin & Marshall College in the Spring of 2021 is now a working paper. Prof. Lyons was a Bucknell Graduate, and a professor at F&M. The topic was based on the, at that time, recent reading of Jim Crotty's book. From the abstract:Right-wing critics of Keynes have often suggested that he was a socialist. His policy proposals were very often described as a slippery slope that would lead society into a totalitarian nightmare....
Read More »Interview (in Spanish) with Diego Polanco about Milei and Argentina
[embedded content] First part of my interview with Diego Polanco on the Argentine election, and the never ending crisis of the economy. Second part in a couple of weeks.
Read More »Dollars & Nonesense: Milei and the risk of hyperinflation
Javier Milei will be Argentina’s next president. Milei is an extreme right-wing populist, with authoritarian, some may say Fascistic, tendencies. He is an admirer of Trump and Bolsonaro. He is rumored to talk with his deceased dog, that he had cloned. His party’s proposals range from the dangerous – like dollarization, the closing of the Central Bank, the drastic reduction of social spending, the loosening gun ownership laws, and the criminalization of abortions – to the insane – like...
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