Real-World Economics Review

from Lars Syll Given the lack of consensus in existing empirical analyzes and the difficulties of making causal inferences from macro-level panel data analyzes, it remains an open empirical question how cutting taxes on the rich affects economic outcomes. We believe the question is best answered by looking at the effects of major tax cuts packages, as the story of taxing the rich in the advanced democracies over the past 50 years is one of discrete and stark changes in policy … Our...

from Dean Baker The United States suffered from a massive loss of manufacturing jobs in the 00s. This has come to be known as the “China Shock,” since it was associated with a flood of imports, especially from China, and a rapid rise in the U.S. trade deficit. In the decade from December of 1999 to December of 2009, the economy lost more than 5.8 million manufacturing jobs, or more than one in three of the manufacturing jobs at the start of the decade. The vast majority of this job loss...

from this Nature editorial . . . income inequality within countries is rising, as measured by the Gini index, a measure of income distribution across a population. Globally, in the 15 years to 2019, economic output in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) roughly doubled, but the share of economic output earned by the workers producing the goods and services behind the increase fell from 54.1% in 2004 to 52.6% in 2019. So what has gone wrong? Between 2019 and 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic...

Producer prices in the UK are declining. Does this mean inflation is over? Hmmm… Many economists have difficulties understanding the present aftermath of an inflationary episode (which might be followed by new episodes…). Which is, considering their theoretical framework, understandable. They look at only one set of prices: consumer prices (or, in the case of derivatives ‘core prices’ and many others‘, even only at a subset of this set). Instead, they should expand their frame of...

from Lars Syll One of the limitations of economics is the restricted possibility to perform experiments, forcing it to mainly rely on observational studies for knowledge of real-world economies. But still — the idea of performing laboratory experiments holds a firm grip on our wish to discover (causal) relationships between economic ‘variables.’ If we only could isolate and manipulate variables in controlled environments, we would probably find ourselves in a situation where we with...

from Norbert Häring A presentation on the technical monitoring of human brain functions at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos has shined a spotlight on what ails our society: excessive faith in technology and too much efficiency without a worthwhile goal. As long as the machine runs like clockwork, it is considered irrelevant what it produces. From this diagnosis I derive recommendations on how we can change direction. Moderator Nicholas Thompson, CEO of the U.S....

from Lars Syll People have, throughout all times, tried to form an understanding of the economic contexts using economic theories. These theories both shape and are part of society and its history. In the past century, the development of economic theories has taken place at an increasingly rapid pace. Over the last fifty years, these theories have become more mathematical and abstract in their nature. This particularly applies to the dominant economic wisdom, the so-called mainstream...

from Maria Alejandra Madi  Podcasts, which can now be easily accessed online, have had a recent surge in popularity, which may be attributed to their convenience. These podcasts discuss a wide range of topics that are related to the professional and academic spheres. The issue that naturally emerges is what exactly makes it qualified to be regarded as a scholarship approach. To put this another way, what exactly is it about this method that qualifies it to be used as an academic...

from Dean Baker The first decade of this century was pretty awful for U.S. manufacturing workers. In December of 1999 we had 17.3 million manufacturing jobs. This number had fallen to 11.5 million by December of 2009. This amounted to a loss of 5.8 million jobs, or one-third of all the manufacturing jobs that had existed at the start of the decade. That looks like a pretty big deal. It’s also worth pointing out that most of these jobs were lost before the onset of the Great Recession. We...

from Lars Syll Justice is an ambiguous concept. We use it daily and constantly. But what is justice, really? What should be considered just? How do we measure justice? Is justice the same as equality and impartiality? And is there only one form of justice, or do different notions of justice coexist? These are important questions to try to shed light on and answer. Otherwise, the concept of justice risks becoming just one of many empty and abstract clichés we use to dress our own interests...