Real-World Economics Review

Some years ago, Cladio Borio from the BIS introduced the ‘financial cycle’. Here, a Borio/Lowe paper from 2002. What’s the financial cycle? From the twenties of the twentieth century onwards Wesley Mitchell and the NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research) perfected the (monthly) measurement of the classical business cycle (a still ongoing project). The concept of this business cycle of the ‘flow’ economy was and is the cornerstone of much macro-economic theorizing. ‘Chicago style...

from C. P. Chandrasekhar In an otherwise gloomy world economic environment, a new kind of record given the media bizarre cause to cheer: the value of online sales notched up by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba on a single discount sales day. Global business headlines screamed that in its annual sale on Singles’ Day, 11 November 2017, Alibaba had registered a record sales value of 168.2 billion yuan or $25.3 billion.  Singles’ Day, or 11 November, was, because of its 11/11 aspect,...

Steve Malzberg, conservative TV and Radio host, and Dean Baker, Co-Director of the Center for Economic Policy Research, join Bart Chilton for a panel discussion on the latest GOP tax cuts. Is the United States ready for a cyber-attack? Todd Shipley joins us to discuss if the U.S. is ready for the cyber-threats of the future. Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RT_BoomBust https://twitter.com/LindsayFrance https://twitter.com/BiancaFacchinei Check us out on Facebook -- and feel free...

from Peter Radford Well, at least I am being consistent. Whether that’s being a good thing or not I will leave to you to figure out. David Brooks set me off on a rant a few days ago, and he’s doing it again. I have to stop reading his columns. Last time it was about the rotting Republican Party: Brooks is one of those people who realized way too late that the GOP of yore disappeared long ago and has been replaced by a mash-up of far right cause driven groups smeared together with a good...

Complexity in the theory of economic evolution of Thorstein Veblen: an introductionJoão Vitor Oliveira da SilvaThorstein Veblen is a classic author, recognized for his writings on institutions and economic change. The complexity perspective, on the other hand, is a relatively contemporary approach for studying a considerable range of phenomena both in natural and social sciences. …More ›       12 Comments › The evolutionary dimension of Hayek’s thought: cultural selection and spontaneous...

from Shimshon Bichler and Jonathan Nitzan We have just updated the charts in our 2014 RWER paper ‘Still About Oil?’, and the picture they portray reads like a capitalist call for arms. Beginning in the late 1980s, we suggested that, since the late 1960s, the Middle East was greatly influenced by the capitalized power of a Weapondollar-Petrodollar Coalition – a loose coalition comprising the leading oil companies, the OPEC cartel, armament contractors, engineering firms and large financial...

We’re publishing some expert ideas about the future of the ECB and monetary policy. Three days ago some ideas of Willem Buiter were published, two days ago some ideas from Richard Werner and yesterday ideas from Thomas Mayer. Today some excerpts from a recent paper by Mike Konczal and Josh Mason. They are not part of the Handelsblatt Shadowcouncil but their ideas often tally with those already published: Pure ‘inflation targeting’ is (mortally?) compromised Hence, central banks are...

Strategies in relation to complexities: From neoclassical cost-benefit analysis to positional analysisPeter SöderbaumIn this essay neoclassical Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) is criticized as beinng too simplistic and also too specific in ideological terms. Positional Analysis (PA) is advocated as an alternative based on a definition of economics in terms of multidimensional analysis and …  More    13 Comments A Cognitive Behavioral Modelling for Coping with Intractable Complex Phenomena...

from Lars Syll In Michel De Vroey’s version of the history of macroeconomics, Robert Lucas’ declaration of the need for macroeconomics to be pursued only within ‘equilibrium discipline’ and declaring equilibrium to exist as a postulate, is hailed as a ‘Copernican revolution.’ Equilibrium is not to be considered something that characterises real economies, but rather ‘a property of the way we look at things.’ De Vroey  — approvingly — notices that this — as well as Lucas’ banning of...

We’re publishing some expert ideas about the future of the ECB (and hence Euro money). Two days ago some ideas of Willem Buiter were published, yesterday we published some ideas from Richard Werner. Today some ideas by Thomas Mayer. Beware the last sentence. EMU is incomplete and dysfunctional The European Monetary Union (EMU) is incomplete and dysfunctional. First, it is incomplete, because the quality of book money created by banks through credit extension differs from country to...