Socialdem. 21st Century

This post here has an interesting discussion of the economic literature on the relationship between protectionism and growth, both for and against.In essence, the author cites the following literature (given below in chronological order):De Long, J. Bradford. 1995. “Trade Policy and America’s Standard of Living: An Historical Perspective,” University of California at Berkeley, September, 6th draft http://pages.ucsd.edu/~jlbroz/Courses/POLI142B/syllabus/delong.pdfRodríguez, Francisco and Dani...

Steve Keen in an amusing and interesting Christmas podcast:“14. What Scrooge Could Learn From Keynesian Economics,” Debunking Economics – The Podcast, December 21st, 2016.Realist LeftRealist Left on Twitter @realistleftRealist Left on RedditRealist Left BlogRealist Left on YouTubeLord Keynes on FacebookSocial Democracy for the 21st Century: A Realist Alternative to the Modern LeftAlt Left on the Internet:Alternative Left on FacebookAlt-Left on Google+Samizdat...

Slavoj Žižek was recently interviewed by Mehdi Hasan about Žižek’s position on Europe’s migrant crisis:[embedded content]Yes, Žižek is correct that many of the migrants have come from nations with a profoundly different culture from that of Western Europe and there is a huge problem of lack of assimilation, but then, strangely, Žižek went on and seemed to want to deny this. To the extent that European governments are responsible for the interventions in Libya or Syria, they should do...

This is a video of Robert Skidelsky’s lecture on Keynes’s General Theory, given on 10th May, 2016 at Gdańsk University of Technology, Poland: [embedded content]I have a few minor points: (1) It is important not to let Keynes’ use of the expression “animal spirits” confuse people. Austrians and libertarians seize on this point, as I pointed out long ago here. Keynes used “animal spirits” in the sense of “a spontaneous [human] urge to action rather than inaction” as relevant to the actions of...

Here: [embedded content]When was the last time a Republican president was so hostile to free trade and dismissed the usual “free market” apologetics as the “dumb market”? Of course, it is possible that Trump will excessively rely on tax cuts and deregulation and provoke a race to the bottom in his trade policies. Or his tax cuts could be combined with protectionism, plus some harmful deregulation (which could be undone by a future Democratic president), and these policies might actually do a...

An interesting discussion of the life and career of John Kenneth Galbraith:[embedded content]One of the speakers is Richard Parke, the author of John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2007), the best biography of Galbraith I’ve seen.

Stephen Cohen recently appeared on Democracy Now and discussed a number of topics, including Syria, Trump, and Russia. If the videos don’t appear for you, see here and here.[embedded content][embedded content]

One of many comical moments we now seem to have in the wake of Trump’s victory, and, curiously, on Fox news:[embedded content]Yes, mass immigration is a weapon of class warfare. Tucker Carlson is correct (although he did not put it explicitly in the way I just did). The response of this “socialist” is lame. Even if you raised the minimum wage in the US, illegal mass immigration still causes downward pressure on wages because so much of the labour that illegal migrants do is off the books or...

Finally, somebody calls out the hysteria:[embedded content]

An interview with Steve Keen on a lot of issues, including neoclassical economics, private debt and a people’s QE:[embedded content]