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from Lars Syll In a word, Economics is an Impossible Science because by its own definition the determining conditions of the economy are not economic: they are “exogenous.” Supposedly a science of things, it is by definition without substance, being rather a mode of behavior: the application of scarce means to alternative ends so as to achieve the greatest possible satisfaction—neither means, ends, nor satisfaction substantially specified. Exogenous, however, is the culture, all those...

We recently received a letter from the City of East Providence water utilities division asking us to check whether our service line contains lead. Since our house was built in 1935, this was a reasonable possibility. In the event, our line is galvanized iron or steel, not lead. But this ongoing effort to purge lead plumbing reminded me again of the impact of environmental lead on public health, including crime.I’ve been following the gasoline...

from Asad Zaman and WEA Pedagogy Blog The Most Valuable Kind of Knowledge These lectures aim to provide the reader with knowledge. But what is knowledge? Our lives consist of a small number of infinitely precious moments. What makes it worthwhile to invest these moments in the acquisition of knowledge? Is it the kind of knowledge that can teach us how to lead better lives—how to make the most of the few moments that we have? This has been the central preoccupation of philosophers and...

Referring back to this 2002 post defining “neoliberalism”, I find the claim that the “The (UK) Conservative party is hovering on the edge of extinction”. That wasn’t one of my more accurate assessments, and I’m bearing it in mind when I look at suggestions that the party is now “facing a defeat so dramatic it may not survive.” (that’s the headline, the actual suggestion is that the future may be one of “long periods of Labour with occasional periods of Conservative governments”...

from Dean Baker New York Times columnist Peter Coy did a piece yesterday questioning the existence of a gap between productivity growth and the typical worker’s pay. This gap was established decades ago by my friends and former colleagues at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). The fact that it is now being questioned says a lot about economics and even more about politics in this country. First, let me be clear, my purpose is not at all to beat up on Coy. I’ve known him for many years...

To the death toll of the violence in Gaza, around 15.000 additional deaths of infants and children between 1 and 5 have to be added. This is a rough and, in my opinion, a lower-bound estimate. However, the calculations are based on robust information, and sizeable additional mortality in infants and young children in Gaza is real. Next to the direct victims of war, there are indirect victims who die because of lack of proper medical care or because of harsh circumstances. Here, I´ll...

This paper examines the military-industrial complex (MIC), which is a prototype widely imitated by other business sectors. Collectively, they constitute a variety of capitalism which can be termed the poly-industrial complex (PIC). Understanding the MIC is critical to understanding contemporary US capitalism, US international policy, and the drift toward Cold War II. The MIC exerts […]

from Edward Fullbrook Humankind urgently needs a new discipline.  Our very survival may depend on it.  Natural science tells us that the economy now threatens humanity with calamity and potentially with extinction; and the daily news tells us that the economy’s forty-year upward redistribution of wealth, income and power threatens democracy and social order.  But meanwhile the only discipline that directly engages with today’s economy is the one whose “wisdom” has guided it to its present...

from Lars Syll Recognition of the speculative value of counterfactualizing provides the grounding for a defense of theoretical pluralism in economics. The existence of multiple contending theories in economics is inconvenient, of course. It casts doubt on the truth content of the counterfactual scenarios generated by the predominant approach and challenges the predominant causal claims … But that is precisely the virtue of contending theoretical perspectives in economics. They serve to...

Ιουνίου 06, 2024 Σε αυτό το επεισόδιο ο Στέλιος Μερμίγκης και ο Γιώργος Κατσιπάνος συνομιλούν για τις επικείμενες ευρωεκλογές με τον Σταύρο Μαυρουδέα υποψήφιο ευρωβουλευτή με το ψηφοδελτίο της ΑΝΤΑΡΣΥΑ. Ο Σταύρος Μαυρουδέας (γενν. 1961) είναι Έλληνας οικονομολόγος που ακολουθεί την παράδοση της Πολιτικής Οικονομίας. Είναι καθηγητής (με γνωστικό αντικείμενο «Πολιτική Οικονομία») στο τμήμα Κοινωνικής Πολιτικής του Παντείου Πανεπιστημίου. Προηγουμένως εργάσθηκε από το 1993 έως το 2019...