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The present pandemic demonstrates that the global economy is closely tied to consumer spending. Suppose the pandemic is merely a foretaste of the effects of climate change and ecological destruction. Can we fashion a world base on Zero Growth, a Steady State Economy? Zero growth might well entail the following: 1. A fixed and renewal body of resources. 2. A demographic balance, i.e., a fixed population size. Can such an economy enable all of humanity...

from C. P. Chandrasekhar Even while the slow growth that followed the Great Recession endures, the world economy is staring at another recession. The OECD Secretariat has reduced its forecast of global GDP growth by half a percentage point to 2.4 per cent, which is the lowest since the global financial crisis. The immediate trigger is the coronavirus epidemic that is disrupting global economic activity. But there is a larger message being sent out by the virus onslaught. The damage that...

This is not a prediction. Only an observation. From 1952 to 1996, U.S. nominal net worth of households and non-profits tracked nominal GDP pretty closely. Net worth remained pretty close to 15 times GDP. That consistent relationship ended after 1997. In the third quarter of 2007, net worth was nearly 20 times GDP but by the second quarter of 2009 it had reverted to just 17 times GDP. One might argue that it was roughly 15 times what trend GDP would have...

from Lars Syll Paul Krugman has on numerous occasions tried to defend “the whole enterprise of Keynes/Hicks macroeconomic theory” and especially his own somewhat idiosyncratic version of IS-LM. The main problem, however, is that there is no such thing as a Keynes/Hicks macroeconomic theory! So, let us get some things straight. There is nothing in the post-General Theory writings of Keynes that suggests him considering Hicks’s IS-LM anywhere near a faithful rendering of his thought. In...

from Dean Baker That’s what readers of this Politico piece on efforts to restrict patent monopoly pricing of a coronavirus vaccine as a quid pro quo for government funding must be wondering. One might think that if the taxpayers put up money for the research then they have already paid for it, and therefore no patent monopolies would be involved. The vaccine would sell as a cheap generic and drug companies would make profits from it in the same way that manufacturers of paper clips and...

from Asad Zaman This continues a sequence of posts aiming to show how apparently objective statistics conceal large numbers of arbitrary value judgements.  (1) Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics, (2) Subjectivity Concealed in Index Numbers, (3) The Values of a Market Society, (4) Cross-Country Comparisons of Wealth, (5) Purchasing Power Parity, (6) Downfall of Rhetoric in 20th Century, (7) Facts & Values: Distinction or Dichotomy?. This is the 8th post, which considers comparisons of...

My brother lives in Lucca, Italy ( near Florence) and sent the following report. We’re not quite at the “Bring Our Your Dead” stage. Schools & museums are closed, flights are being canceled, but all in all life in Lucca is quiet & normal.  Many shops are closed for their usual breaks this time of year. There are virtually no tourists, but this is the slow season. Nancy just spent the weekend in Florence and found it to be delightfully empty....

Now Tired Joe gets to sit, relax a bit….not worry about record players and 150 million gun deaths…. https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/486553-rising-march-9-2020 Of course the DNC has now changed the rules again! Tulsi will not be allowed to debate….oh….but “she has no real support,” you say! So what? Rules can be altered for billionaires….what a party for the rich and privileged. DNC is Trump-light. As Hillary said, “Rules are rules”….except when...