from Lars Syll In mainstream theory, preferences are standardly expressed in the form of a utility function. But although the expected utility theory has been known for a long time to be both theoretically and descriptively inadequate, mainstream economists gladly continue to use it, as though its deficiencies were unknown or unheard of. What most of them try to do in face of the obvious theoretical and behavioral inadequacies of the expected utility theory, is to marginally mend it. But...
Read More »Energy is getting cheaper (cost price). But: who profits?
Does the switch to Green Energy mean that energy will be cheaper? To answer this question we’ll have to answer several sub-questionsfirst: is there a switch to Green Energy? Is capacity used efficiently? And is Green Energy cheap? As I will argue below, looking at the sub questions the answer to the lead question is: yes. But this answer leads to a related question: above, we’re talking about cost prices, which are down. You might have noticed that consumer prices of energy are up. Who’s...
Read More »Open thread April 1, 2022
Wheat
Will the war in Europe affect availability of wheat, one of the staple foods of the world? One of the economic successes of the last two decades is an increase in the production of wheat which enabled stable average global consumption per capita (at around 68 kg. per year) and a slightly increased used as feed (close to 20% of total production). This was possible because of a surprisingly fast increase of yields per hectare (graph). Source: FAO-AMIS And, of course, because total...
Read More »ΗΜΕΡΙΔΑ ΕΚοιΠ: ΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΚΗ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΗ, ΠΑΝΔΗΜΙΑ ΚΑΙ ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΙΑ
Το Εργαστήριο Κοινωνικής Πολιτικής (ΕΚοιΠ) του τμήματος Κοινωνικής Πολιτικής του Παντείου Πανεπιστημίου διοργανώνει ανοιχτή συζήτηση με θέμα: «Κοινωνική Πολιτική, Πανδημία και Δημοκρατία», την Πέμπτη 7 Απριλίου 2022 στις 18.00 στο Αμφιθέατρο Σάκη Καράγιωργα ΙΙ στο Πάντειο Πανεπιστήμιο. Εισαγωγικό Σχόλιο / Συντονισμός: Δέσποινα Παπαδοπούλου, Καθηγήτρια, Πρόεδρος Τμήματος Κοινωνικής Πολιτικής Χαιρετισμός: Σταύρος Μαυρουδέας, Καθηγητής, Διευθυντής Εργαστηρίου Κοινωνικής Πολιτικής...
Read More »Open thread March 29, 2022
The fragility of contemporary capitalism
from C. P. Chandrasekhar While the world remains preoccupied with the geopolitical and humanitarian fallout of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, its economic consequences are increasingly a matter for concern. Though the two countries at war account for less than two and one half per cent of the world’s population, it emerges that the damage to production within their boundaries and the suspension of their trading relationship with rest of the world threatens a crisis in multiple markets,...
Read More »My first Substack post
I’ve decided to migrate my regular newsletter from Mailchimp to Substack. Having done that, it seems worthwhile to try out Substack as a blogging platform. For the moment, I’ll post here at johnquiggin.com in parallel with the Substack blog. My first substantive post is over the fold. I’m hoping for good discussion, so it would be great if commenters here could also take part at Substack. I’ve published a couple of articles in The Conversation this week. The first, on a...
Read More »Open thread March 25,2022
New issue of real-world economics review – 99
Please click here to support this journal and the WEAissue no. 99download whole issue Keynes’, Piketty’s, and an extensive failure index:Introducing maldevelopment indicesJorge Buzaglo and Leo Buzaglo Olofsgård 2 Externalities, public goods, and infectious diseasesSpencer Graves and Douglas Samuelson 25 An essential journey back to the seeds of prosperity in a time of pandemics: Notes for a renewed agenda in development studies Fernando García-Quero and Fernando López...
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