Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Is Abenomics Working ?

Recently Paul Krugman wrote a typically diplomatic post entitles “What to do when You’re Wrong” . I thought of that while advising Alessio Marchetti’s undergraduate thesis. He argues at some length that the Abe/Kuroda efforts stimulate an economy at the lower bound with monetary policy have been successful. Of course I had vaguely noticed this. […]

FATCA Agreement with France

by Linda Beale FATCA Agreement with France On November 14, the US Treasury Department announced that it had signed an agreement with France relating to the implementation of the 2010 Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) law.  That makes the 10th such agreement signed between the US and other countries to date, and helps move […]

Recent decisions show China will not raise wages enough

I have written lately about the how the cultural economics of China will fail to raise wages of labor and thus fail to re-balance their domestic demand. A video interview with Minqi Li by The Real News Network notes that recent decisions by the Chinese government are meant to raise income for the owners of […]

A nice, concise history of climate science

Skeptical Science offers a nice, concise history of climate science: Two Centuries of Climate Science: part one – Fourier to Arrhenius, 1820-1930 Two Centuries of Climate Science: part two – Hulburt to Keeling, 1931- 1965 Two Centuries of Climate Science: part three – Manabe to the present day, 1966-2012 (h/t reader Jan)

Free market economics and Manchester University

Via the Guardian, Orthodox economists failed market test After all, the large majority of economists who predicted the crisis rejected the dominant neoclassical thinking: from Dean Baker and Steve Keen to Ann Pettifor, Paul Krugman and David Harvey. Whether Keynesians, post-Keynesians or Marxists, none accepted the neoliberal ideology that had held sway for 30 years; and all understood that, […]

Frances Coppola on repressing domestic demand… globally

The one thing I love about Frances Coppola, who is an economist from the United Kingdom, is that she is a perfect blend of someone inside the box and yet outside the box. I truly appreciate how she balances the two with an open and creative, yet grounded mind. She wrote a terrific article, The […]

Secular Stagnation and Fiscal Policy

The latest thing is discussing the possibility that the economy might be in a liquidity trap for a long long time or might repeatedly fall into one. So I ask what about some permanent fiscal stimulus to deal with secular stagnation. Now this question is an offence against Keynes and, much more, against new Keynesian […]