I have been twittering a chart this morning which puts inflation alongside the net profit rate. Net profit rate = Corporate profits/GDP – effective Fed rate This measure is based on Keynes Marginal Efficiency of Capital. MEC. As net profit rates went down in the 1970’s, firms felt pressure to raise prices to protect their […]
by Joseph Joyce The Impact of Financial Globalization on the Brexit Vote The reasons for the majority vote in favor of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union will be studied and analyzed for years to come. Globalization in the form of migration—or fear of migration—played a considerable role. Support for leaving the EU was […]
Via Alternet: “Reigniting Competition in the American Economy”: Keynote Remarks at New America’s Open Markets Program Event By Elizabeth Warren June 29, 2016 Thank you, thank you. As Barry mentioned, before I was a senator, I was a law professor. What he didn’t say is that I taught contracts, secured transactions, and bankruptcy—all courses related […]
A couple weeks ago, I found the work of Anwar Shaikh. Briefly, he has developed unique and better models to describe the economy, so that there is no need to use rational expectations, utility functions, monopoly power, and much more. He describes the economy as always developing around the central aspects of Real Competition and […]
by Mike Kimel “Racial/Ethnic Distribution of Advanced Degrees” I stumbled on a website run by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences that looks at the Racial/Ethnic Distribution of Advanced Degrees\ Here’s a graph from that page: Here’s a follow-up graph:
As the derisive name suggests, it’s an idea economists view with contempt, yet the fallacy makes a comeback whenever the economy is sluggish. — Paul Krugman Isabel V. Sawhill (Brookings): “Time for a shorter work week?“ Dean Baker: “Shorter Workweeks Will Defeat the Robots“ Eva Swidler: “Radical Leisure“ Ilana E. Strauss: “Would a Work-Free World Be […]
Blogger Phil Ebersole writes today in a post titled “Monopoly power and what to do about it” (all boldface in original): The trouble with the U.S. economy is monopoly power. Concentrated business power means less consumer choice, less opportunity for entrepreneurs and greater concentration of wealth. Senator Elizabeth Warren Senator Elizabeth Warren described the problem very […]
by New Deal democrat How “the Ultimatum Game” explains the Populist backlash to Globalism All over the developed world there has been an erupting surge of both left-wing (Sanders, Corbyn, Syriza in Greece, Podemos in Spain) and right-wing (Trump, UKIP, France’s LePen) populism. The global elites recoil in horror. According to most tellings of mainstream […]
A miner borrows $100 for digging equipment. The bank loans him the money. He buys the equipment. He goes into the mountains, digs and brings back a chunk of gold worth $10,000. He sells the chunk of gold to a jewelry maker. How might the variables in this equation be changed? M * V = […]
That is the question Jean Pisani-Ferry asks at Project Syndicate. In the wake of the Brexit vote there is a veritable chorus of experts and economists asking the same question. One explanation I don’t expect to see very often is that the supposed experts systematically ignore their own critical literature. Hubris. Professor Pisani-Ferry inadvertently presents an […]