The Strange Fate of Economists’ Interest in Collective Decision-Making
How economists studied collective decision-making after World War II, faced many impossibilities, and lost interest after solving them.
Read more...Author Archives: Yves Smith
Links 8/11/16
Wolf Richter: Declining Productivity Bodes Ill for Growth and Jobs
Why worries about falling US productivity are well-founded.
Read more...Bill Black: Thomas Friedman – Deregulation Makes Banking Safe
Thomas Friedman, who needs to be renamed “Wrong Way Friedman,” tries peddling the canard that deregulation is a plus for bank stability.
Read more...Private Equity’s Latest Con: Using Fund-Level Borrowing to Juice Reported Returns While Increasing Investor, and Even Systemic, Risk
How subscription line financing flatters private equity’s reported returns while greatly increasing investor risk.
Read more...Austria: A Case Study of How Offshoring Lowered Growth
Austria illustrates that over time, offshoring reduces the skill levels of domestic workers and even organizations.
Read more...Links 8/10/16
Even Endowments Like Harvard, Former Top Investors in Hedge and Private Equity Funds, No Longer Beat Boring Stocks and Bonds
Even supposedly oh-so-savvy endowments can’t eke superior performance out of private equity and hedge funds any more.
Read more...Bill Gross Chides CalPERS for Its 7.5% Returns Assumption; Illinois Set to Lower Target
More and more experts are taking CalPERS and other public pension funds to task over their barmy return assumptions.
Read more...Michael Hudson: Clinton’s Red-Baiting Distracts from Failure to Address Inequality, War-Mongering as Trump Flails
Clinton’s attacks on Trump distract attention from her 1% serving economic policies and her war-mongering, but Trump isn’t responding effectively.
Read more...Please Come to Our San Francisco Meetup This Sunday, August 14
Hope to see you in San Francisco!
Read more...Bill Black: Thomas Friedman Wants A “Center-Left” Democratic Party Based on Austrian Economic Myths
Thomas Friedman has managed to outdo himself on the downside.
Read more...Links 8/9/16
Economists Mystified that Negative Interest Rates Aren’t Leading Consumers to Run Out and Spend
It been remarkable to witness the casual way in which central banks have plunged into negative interest rate terrain, based on questionable models. Now that this experiment isn’t working out so well, the response comes troubling close to, “Well, they work in theory, so we just need to do more or wait longer to see […]
Read more...Stark New Evidence on How Money Shapes America’s Elections
More proof of on how campaign spending drives elections.
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