Category Archives: The dismal science

Expectations Data Indicate the US Is Entering Recession About Now

Consumers are getting so rattled that they have set off recession warning lights.

Central Asia’s Neoliberal Tragedy

How the post-USSR neoliberal land grab played out in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Needless to say, not pretty.

Bad Reporting On Latest Sveriges Riksbank Prize In Memory Of Nobel

Not only has the not-really-a-Nobel-prize in economic regularly promoted neoliberal ideology, but even when it doesn’t, the press messes up.

Michael Hudson: Super Imperialism, 3rd Edition

Michael Hudson’s Super Imperialism strikes again!

Mzukisi Qobo: The Old Mantra About Growth Has Reached Exhaustion

A perspective from the Global South on the end game for growth.

Reallocation Effects of the Minimum Wage

Raising minimum wages is good for workers and (surprise!) company operations! Too bad those whiny managers worry they will skim less.

Just Keeps Getting Worse: Services Trade Surplus, the American Dream-Not-Come-True, Worst in 10 Years. Imports Worst Ever. Trade Deficit Worst Ever

Repeat after me: trade deficits = exporting jobs. The latest results confirm how crappy US policies are.

Michael Hudson and Thomas Piketty Debate Inequality, Debt, and Reform

Thomas Piketty and Micheal Hudson address “What is debt,” and also address inequality, rentierism, and reform in the West and China.

The Lasting Impact of the Covid Crisis on Economic Potential

A look at how Covid has damaged the economy and estimating the effect.

Law Review Article Describes Private Equity as Bargaining Failure, Indictment of Law and Economics Fetishization of Contracts

An important new paper puts another big chink in private equity’s armor.

Why the Rich Get Richer and Interest Rates Go Down

A wrongheaded paper from the Jackson Hole conference that depends on the loanble funds fallacy lets central bankers off the hook.

Wait and See: The Labor Market Implications of Economic Uncertainty

An increase in perceived uncertainty does indeed increase the value of waiting, thus reducing job creation.

Neoliberalism Is Dying – Now We Must Replace It

From taming Big Tech to competing with China, Western governments are retreatig from neoliberalism. But what comes next?

Imperialism Then and Now: Wealth, Unemployment and Insufficient Demand

Prabhat Patnaik on imperialism and capitalism: to accumulate wealth, somewhere demand must be suppressed to provide cheap inputs.