Rebooting Antitrust’s Economic Theory to Focus on Social Welfare
New Brandesians oppose the flawed mainstream antitrust “consumer welfare” theory. A social welfare standard would be even better
Read more...Category Archives: The dismal science
The Increasing Cost of Buying American
Looking at the costs versus purported benefits of programs that require or encourage Federal agencies to purchase American products.
Read more...Civil Society, Beyond Markets and States: Tracking 100 Years of Economic Research
A substantial shift in the focus of economic research over the last half century has for the most part gone unnamed and unnoticed. This is the turn towards what we call civil society, including firms as organisations, families, neighbourhood communities, NGOs, trade unions, social movements, identity groups, and other face-to-face settings.
Read more...Bad Samaritans in Foreign Aid
Who’d have thunk it? The notion that foreign aid might be self-interested looks to novel, at least among economists.
Read more...The New Economy and the Tariffs and Tax Breaks to Launch It
Analyses of planned Trump tariffs differ somewhat on the impact, but all find them to be negative. Will the Supremes save Trump from himself?
Read more...Going Back to the Source: A Personal Reflection on Capital, Volume 1
KLG reflects on how Marx’s Capital was an important primer for him in understanding capitalism, and why it remains a seminal guide.
Read more...Industrial Policy: Lessons from China’s Shipbuilding
A study of China’s shipbuilding industrial policy finds big market share gains did not produce domestic welfare benefits.
Read more...Politicians on Corporate Boards and the Cost of Public Procurement
Ties between political parties and boards of government contractors lead to overpriced contracts without any corresponding gains in quality for citizens and consumers.
Read more...Another Nobel for Anglocentric Neoliberal Institutional Economics
New institutional economics won another “Nobel prize”, claiming that good institutions and governance ensure growth, equity & democracy.
Read more...Heterodox Approaches Will Provide Answers to the Multiple Cascading Crises of Our Future
The old normal is rigid and destructive to humans and the planet. Heterodox ideas offer some hope, but will they be sufficient?
Read more...Rob Urie: Failed US Economic Policies Lie Behind Current Geopolitical Tensions
How US fealty to neoliberalism undermined its economy. And why China’s choices are not likely to produce happy outcomes.
Read more...The Fed and the “Soft Landing” – Policy or Luck?
The Fed has little to do with the fall in inflation. Limited labor bargaining power and easing supply chain problems were more important.
Read more...Why is Modern Monetary Theory So Important?
A big reason Modern Monetary Theory elicits pushback is that it threatens power relations, specifically, the perceived primacy of financiers.
Read more...Is US Policy Saving the Dollar or Destroying It?
How the global economy is being restructured, in no small measure due to inept, self-destructive policy moves that undermine dollar use in trade.
Read more...The Myth That the US is Rapidly Approaching Bankruptcy
Michael Hudson and Richard Wolff take apart widespread myths about Federal spending and debts.
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