The dismal science Archives - Page 2 of 140

How Is It That xAI’s (Naïve) Grok Does Not Reveal that xAI is a Public Benefit Corporation?

Lambert annotates a Grok transcript.

The One-in-a-Thousand-Day Problem

AI’s ability to handle complexity and respond rapidly means future crises are likely to be much more sudden and vicious than those we have experienced so far.

Why Do We Have a Mental Health Crisis?

Why neoliberalism is a major cause of mental health problems.

Michael Hudson: Foreward on Schurtz’s Origins of Money

Michael Hudson explains how Heinrich Schurtz’s 1897 Origins of Money debunked neoclassical fables about how money started and developed.

It Is Possible to Have a Flat Tax, or to Have Democracy, but Not Both

Why a flat tax is yet another scheme to further enrich the rich and weaken the political power of ordinary citizens.

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

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.