Category Archives: The dismal science

Yanis Varoufakis: TECHNOFEUDALISM – What Killed Capitalism

Yanis Varoufakis’ forthcoming book examines our changed economic system, which he callls “technofeudalism.”

Will It Be Socialism or Barbarism for the Twenty-First Century?

How the end of policies supporting the material well-being of workers, aka socialism, has created widespread distress and political schisms.

Productive and Unproductive Crises

Making a case from past crises that we’ll muddle through our current set and thanks to technology, eventually come out better.

How Economists Distorted Economic Theory to Help Big Companies Get Bigger

Economists had to play fast and loose with economic theory to deploy their merger “efficiency” arguments.

Ann Pettifor Explains Why Neoclassical Economists Are the Last People To Listen to on Climate Change

A well-warranted takedown of the irresponsible and destructive record of mainstream economists on climate change.

A Russian Paper on New Currency/International Reserve Options Finds No Magic Bullets

A recent paper in a Russian economics journal confirms that there is no simple way out of the dollar hegemony box.

Stigler Center/ProMarket Hypocrisy: Published, Then Removed Post That Justified Anti-Trust; Bogus Excuses Demonstrate University of Chicago Failed Econowashing of Hard Core Neoclassical Stance

ProMarket and the Consumer Welfare Standard: Output increase is not sufficient to increase welfare. Allocation, aka distribution, matters.

Investors Start Thinking About Underpricing of Climate Risk

Some investors are worried that climate risk means their holdings are overvalued. It would be nicer if they worried about the real world too.

Longitudinal – Reflections On Recent Economic Writing

Satyajit Das takes a gander through a large sample of recent economic books and has some unexpected findings.

Angus Deaton on How Neoliberal Ideology Produced Abject US Falling Life Expectancy for Less Educated

Angus Deaton returns to his deaths of despair theme, with updated data and a pointed critique of the role of Chicago School libertarians.

Fascism is the Western Answer to Class Struggle

Rob Urie makes a reasoned, data-backed case that the tools used in supposed democracies to enforce class standing merit the label of fascism

Two Overlapping Takes on Inflation

MMT backer Richard Murphy and London finance organ City A.M. have surprisingly simliar views on the causes of inflation but differ on remedies

James Galbraith: How Central Bank Myths and Practices Support Financiers and Dollar Hegemony

Sadly, some bank-serving fables are very durable, so James Galbraith has (yet another) go at them.

The New York Times Thinks Worker Suffering Is a Fair Price for Lower Inflation

Per the Times, inflation must be tackled, and the only way to do so is through lowering incomes and potentially jacking up unemployment.