The dismal science Archives - Page 36 of 142

Victorian Central Banks and the Myth of Independence

Central banks have not always been independent, inflation targeting bodies, and to treat them as such is to obscure their complex histories and alternative institutional constellations.

Marshall Auerback: Central Bankers as ‘Dealers of Last Resort’

In their 21st-century role as counterparty/dealer/insurer of last resort, central bankers must not simply use their balance sheets indiscriminately to provide a liquidity backstop during the downturns. They must embrace this counterparty role as an umpire, rather than an enabler.

Why We Should Worry About Monopsony

Why the Fed is, rather late in the game, concerned about monopsony power.

The “Petrodollar” Has No Bearing on Any Country’s Ability to Employ Its People Fully

Debunking the petrodollar myth.

Market Power, Low Productivity, and Lagging Wages: The Real Drivers

To understand labor productivity—and growing inequality—you have to look at the “dual economy”

Lump-of-Labor Fallacy: The Nastiest Motives of Nasty People

Why the lump-of-labor fallacy is bad for workers and for economics.

How to Calculate the Costs of #MedicareForAll Properly

A takedown of the Mercatus #MedicareForAll debacle from MMT’s macro-economic bookkeeping perspective.

Empires, Past and Present

Which countries fit criteria that would lead them to be classified as empires?

Richard Murphy: Writers of Labour’s “Fiscal Rule” Lash Themselves to the Austerity Mast

Labour’s economists show their Third Way colors and advocate austerity-generating policy rules that might as well have been penned by former Treasury Secretary, later Citigroup vice chairman Bob Rubin.

Michael Hudson: Life and Thought – An Autobiography

Michael Hudson discusses his life as a young Communist intellectual, how he became interested in economics and finance, his life in academia, and his recent work on rentier capitalism and debt jubilees.

How Hedge Fund Activists Coopted “Shareholder Democracy”

How hedge fund activists, who largely operate as a type of corporate raider, have subverted the notion of “shareholder democracy” and what can be done to rein them in.