Category Archives: The dismal science

MIT Professor Angrist Publishes Obviously Misleading Analysis of Uber Driver Economics….With Uber Chief Economist as Co-Author

More Uber boosterism masquerading as analysis.

Monetary Mental Illness

Puzzling over why more people don’t embrace Modern Monetary Theory.

How Market Competition Really Works

One of the best models of competitive markets in an economy is an evolutionary one.

The Republican Tax Plan

Economists discuss the Republican tax proposals and for the most part, find a lot not to like.

Nothing Natural About the Natural Rate of Unemployment

Lambert here: “Natural” is indeed one of those words you should watch out for (like “we”). As in, for instance, “natural disaster.” And, of course, the Natural Rate of Unemployment (NAIRU). It’s often amusing to replace “natural” with “artificial”; generally there’s no loss of meaning, and often additional clarity is induced. By Edmund Phelps, the […]

Capitalism: Not With a Bang But With a (Prolonged) Whimper

The question: How does capitalism end?

Powell’s Federal Reserve

Economists wring their hands over what it means to have a mere lawyer, Jerome Powell, as Fed chairman.

The Real Economic Consequences of Martin Luther

How an article by Cantoni, Dittmar, and Noam Yuchtman force fits the Reformation’s economic changes into a neoclassical frame.

Outsource or Not: A Serious Misreading of Coase

What Coase really said about oursourcing, and why that matters.

Gaius Publius: Defining Neoliberalism

A bit of clarification regarding the word “neoliberalism,” now that it is finally being used in mainstream stories.

The Rise and Fall of the Phillips Curve

The Phillips Curve is broken and is used by policy-makers to hurt workers. Can it be fixed?

Quelle Surprise! Pollution Pays!

A study of DuPont’s failure to clean up emissions of a toxic chemical shows pollution is economical rational. Too bad the remedies are lame.