I know it’s been a bit quiet on the blog this summer, but that’s in part because I’ve been doing a bunch of writing elsewhere. Here is a quick summary of what I’ve been up to. In the run-up to the UK election, I wrote a piece for Jacobin on
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Michal Rozworski: Beltway Bullshit, my interview with JW Mason on Bernie’s economics
My interview with JW Mason on how wonk critics of Sanders’ economic ideas reinforce low expectations was transcribed for Jacobin under the great title, “Beltway Bullshit.” Michal Rozworski: There’s been a big debate recently around Bernie Sanders’s economic ideas. It was precipitated by Gerald Friedman’s claim that Sanders’s plans would lead to 5 percent nominal economic growth over a […]
Continue readingMichal Rozworski: Podcast: Defending Bernie-nomics and debunking the housing market
This week, I interview two guests on fairly different topics linked by the fact that they both give very effective debunkings of some mainstream economic thinking. First, I speak with JW Mason, economics professor at John Jay College in New York City, about the debate that has erupted around Bernie Sanders’ economic program. JW argues […]
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Podcast: JW Mason on business not investing, still disgorging the cash
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/podcast150420-jw-mason.mp3 This week’s podcast is a bit more economics-focused than usual but gets at the heart of what’s going on in the global economy where interest rates are near, at, or even below zero, but where investment, growth, wages and employment continue to suffer. My one guest, who joins me for a
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Someone is making slightly more than you and this report says it’s time for it to stop!
Here’s a familiar refrain: “Someone’s wages rose faster than someone else’s: report”. This depersonalized version sounds about as cynical as it should especially since the first someone is usually not a CEO whose wages are actually rising faster than everyone else’s – it’s that fat cat across the street, like
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: The lament for Canada’s middle class
I’ve been posting more sparsely lately for a number of external reasons but this should change soon I hope. For now, here is the first major piece I wrote for Ricochet. In some ways, it’s the obligatory piece on Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century, but really it’s my way of
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: Piketty Forum in Vancouver
On June 25th, a standing-room only crowd of 150 people attended a public forum and discussion titled “Pikettymania, Inequality and You” on Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Today, I’m happy to post in full the four talks that made up the first half of the event (the second half was
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Slides on Piketty’s Capital
I spoke at an event dedicated to Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century last night in Vancouver. It was great to have a conversation about inequality, economics and politics with an overflowing, diverse crowd. There is a palatable hunger for an understanding of what is going on today and what kind of political action can generate
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Whose efficiency? what efficiency?
Efficiency is formidable. It rears its head most everywhere. Witness the tyranny of the target at more and more workplaces: from more greets per hour to more exam points per teacher. At the same time, efficiency also nurtures increasing tyrannies at home: get fit in 12 minutes per day instead
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Aristotle contra the math stick: Magic numbers redux
In the last post I explored how magic numbers, such as a 90% debt-to-GDP ratio or a 2% inflation target, at once over-simplify and stifle economic policy debate. The role of magic numbers raises more general questions about “the rule of number” in economics. The math stick used to browbeat those
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Magic numbers and the math stick
Economics is often associated with numbers. We are bombarded with economic data: GDP, unemployment, inflation, debt, exchange rates, market indices…the list is seemingly endless. While many of these numbers change – we are encouraged to cheer when they rise, jeer when they fall – there are others that are presented
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: The facts are capitalist
There has been a curious debate in the past week within the world of economics blogging. It started with a post by Chris House on the contrast between a “well-known liberal bias” within the academy generally and the decidedly more conservative bent of most members of economics departments. House attributes
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: There is no good value
A piece in the Financial Times from several days ago has finally pushed me to scribble down a few initial thoughts on value – a topic I been thinking about more and more. Titled “The attack of the rentier killers”, the article argues that the wealthy who hold and receive
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Transformations in profit and possibilities of resistance: A reply to Sam Gindin
Several weeks ago, I published a series of blog posts on profitability and investment in Canada since the financial crisis of 2007-8. These were republished as a single long article on Socialist Project and given the title, “Canada’s Profitability and Stagnation Puzzle”. Since them, Sam Gindin has published a reply
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Notes on pensions and risk
Canada’s finance ministers are meeting this weekend and a proposal to expand the CPP is at the top of the agenda. If implemented, this proposal would bolster an important public program at a time when public programs are under attack and the public sector as whole is shrinking. There are many good arguments in
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