and Investing
The exigencies of national sovereignty We noted above that rebalancing involves shifts in conditions: reductions in prices and wages and/or migration of labor. Neither of these is socially desirable for the economy subjected to these corrections. And if that economy is a sovereign nation, it will strive to mitigate them rather than allow them to … Continue reading “Barriers to Migration”
The current fracas with regard to immigration through the southern border of the United States will die down in time, and another issue will replace it in the headlines, in breaking news announcements, in round-table discussions. There will not be a resolution any time soon. But what is important is to understand the underlying issues … Continue reading “Immigration, Migration, and Imbalances”
The Rise and Fall of the Automatic Mechanism In the days of the gold standard, all the economies of the Western world functioned along the lines of the import/export model shown above. They were interconnected as one, their currencies linked together by gold. The age of the gold standard was therefore also the great age … Continue reading “The Gold Standard”
There is something different, something new and unprecedented, about the generations of the 20th and 21st centuries as compared with all those that went before them. This was already noted in 1930 by the great Spanish journalist and philosopher José Ortega y Gasset, when he unveiled[1] the phenomenon of el hombre-masa, the mass-man, otherwise known … Continue reading “Consumers of the World, Unite!”
The 2013 movie Elysium depicts a dystopian future of unremitting, jarring poverty juxtaposed with serene, detached wealth. Literally detached: wealth resides in a lavishly equipped, lebensraum-furnished space station, high above an impoverished, exhausted Earth. The planet is only useful as a source of provision and maintenance for the space station; its fruits have been extracted … Continue reading “On the Road to Elysium”
I am struck with disbelief with the apparently unlimited extent of their smug arrogance. It is these very men (and yes, they are mostly men!) who are singularly responsible for the mess we are in. Blair and Clinton in particular presided over the massive accumulation of debt, reckless deregulation and disproportionate and unbalanced boom in … Continue reading “Carrying the Water”
Michael Pettis is one contemporary economist whose blog is worth reading. His books The Volatility Machine and The Great Rebalancing are required reading for those who would understand the workings of international trade relations, currency movements, and financial markets. His comments regarding the recent “Brexit” vote by the UK’s electorate are worth delving into. “Last Friday’s … Continue reading “Pettis on Brexit”
Much has been written on the recent decision by the UK to leave the European Union. Much of it is emotion-driven. But that is no way to assess such an important turn of events. The actual significance is, in significant degree, economic in nature. This calls for an economic analysis, to which we now turn. … Continue reading “The Economic Consequences of the Release (i.e., Brexit)”
