Balance Sheet Recessions
Economist Richard C. Koo coined the term “balance sheet recession” to refer to the unusual problem faced by Japan since the 1990s, and subsequently by […]
Dynamic Private Strategy
Interests in a credit-driven system are polarized because leverage is an almost irresistible temptation for bulls, but also creates great vulnerabilities that bears can exploit. […]
Strategic Private Power
Originally posted on World Policy Institute blog August 4, 2016 – Strategic Private Power. Last week I introduced the crucial difference between productive and unproductive […]
Interest from Where?
Since the inception of political economy, interest paid on loans has been something of a mystery. Where does the wealth to pay it come from? […]
Economists and the Powerful
After some intervening news, I finally return to the thread from a couple weeks ago in part because I recently started reading an excellent book […]
The South China Sea Ruling
This week’s ruling against China’s expansive South China Sea claims by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague provides an excellent illustration for three […]
Looming Worldwide Credit Crunch
The lead article in the Wall Street Journal Tuesday, “Loan Market Pulls Back,” provides critical data indicating that the world economy is headed into another […]
Macrofoundations of Microeconomics
During my lifetime I witnessed the largely successful counterattack against John Maynard Keynes within neoclassical (standard textbook) economic theory. This neoclassical intellectual current has been […]
The Value of Money
Last week I discussed some limitations of a gold standard monetary system. An additional problem on which I did not elaborate is that of misconceptions […]
As Good as Gold
This past Monday I was invited to speak about China’s current debt problem at a meeting of the Committee for Monetary Research and Education. The […]
This is not Fascism
The Economist is taking up a debate introduced by conservative military historian Robert Kagan about whether Donald Trump is a fascist. Like most political debates, […]
Follow the Money
Everybody knows the old joke, often told about lawyers or politicians: “How do you know if a politician is lying? See if their mouth is […]
Economics’ Big Lie
I promised to treat the U.S. presidential election this week, but in the interim my son, like millions of other high school students, took the […]
Realism, Liberalism, and Corporatism
Last week I discussed why deflationary problems in the world economy today are even more difficult to solve than deflation during past debt-deflation crises, such […]
Debt and Deflation
Two recent news items highlight the close relationship between debt and deflation, a relationship of great significance in numerous economic crises but virtually ignored in […]
Capitalism 101
Capitalism is an economic system dominated by self-expanding wealth. Whereas the principal strategies of expanding wealth under feudalism involved war or marriage, under capitalism wealth […]