Monthly Archives: July 2013

The Left-Wing Case For High Oil Prices

In a previous post I outlined the debate over whether speculation is playing a role in the oil market. While I didn’t really make a case there as to which side of the fence I fall on — although it … Continue reading

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Oil Price Speculation: An Interesting Battle

Over the past decade or so a silent war has waged between sometimes obscure, and sometimes not so obscure, parties. The war is over what has caused the run-up, since 2003, of oil prices. I’d actually been fairly interested in … Continue reading

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Economics as Social Organisation: Why We Should All Be Relativists

What if all the world’s inside of your head Just creations of your own? Your devils and your gods All the living and the dead And you’re really all alone? You can live in this illusion You can choose to … Continue reading

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Keynes on Parts and Wholes

I never really liked doing jigsaw puzzles as I always found it a bit boring. But many people seem to find it a fascinating endeavor. Whatever you personally think of jigsaw puzzles, however, consider for a moment their aim and … Continue reading

Posted in Economic Theory, Philosophy, Psychology | 5 Comments

Born Blind: Lars Syll, Uncertainty and the Question of Truth Versus Relativism

“Blindness” — by Muchanu Designs Lord Keynes over at the excellent Social Democracy for the 21st Century blog has drawn my attention to a series of posts by the Swedish Post-Keynesian economist Lars Syll on probability and economics. This is … Continue reading

Posted in Economic Theory, Philosophy, Psychology | 13 Comments

What is a Liquidity Trap?

Perhaps the worst thing that can happen to a term in any language is that it loses completely its meaning and becomes a sort of floating signifier that can attach itself to any old nonsense. Such is the case today … Continue reading

Posted in Economic Policy, Economic Theory | 7 Comments

Fischer Black Redux: The Impossible Circularity of a Metaphysical Argument

In the last piece on Fischer Black we saw how he created, in his own mind, an entity called “noise” which, for him, explained all the shortcomings of the world. But such raises an important question: shortcomings in the face … Continue reading

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Fischer Black, Noise and the Encounter With The Trickster

In mythology, and in the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a god, goddess, spirit, man, woman, or anthropomorphic animal who plays tricks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and conventional behavior. — Wikipedia Mathematics is often thought of … Continue reading

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