Category Archives: Economic History

Misdirection: Galbraith on Piketty’s New Book on Capital

Posted on April 1, 2014 by pilkingtonphil

I’ve been waiting for this for some time but now Jamie Galbraith has come out and provided an extensive discussion of Thomas Piketty’s new book Capital in the Twentieth Century. While I haven’t yet read Piketty’s book its difficult not … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic History, Economic Policy, Economic Theory | 32 Comments

Was Marx Right?

Posted on March 31, 2014 by pilkingtonphil

Well, it looks like The New York Times has opened a bit of a can of worms by asking Was Marx Right?. I generally find that this question to be a bit annoying. Was Marx right about what, specifically? That … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic History, Economic Theory | 20 Comments

Krugman Uses ISLM to Proclaim Looming Fiscal Crisis, Denounces Those Who Don’t Use ISLM

Posted on March 27, 2014 by pilkingtonphil

Some people often ask why I complain about Krugman. “Hey Phil, Krugman is a good guy. He likes government spending. You like government spending. Therefore you must like Krugman,” says our budding young Socrates. Well, I’ll tell you why: because … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic History, Economic Policy, Economic Theory | 26 Comments

Thinking Makes It So: The IMF Bailout of the UK in 1976 and the Rise of Monetarism

Posted on March 17, 2014 by pilkingtonphil

Monetarism began it’s rise to world prominence in the ever-conservative Bundesbank in 1974. But it would be the government of Margaret Thatcher in the UK, elected in 1979, that would truly launch monetarism in central banking. After Thatcher’s monetarist experiment … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic History, Economic Policy, Economic Theory | 10 Comments

A New Era of Central Banking?

Posted on March 13, 2014 by pilkingtonphil

As I noted in my last post the Bank of England have released an official policy document that concedes that much of Post-Keynesian endoegnous money theory is indeed correct. Interestingly, they have also released some Youtube clips with the authors … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic History, Economic Policy, Economic Theory | 3 Comments

Basic Macroeconomics of Income Distribution Cannot Explain Today’s Rising Inequality

Posted on March 4, 2014 by pilkingtonphil

I was recently looking over the debates surrounding the Pasinetti theorem and I thought it might be worth writing a few words on it. Pasinetti formulated his theorem — which is dealt with in detail in a fantastically thorough Wikipedia … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic History, Economic Policy, Economic Theory, Toward a General Theory of Pricing | 37 Comments

Keynes’ Liquidity Preference Trumps Debt Deflation in 1931 and 2008

Posted on February 24, 2014 by pilkingtonphil

I have pointed out before that the meaning of the term ‘liquidity trap’ has today become completely altered — with said alteration mainly coming from Paul Krugman’s bizarre redefinition which seems tied up with his idea about a natural rate … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic History, Economic Theory | 3 Comments

James Galbraith’s ‘The Predator State’: A Testament to Our Turbulent and Troubled Era

Posted on February 20, 2014 by pilkingtonphil

I’m currently rereading James Galbraith’s The Predator State and I must say that it is quite a formidable work. There is one issue that I want to tackle — namely, Galbraith’s treatment of the supply-side arguments of the 1970s and … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic History, Economic Policy | 2 Comments

Control Freaks: Stafford Beer and Salvador Allende’s Fantasy Economy

Posted on February 16, 2014 by pilkingtonphil

Some time ago I wrote a post on marginalist microeconomics that included a brief discussion of how it might inspire certain absurd attempts at control in an economy. In that post I was generally concerned with policymakers and managers trying … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic History, Politics | 3 Comments

What is the Monetarist Position on Fiscal Deficits and is it Similar to Krugman’s?

Posted on February 7, 2014 by pilkingtonphil

In my previous post I showed that Krugman’s recent piece on Argentina completely glossed over the data in its assertions that the inflation in that country was due to fiscal deficits**. I also, somewhat offhandedly, referred to his argument as … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic History, Economic Policy, Economic Theory | 36 Comments