By Dan Kervick
Joshua Gans raises some doubts at Digitopogy.org about Mariana Mazzucato’s argument in Slate and New Scientist that it is time for the state to get something back for its investments. Gans’s brief argument isn’t very thorough, but he makes an interesting point. Let’s first establish the context. Mazzucato’s article recapitulates some of the central points from her book The Entrepreneurial State about the sizable role governments have played in driving innovation:
Posted in Dan Kervick
By Dan Kervick
Brad DeLong proposes that there are, broadly speaking, two camps among economists with respect to what a central bank is and the purposes it should serve: the Banking Camp and the Macroeconomic Camp:
Posted in Dan Kervick
By Fadhel Kaboub
Despite all the heated public debates that we have been witnessing in Egypt since the January 2011 uprisings, very little attention has been given to the root causes of the country’s deepest economic problems. Understandably, as a country moves towards democracy, it must address all the concerns about freedom of expression, religious rights, women’s rights, security and justice sector reforms, anti-corruption laws, political pluralism, elections, and constitutional reform. However, it is equally important to recognize that regardless of the political affiliation of the new government (Muslim Brotherhood, secular, or military), it must craft a long-term policy agenda to address the root causes of Egypt’s economic problems. Failure to do so will be catastrophic not only for the economy, but also for the creation of a secure and stable democratic society.
By Pavlina Tcherneva
(cross posted from ineteconomics.org)
This week workers in fast food restaurants across the country gathered to protest the minimum wage in the United States, which currently is a paltry $7.25, and to fight for a better standard of living. The battle for a living wage for the nation’s poorest workers is set against the backdrop of mass unemployment and the highest level of economic inequality in the U.S. in almost a century.
I do not think the twin epidemics of mortgage loan origination fraud (appraisal and “liar’s” loans) and the various epidemics of post-origination fraud by financial institutions are comparable crimes to the use of chemical weapons. The President’s job, however, is to deter a wide range of criminal conduct. The elite fraud epidemics cost over $11 trillion in losses to households alone and 10 million American jobs. The cost of these fraud epidemics is so vast that deterring future epidemics should be a high priority of every administration. The refusal of the Obama and Bush administrations to prosecute any elite banker whose actions contributed to the crisis has done the opposite of deterring future fraud epidemics – it has encouraged them.
Posted in William K. Black
Tagged Assad, banksters, obama, systemically dangerous institution, too big to prosecute
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