Category: Economics
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Economics and Long Term Ideas
No doubt economics has come a long way since the times of Adam Smith almost 250 years ago. If we were to summarize its dynamics of change, we could say that economics has moved from a broad political economy approach to a more narrow and now mainstream focus where mathematics seems to play a vital…
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The future of automation and the automation of the future
Chaplin’s 1936 Modern Times, by now a classic of silent cinema, offers an inside glimpse of the automation of industrial production in the first part of the 20th Century. Our little tramp has somehow found a job in a factory, which is in the middle of an unspecified city, and spends his time doing the…
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ICTs and Inequality: An Overview
Not without reason, Inequality seems to have taken command of most development, socio-economic and even political discussions. The fact that a supposedly “technical” and long (and excellent too!) book such as Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century became a best-seller of sorts last year is a good indicator of the relevance of this topic in our…
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Failing Markets and Economic Theory
“How Markets Fail: The Logic of Economic Calamities by John Cassidy is an excellent book that tackles the origins, impact and consequences of the recent economic crisis. It also provides a “What is to be done” (a la Lenin) in policy to avoid a repeat of the last crisis. The book is written in a…
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Economic Crisis Book
I just finished reading “The Origin of the Financial Crises” by George Cooper which was published last year. The book is subtitled Central Banks, Credit bubbles and the Efficient Market Fallacy which reveals right away the approach the author is will be taking. This is an excellent book and a must read for anyone to…
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Comments on the Economic Crisis
Although the root causes of the current financial and economic crisis are still being debated (and will continue until the next large crisis hits), one issue that stems out of of the current discussions is the softening in the last 20 or so years of government regulations in the financial markets. Starting with the Reagan…