Piketty on inequality: views of the IGM economic experts
16 Oct 2014 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, discrimination, economic growth, entrepreneurship, gender, human capital, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, Marxist economics, Rawls and Nozick Tags: Daron Acemoglu, James Robinson, Piketty, poverty and inequality, The Great Enrichment
Question: The most powerful force pushing towards greater wealth inequality in the US since the 1970s is the gap between the after-tax return on capital and the economic growth rate?
Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson have a simple explanation for why Piketty is wrong:
But like Marx, Piketty goes wrong for a very simple reason. The quest for general laws of capitalism or any economic system is misguided because it is a-institutional.
It ignores that it is the institutions and the political equilibrium of a society that determine how technology evolves, how markets function, and how the gains from various different economic arrangements are distributed.
Despite his erudition, ambition, and creativity, Marx was ultimately led astray because of his disregard of institutions and politics. The same is true of Piketty.
Milton Friedman Describes Hong Kong as an Example of the Free Market System
12 Oct 2014 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, growth disasters, Milton Friedman Tags: Hong Kong, Milton Friedman, The Great Enrichment
Mega-cities are the most beautiful sight in the world: Shinjuku train station by night
07 Oct 2014 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of media and culture, liberalism, movies Tags: Blade Runner, Shinjuku, The Great Enrichment, Tokyo
The first time I walked out of the gate of Shinjuku train station the night I arrived in Tokyo in 1993, I thought I had walked into a scene from Blade Runner.
Tokyo is one of the most beautiful cities the world. It’s full of people doing the most amazing things, producing an immense amount of wealth and prosperity. Cities are as beautiful as any natural beauty, more so because they are man-made.
This isn't an outtake from Blade Runner—it's Beijing today. via @punodraws @TomHoltzPaleo @b0yle http://t.co/QHMxSunUAL—
Amos Zeeberg (@settostun) January 14, 2015
Paul Krugman on those soulless multinational corporations doing business in the Third World
06 Oct 2014 Leave a comment
Robots will take my job alert: when musicians campaigned against the introduction of canned music into cinemas
28 Sep 2014 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, human capital, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, survivor principle, technological progress Tags: automation, creative destruction, mechanisation, technological unemployment, The Great Enrichment
The Putin Effect on transitional economies in the former Soviet union
14 Sep 2014 Leave a comment
in development economics, growth disasters, growth miracles, income redistribution, Marxist economics, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: development, development miracles, disasters, former Soviet Union, Poland, The Great Enrichment, transitional economies, Ukraine
Poland was in the same position as Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet empire, but it followed better policy and is now several times richer.
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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