Category Archives: Free Trade

The economy lab, the dark age of free trade theory, and the naive view on natural resources and economic development

Posted on November 10, 2011 by

Over at the Economy Lab in the Globe which Failed, which itself has gone from bad to worse, one of the economists they keep in their stable has either produced an extraordinarily naive analysis or a dishonest one.  I am … Continue reading →

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The irony of greed: The end game for Neoliberalism?

Posted on September 6, 2011 by

The global economy is in the toilet and the Boomers’ representatives are chanting: “flush, flush, flush.”  Me? I am eating cigarettes and wine while admiring the remarkable consistency in the myopia of all of it. In the name of fiscal … Continue reading →

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Never count on economists to defend the public interest

Posted on March 14, 2011 by

This is something that should always be kept in mind in economic policy discussions: most economists are pro-Market, not pro-Public Interest. It is especially important to keep this in mind when we read commentary such as this, in which an … Continue reading →

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Free Trade and Rent Seeking Euro Pharma

Posted on February 7, 2011 by

I have always detested the normative descriptor “free” in front of international trade deals.  On one level it is oxymoronic ™ to call something “free” when it is in the furtherance of buying and selling more things not about increasing … Continue reading →

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The 10 Big Economic Lies of 2010

Posted on December 15, 2010 by

So it is the end of the year and what a stunning year it has been for all sorts of creative story telling inside the economics profession (particularly in its conservative manifestation). I am going to kick this list off … Continue reading →

Posted in Class War, Free Trade, Neoliberalism, Propaganda | 3 Comments

IMF research paper: “Inequality, Leverage and Crises”

Posted on December 1, 2010 by

A recently released research paper coming out of the IMF is worth your time. Particularly so if you find yourself making what you take to be a serious argument about the link between inequality and macroeconomic stability but can’t seem … Continue reading →

Posted in American politics, Canadian Politics, Class War, Consumption, Financial Regulation, Free Markets, Free Trade, industrial relations, labour market theory, New Papers & Articles, unemployment, Welfare Policy, welfare state | 1 Comment

Potash, Economic Nationalism, and National Champions

Posted on November 3, 2010 by

Harper did the unthinkable. It is only in the rarest of circumstances that the federal government actually uses its powers of review to quash foreign takeovers. Yet this is not really where the action is–that is, what caused the cons … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Free Markets, Free Trade, Neoclassical | Leave a comment

Causes of the financial Crisis

Posted on October 16, 2010 by

These animated lectures are really good. One problem is that watching the drawing can be more interesting then the lecture. Here is David Harvey’s Crises of Capitalism. One critique that I would have is that this not really an original … Continue reading →

Posted in Capitalist Consupmtion in the Modern Age, Class War, economic crisis, Finance, Free Trade, Marxian, Neoliberalism | Leave a comment

Krugman looses it and losses it bad: Maybe economics is a morality play

Posted on September 28, 2010 by

Krugman is precisely what is wrong with American progressives. He thinks after spending a life watching while nobody left of him was left standing; that after mission accomplished, he would be benighted. The reality is that he has been rendered … Continue reading →

Posted in American politics, Free Trade, New Keynesianism, Propaganda, US economy, Welfare Policy | 4 Comments

A Tail of Two Cities: FIRE and Manufacturing in the US

Posted on September 20, 2010 by

A question came up on another blog about the changing structure of the US economy. The graph below quits just before the “great moderation” ended. What you are looking at is the changing share of selected sectors of the US … Continue reading →

Posted in American politics, Free Trade, unemployment, US economy | 2 Comments