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Recovery from the Next Downturn May Depend on State and Local Governments
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(I write a monthlyish opinion piece for Barron’s. A shorter version of this post appeared there in June 2025. My previous pieces are here.) As recession fears grow, it’s natural to look back to the experience of past downturns to think about how we might better prepare for the next one. Here is one lesson: We’re less … Continue reading Recovery from the Next Downturn May Depend on State and Local Governments
Against Money
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I’ve mentioned various times on this blog that Arjun Jayadev and I have been writing a book about money. The book, now called Against Money, is finally done: After two rounds of revisions, Arjun and I sent the final manuscript to the publisher earlier this month. The book itself will not be coming out until … Continue reading Against Money
2024 Books
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Joe Studwell, How Asia Works. Arjun recommended this to me some years ago; I finally read it this year because I assigned it to my economic history class. It’s one of the best things I’ve read on late industrialization in Asia — it can go on the shelf with Alice Amsden’s Asia’s Next Giant or … Continue reading 2024 Books
The MA Program at John Jay-CUNY – Radical Economics at a Public University
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  I teach economics at John Jay College of the City University of New York, home of one of the country’s leading MA programs in heterodox economics. And we are accepting applications for Fall 2025. This is a pitch for why people should study economics here. If that’s not for you, that’s ok; but please … Continue reading The MA Program at John Jay-CUNY – Radical Economics at a Public University
At Barron’s: Trump’s Tariffs Are No Alternative to Free Trade
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(I write a monthlyish opinion piece for Barron’s. This one was published there in April. My previous pieces are here.) In recent decades, the main challenges to free trade have from organized labor and the political left. People of a certain age with left-of-center politics will remember the rallies against the World Trade Organization in Seattle, … Continue reading At Barron’s: Trump’s Tariffs Are No Alternative to Free Trade
Teachers and Workers
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A while back I had an interesting conversation with my older son, who is in 7th grade. He was telling me about various new rules his school had introduced — like only two bathroom breaks per week per class — which, we agreed, did not make much sense. But then he added: It seems like … Continue reading Teachers and Workers
At Barron’s: The Cost of Living and the Cost of Money
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(I write a monthlyish opinion piece for Barron’s. This one was published there in September. My previous pieces are here.) A lingering puzzle about inflation is why the public still seems so unhappy about it, even though it has, by conventional measures, returned to normal. One explanation is that people are simply confused, or misled by the media. But … Continue reading At Barron’s: The Cost of Living and the Cost of Money
Negative Nowcast
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In recent days, there has been a good deal of discussion in the business press and on economics Bluesky about the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank’s “nowcast” of GDP for the first quarter of 2025. The suggestion is that the US may already be entering a recession. The first quarter of 2025 is, of course, ongoing; … Continue reading Negative Nowcast
Democratizing Finance
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(This is the text of a talk I gave for a workshop organized by the International Network for Democratic Economic Planning. Once video from the workshop is available, I will post it here.) The starting point for this conversation, it seems to me, is that planning is everywhere in the economy we already live in. … Continue reading Democratizing Finance
Political Parties Are Illegal in the United States
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This is a guest post by Michael Kinnucan. His focus here is on third-party proposals, but the argument is also relevant for proposals (like this or this) for the Democrats to move toward a membership model. — JWM Political Parties are Illegal in the US A longstanding concern on the US electoral left is the … Continue reading Political Parties Are Illegal in the United States
Writing about Policy in the Trump Era
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Policy writing is a particular kind of writing. It’s defined not just by its topic but by its orientation: What should government do, to address some agreed-on problem, or achieve some agreed-on goal? It is premised on a public debate, in which ideas are adopted based on their merits. It is addressed to no one … Continue reading Writing about Policy in the Trump Era
At The International Economy: A Global Debt Crisis?
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(I am an occasional contributor to roundtables of economists in the magazine The International Economy. The topic of this month’s roundtable was: Is a serious global debt crisis possible?) As Hyman Minsky famously described, when market participants believe that crises are possible, they behave in ways that make the system relatively robust. Only when the chance of … Continue reading At The International Economy: A Global Debt Crisis?
Are We Better Off Than Four Years Ago?
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(I write a monthlyish opinion piece for Barron’s. This one was published there in June. My previous pieces are here.) Are you better off today than you were four years ago? Ever since President Ronald Reagan first asked that question in 1980, it has summed up a decisive factor in national politics. Those presidents who deliver material improvement in … Continue reading Are We Better Off Than Four Years Ago?
Does the Fed Still Believe in the NAIRU?
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(I write occasional opinion pieces for Barron’s. This one was published there in October 2024. My previous pieces are here.) Not long ago, there was widespread agreement on how to think about monetary policy. When the Federal Reserve hikes, this story went, it makes credit more expensive, reducing spending on new housing and other forms of capital expenditure. … Continue reading Does the Fed Still Believe in the NAIRU?
At Dissent: Industrial Policy without Nationalism
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(This piece was published in the Fall 2024 issue of Dissent.) In the first two years after Biden’s election, there was considerable enthusiasm on the left for the administration’s embrace of a larger, more active economic role for the federal government. I was among those who saw both the ambitions of the Build Back Better bill … Continue reading At Dissent: Industrial Policy without Nationalism
At The International Economy: Low Interest Rates Were OK
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(I am an occasional contributor to roundtables of economists in the magazine The International Economy. This month’s roundtable was on concerns that ultra-low interest rates after the 2007-2009 financial crisis contributed to rising inequality and asset bubbles, and asked contributors to grade post-2007 monetary policy on a scale of A to F.) Overall, I give the negative … Continue reading At The International Economy: Low Interest Rates Were OK
Taking Money Seriously
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(Text of a talk I delivered at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University on June 17, 2024.) There is an odd dual quality to the world around us. Consider a building, like this one. It has one, two or many stories; it’s made of wood, brick or steel; heated with … Continue reading Taking Money Seriously
China’s Economic Growth Is Good, Actually
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(I write a monthlyish opinion piece for Barron’s. This one was published there in June. My previous pieces are here.) Once upon a time, the promise of globalization seemed clear. In an economically integrated world, poor countries could follow the same path of development that the rich countries had in the past, leading to an equalization of global … Continue reading China’s Economic Growth Is Good, Actually
Did It Matter?
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Classes finished up last week. One of the things I was teaching this semester was undergraduate economic history, which I hadn’t done in some years. (Perhaps I’ll have more to post on the class later.) Our main books this time were Beckert’s Empire of Cotton, which I’ve used several times in this class; and Jonathan … Continue reading Did It Matter?
Keynes and Socialism
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(Text of a talk I delivered at the Neubauer Institute in Chicago on April 5, 2024.) My goal in this talk is to convince you that there is a Keynesian vision that is much more radical and far-reaching then our familiar idea of Keynesian economics. I say “a” Keynesian vision. Keynes was an outstanding example … Continue reading Keynes and Socialism
At Barron’s: Thank Full Employment, Not AI, for Rising Productivity
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(I write a monthly opinion piece for Barron’s. This one was published there in September. My previous pieces are here.) New data about productivity are some of the best on record in recent years. That’s good news for economic growth. But just as important, it offers support for the unorthodox idea that demand shapes the economy’s productive potential. Taking … Continue reading At Barron’s: Thank Full Employment, Not AI, for Rising Productivity
The Future of Health Care Reform
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This is a guest post by Michael Kinnucan. The Collapsing Center and Solidifying Periphery of the US Healthcare System Contrary to what most people on the US left might tell you, there’s nothing intrinsically impossible about building a healthcare system that provides universal coverage on the foundation of employer-sponsored insurance. Germany and France and several … Continue reading The Future of Health Care Reform
Thoughts on International Finance, with Application to the US and China
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(I wrote this back in 2020, and never posted it. The context is different now, but the substance still seems valid.) Here is my mental model, for whatever it’s worth: (1) The US-China trade balance is determined in the short to medium run by relative income growth in the two countries. In the medium to … Continue reading Thoughts on International Finance, with Application to the US and China
Thirteen Ways of Looking at Money
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I taught a class last semester on alternative theories of money, drawing heavily on Money and Things, the book I am working on with Arjun Jayadev. It was one of the best classes I’ve ever taught in terms of the quality of the discussions. John Jay MA students are always great, but this group was … Continue reading Thirteen Ways of Looking at Money
2023 Books
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Books I read in 2023. I’m probably forgetting some. Geoffrey Ingham, The Nature of Money. One of the fundamental divides in thinking about money is whether we start from the commodity or the unit of account. Do we begin, logically and historically, with the idea of exchange and then bring in money, or do we … Continue reading 2023 Books
Eich on Marx on Money
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I’ve been using some of Stefan Eich’s The Currency of Politics in the graduate class I’m teaching this semester. (I read it last year, after seeing a glowing mention of it by Adam Tooze.) This week, we talked about his chapter on Marx, which reminded me that I wrote some notes on it when I … Continue reading Eich on Marx on Money
A Conversation I Don’t Want to Have
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UPDATE: Aaron Benanav was sick and tested positive for covid the day of the event. So it didn’t take place. A fitting reminder, perhaps, of the context in which these debates are happening. This Wednesday, John Jay College is hosting a debate between me and Aaron Benanav on, ostensibly, industrial policy and global overcapacity, whatever … Continue reading A Conversation I Don’t Want to Have
URPE Statement on Gaza
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I’ve been struggling to find something to say about the unfolding horror in Gaza. What is happening there is not war, but murder on an industrial scale. It is a conscious effort to bring about the deaths of tens or hundreds of thousands of human beings, and to permanently drive millions from their homes. It … Continue reading URPE Statement on Gaza
In Praise of Profiteering
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Of the usefulness of the concept, that is. In my comments on inflation, I’ve emphasized supply disruptions more than market power. But as I’ll explain in this post, I think the market power or profiteering frame is also a valid and useful one. Thanks in large part to Lindsay Owens and her team at the Groundwork … Continue reading In Praise of Profiteering