A few years back, I had an interesting discussion over at the Real-World Economics Review Blog with Paul Davidson on ergodicity and the differences between Knight and Keynes concerning uncertainty. It all began when I commented on Davidson’s article Is economics a science? Should economics be rigorous? : LPS: Davidson’s article is a nice piece — but […]
economics
by Koray Caliskan* Over the past few decades, the idea of performativity has quietly reshaped how many of us think about markets, identities, technologies, and institutions. The basic intuition is simple but powerful: descriptions and representations (scientific or not) do not merely reflect the world; under the right conditions, they help bring it into being. […]
~by Sean Paul Kelley Everyone is talking about gold topping $5k an ounce. The yellow metal is captivating and big moves by it tend to suck all the oxygen out of the media space regarding other metals. In 2025 gold rose a whopping 64% against all comers, i.e the dollar, the S&P 500, oil, Bitcoin […]
My Lords, first, I distance myself from the Opposition’s onslaught on Rachel Reeves. To my mind, she is a tragic figure rather than an incompetent one. She is trying to do her best for her people and the country but is in hock not just to the bond markets but to mistaken academic orthodoxy which, … Continue reading Budget Speech 2025 November
Regeringen genomför nu en historisk omläggning av arbetsmarknadspolitiken. A-kassan trappas ned, bidragen stramas åt och hårda aktivitetskrav införs. Budskapet är tydligt: det ska löna sig bättre att arbeta, och kosta mer att vara arbetslös. Många på vänsterkanten avfärdar detta som ren elakhet mot de utsatta. Men det är ett misstag att förenkla regeringens strategi till […]
My blog post, Sweden’s unequal wealth distribution, was the most-read post on Real-World Economics Review (RWER) in 2025. I am, of course, truly awed, honoured, and delighted! For the benefit of those who haven’t read it, I am reposting it here: UBS Global Wealth Report 2025 reveals that Sweden — once a global beacon of […]
När riksdagen 1998 beslutade om ändringar i regeringsformen och riksbankslagen gjorde man Riksbanken formellt och konstitutionellt oberoende från regering och riksdag i penningpolitiska beslut. Tanken var att man beslutsmässigt skulle ha mer eller mindre vattentäta skott mellan finans-och penningpolitik. Detta har också inneburit att Riksbanken har en nästintill oinskränkt makt över en politik som i […]
In recent times, there has been a growing interest in institutionalist trends and research within economics. Traditional explanations and analyses have seemed to have little or no value. Abstract and unrealistic theories have increasingly been replaced by historically grounded ones. Institutional and structural elements in the economy are highlighted, replacing overly short-term and model-based variables. […]
As is well-known, New Classical economists have never accepted Keynes’s distinction between voluntary and involuntary unemployment. According to New Classical über-economist Robert Lucas, an unemployed worker can always instantaneously find some job. No matter how miserable the work options are, “one can always choose to accept them,” in Lucas’s view. This is, of course, only […]
Alongside the mounting pile of elaborate theoretical models we see a fast-growing stock of equally intricate statistical tools … [M]ost modeltesting kits described in professional journals are internally consistent. However, like the economic models they are supposed to implement, the validity of these statistical tools depends itself on the acceptance of certain convenient assumptions pertaining […]