Quebec election: the faux choix of the first two days

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As everyone knows by now, Quebec is headed into a summer election.  The Liberal party is trying to define the election as a choice between democracy or protest.  As someone who has studied and taught political science at the highest … Continue reading

Pilkington hits a home run

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You should go read it in full I am just going to skip to the money shot: It’s columns like this that demonstrate how technocratic (and anti-democratic) neoclassical economists actually are. They say they like freedom and all that – … Continue reading

I am very rude in comments: Muppets and class

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Just for the record  I am very rude in person too.  So it is not just the internetz that made me. Warning:  Adult content and graphic imagery not suitable for North Americans over the age of 45.  And even then … Continue reading

Public Accountability, Central Banks and Fiscal Policy

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Alt title: I am very rude in comments.  PS you need to click the link to get the full context. Dear Steve Randy Waldman, I take the silly idea of democratic accountability very seriously, more seriously than most economists take … Continue reading

One word I wish liberal economists would stop using

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Natural.  As in ‘natural’ rate of unemployment; or as in ‘natural’ rate of interest.  Stop, just stop.  Importing the word natural into the social sciences mostly makes philosophers and social and political theorists blush.  Find another word.  Maybe ‘normal,’ ‘trend,’ … Continue reading

Stimulative austerity bearing fruit in Britain? Not. Nor globally

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George Osborne was quick out of the gates with the austerity as stimulus gambit.  Which as everybody from myself to Paul Krugman predicted was going to be a flop.  Osborne has been trying to save face by arguing that his … Continue reading

The Right Wing Commentariat is getting Desperate

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Just go read Terence Corcoran’s latest in the National Post.  Never mind that the world was plunged into economic crisis by unregulated financial institutions and near fully captured regulators; never mind that by most accounts the financial regulatory reform that … Continue reading