Thoughts from Reihan Salam National Reviw (2014)
Thoughts from Reihan Salam National Reviw (2014)
A plan for the 21st century
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Review of Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century
One way to summarise is as follows: Piketty's astronomical sales have increased wealth inequality among economists. Is his new-found wealth deserved? What is the impact of this wealth on the democratic process?...
Review of Philip Coggan’s The Last Vote
Philip Coggan, a financial journalist renowned for objectivity and insight, has brought these traits to an analysis of modern democracy and a history of the right to vote. Political analysis is usually marred b...
Review of Mark Blyth’s Austerity
Austerity is a superb and timely book. There are many books on the financial crisis and on Europe, but none have dissected the policy response as comprehensively as Blyth. His central argument that austerity is...
Review of Felix Martin’s Money: the unauthorised biography
Felix Martin tempts fate by opening with a quote from A. H. Quiggan: "Everyone, except an economist, knows what 'money' means." Martin is a former World Bank economist, and at the end of this book, I sympathise...
Governments can borrow … Without increasing their debt
FT, June 2012
The government's debt has not risen since the financial crisis
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Interdependence
Made in Taiwan:
Most people in the world know virtually nothing about Taiwan. It is an extraordinary country: politically treacherous, as it claims independence from the People's Republic of China, and phy...
Time and Money
Time
Family time:
Many informal obligations between people involve time. Parents provide for children when they are young, and children owe them support when they are old. This is a form of inter-temporal e...
Measurement
Measurement
Blood banks: what do you charge for deposits and withdrawals?
A very striking example of how pricing something might change our attitude towards it was provided in 1970 by a professor at the Lon...
Allure
Money's allure
Pokémania:
Whoever created Pokémon cards was a strange genius. He identified the necessary properties of money and created his very own printing press. The cards can be used to play a board g...