Blogs&Reviews

  • Finance, the state, and innovation

    Diane Coyle, 25 June 2018

    In a revised edition of "Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy", William Janeway argues that our economic system – where complicated interactions between government, providers of finance, and capitalists drive technological innovation and economic growth – is inherently fragile. In this post, Diane Coyle welcomes the update as timely. Since the book’s original publication in 2012, the world has seen sluggish growth, flatlining productivity, and extraordinary changes in the economy and society brought about by technology.

  • What does it mean to have rational expectations?

    Roger Farmer, 21 June 2018

    In this follow up to his post on ergodicity, Roger Farmer discusses chaos theory, 'spin glasses', and what it means to have rational expectations.

  • How the broadcast media created mediamacro

    Simon Wren-Lewis, 20 June 2018

    The Brexit debate was not the first time that the broadcast media in the UK reinforced rather than countered the claims of the right-wing press – the same happened with austerity. In this post, Simon Wren-Lewis asks why the BBC and other broadcasters largely ignored standard textbook macroeconomics, and instead promoted ‘mediamacro’.

  • Trump, China, and tariffs: From soybeans to semiconductors

    Chad Bown, Euijin Jung, Zhiyao (Lucy) Lu, 19 June 2018

    On 15 June, the Trump administration produced the list of specific Chinese products on which it soon plans to impose tariffs. In this post, Chad Bown, Euijin Jung and Zhiyao Lu examine this list and China's proposed retaliation, and argue that even companies that are not suffering yet from China’s mistreatment will soon be hurting because of tariff-induced higher costs.

Other Recent Blogs&Reviews:

  • Child poverty forecasts: My bet with Christopher Snowdon
    Jonathan Portes, 19 June 2018

    A 2018 Equality and Human Rights Commission report predicts a dramatic rise in child poverty. Jonathan Portes, a co-authorof the report, challenges Christopher Snowdon, a scepticof such gloomy predictions, to a bet to see who is right.

  • Three opportunities and three risks of the Belt and Road Initiative
    Michele Ruta, 18 June 2018

    China’s Belt and Road Initiative is an ambitious effort to improve connectivity on a trans-continental scale through infrastructure investment and regional cooperation. The initiative has the potential to accelerate the rate of economic integration and development, as trade costs decline. But, like any large undertaking, there are significant policy and economic challenges. In this post, Michele Ruta describes key opportunities and risks of the initiative. 

  • Economic history of the world, short version
    Diane Coyle, 18 June 2018

    Diane Coyle reviews Daniel Cohen’s "The Infinite Desire for Growth", which provides a concise, bird’s-eye view of the many issues that are being debated on economic growth, from the dawn of civilisation to the present and future.

  • Why Russia is politically and militarily strong while being an economic dwarf
    Paul De Grauwe, 16 June 2018

    Russia's weight in global geopolitics is much greater than may be implied by its GDP or military spending. Exploring why that may be so, Paul De Grauwe looks at Russia’s nuclear arsenal and its role as a supplier of raw materials, including oil and gas, and argues that Russia is strong because Europe grants it that power.

  • Lost decades: Italy 3 - Japan 0
    Antonio Fatás, 16 June 2018

    GDP growth rates can be a  misleading indicator of the true performance of different economies. In this post, Antonio Fatas argues that once the effect of an ageing population is removed, Japan has actually performed very well since 1990, while Italy stands out among the largest advanced economies because its performance along all dimensions has been poor since the 1990s.

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