The feminist challenge to economics – The Market Failures Issue Ann Mari May WHEN ASKED TO SPEAK ON THE SUBJECT OF “WOMEN AND FICTION,” Virginia Woolf once mused that the suggestion may have meant for her to discuss “women and what they are like; or it might mean women and the fiction that they write; […]
Did the Clinton rising tide lift all the boats? – tight labor markets Marc-Andre Pigeon These economists point out that those with only high school educations were left behind. They urge new policies to help such workers. As the long, relatively robust Clinton-era expansion comes to an apparent end, it is time to take stock […]
Ukraine: Europe’s Forgotten Economy James Dean Why hasn’t the populous Ukraine performed like Poland since the break-up of the Soviet Union? The author claims that the potential is there. He offers us some ways to save this faltering economy. MOST North Americans and Western Europeans are, at best, only dimly aware that Ukraine even exists. […]
Are Gasoline Taxes in Britain Too High? Ian Parry It may make sense to reduce gasoline taxes in Britain and substitute higher income taxes to raise revenue. But this must be weighed against other benefits of high gasoline taxes in reduced pollution and traffic congestion. BRITAIN witnessed extraordinary scenes in September 2000 as its people, […]
The rise and fall of the Swedish model – interview with Swedish economist Rudolf Meidner – Interview Bertram Silverman Introduction by Bertram Silverman By the end of the 1940s, Swedish social democrats, like most socialists in Western Europe, had abandoned the goal of socializing production as the primary way of reforming capitalism. Instead, they sought […]
The Macroeconomics of Saving, Finance, and Investment. – book reviews Michele Naples The pundits tell us that the U.S. economy is the healthiest it has been for decades. Inflation has remained low through seven years of cyclical expansion. Interest rates and unemployment are the lowest they have been since the 1970s. Critics point out that […]
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. – book reviews M.E. Sharpe Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. By JARED DIAMOND. New York and London: W.W. Norton, 1997. 480 pp. Hardcover, $27.50. In his work as an ornithologist observing birds in New Guinea, Jared Diamond also observed people. Seeing how […]
Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism. – Review – book review Edward Chase Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism. By WALTER LAFEBER. New York: Norton, 1999. 181 pp. Hardcover. $22.95. Walter LaFeber’s new book, his eighth, is bountifully nutritious despite its brevity. One gets a history of basketball, the story of sneaker development, […]
The problems with formalism: interview with Mark Blaugh – economist – Interview Q I think it is fair to say that you are the leading proponent of the idea that a weakness of economics is that much of its theory is not falsifiable. If you cannot falsify something, then how can you demonstrate that it […]
Toward an efficiency week – correlation between shorter workweek and higher productivity Robert LaJeunesse If workers work shorter hours, will they work harder? This author thinks a shorter workweek will lead to higher productivity. Before the emergence and widespread acceptance of the efficiency-wage hypothesis, it was believed that increased productivity led to dividends being paid […]