Category Archives: Economics and public policy

Can you spot the countries with high vaccinations? Or recent lockdowns?

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Paul Frijters

I am all for effective vaccines and have been impressed with how fast vaccines have been developed against covid, but I never expected them to be the wonder weapons some promised them to be. After all, the yearly new vaccines … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus crisis, Health, History, Innovation, Medical, Politics - international, Politics - national, Society | 4 Comments

History is repeating: Dennis Glover on the Capitol Hill riot

Posted on January 15, 2021 by Nicholas Gruen

If something can happen once, it can happen again. This is the oft-ignored first lesson of history. The second lesson is that humans usually forget lesson number one. Watching the attempted coup unfold at the Capitol building, those two lessons … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy, Economics and public policy, History, Political theory, Politics - international | 59 Comments

A brief summary of a long work – Piketty’s Capital and Ideology: by Ian McAuley

Posted on January 10, 2021 by Nicholas Gruen

Ian McAuley circulated the summary below and I asked him for permission to make it available here – which he agreed to. Piketty’s books remind me of one of John Clarke’s lines. Back in Fred Dagg’s ten minute History of … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy, Economics and public policy, History | 1 Comment

Historical analogies for the covid-mania

Posted on January 8, 2021 by Paul Frijters

“men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses more slowly, and one by one.” MacKay, 1841. Right now, London and much of Europe … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus crisis, Cultural Critique, Death and taxes, Economics and public policy, Employment, History, Libertarian Musings, Political theory, Politics - international, Science, Social Policy, Uncategorized | 48 Comments

7 Questions and hypotheses for 2021

Posted on December 29, 2020 by Paul Frijters

2020 was certainly a roller coaster for a social scientist, full of surprises. Let me not once again bemoan the increasingly coordinated attack on all sources of vitality in Western civilisation, but look ahead and openly wonder about what 2021 … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus crisis, Cultural Critique, Democracy, Economics and public policy, Humour, IT and Internet, Medical, Politics - international, Politics - national, Science, Social, Social Policy, Uncategorized | 20 Comments

Long-Term Effects of Equal Sharing: Evidence from Inheritance Rules for Land

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Nicholas Gruen

Filed under “Studies that confirm my priors”. Long-Term Effects of Equal Sharing: Evidence from Inheritance Rules for Land Charlotte Bartels, Simon Jäger, and Natalie Obergruber #28230 Abstract: What are the long-term economic effects of a more equal distribution of wealth? … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics and public policy, History, Political theory | Leave a comment

Rescuing humanity from Neo-liberalism: by John Burnheim

Posted on December 20, 2020 by Nicholas Gruen

In his powerful critique of Neo-liberalism, Nicholas Gruen draws heavily on the work of Michael Polanyi. The following essay is an attempt to carry on and fill out Polanyi’s work. Like many liberal economists of the mid-twentieth century, but more … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy, Economics and public policy, Philosophy, Political theory | 1 Comment