EconSpark - Recent questions and answers in General Economics Questions

Are Ducks good economist

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 22:31:02 +0000

lets look at the history of human kind, and see if we find the traces of governance first and economy as an outcome of that governance. I Looked at archeology and found that we only accept evidence based theories in academia about human history, but the problem is the most logical things usually do not survive as archeological evidence, example it is obvious that the first paper used was animal skin to write, but you won't find any as evidence, because it will not survive the withering of time. Its obvious because that is the first paper in existence that human will harvest for clothing hence obvious they will also draw on it or write on it. Kids even today if left alone will start chalking on the walls instead of the books they already have. Why because it is in our blood, walls like stones are also obvious places to leave written history or just scribble, hence only validating human history based on archeological facts contains many logical gaps. For example obviously art can not be proto survival. Language can not be proto mathematics. These are obvious facts, because survival requires collaboration, collaboration requires math and math requires writing and drawing, but writing do not require language. Hence writing is proto language. If I was to propose this in academia as a theory of obviousness, people will laugh at me, but if you were to simply imagine yourself in the shoes of a caveman you will see these were the obvious steps a specie will take before it will get to language. A duck may not be able to count but knows how many chicks she has. How? if one is missing she will eventually notice and look for the missing one.

Evolution Logic or logic of economics

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 22:22:35 +0000

The first species that will develop self awareness will be in a jungle with high diversity and density of life and easy availability of food, not in Africa.

Commented: Do low-time-value buyers sustain cash prices in pickup-only markets?

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 16:10:59 +0000

Is it time to rethink scalar utility as a special case of a broader decision framework?

Thu, 04 Jun 2026 13:29:07 +0000

I’m looking for a technically serious reviewer for a proof package I’ve been developing around what may be a boundary problem in standard utility/scalar aggregation.

The question is this:

Can scalar utility be treated not as the whole decision architecture, but as a restricted subroutine that works only when specific structural conditions are met?

The proof package comes from the Productive Value–Productive Power (PV-PP) framework. The basic claim is not that scalar utility is useless. It is not that economics is wrong. The claim is narrower:

Scalar comparison appears to be locally recoverable inside PV-PP under certified structural conditions, but scalar comparison does not appear to globally contain the full PV-PP decision architecture in classes involving staged selection, governing-domain conflict, changing state, viability thresholds, recovery constraints, and execution authority.

In plain language: one score may be valid when the decision problem has the right structure. But in other cases, the decision is not just “which option has the highest score?” It is “which options are viable under the domains that currently govern the decision, and which stages of the decision process are being collapsed if we force everything into one ranking?”

If this holds, the implication is not anti-utility. It is more like an expansion of the textbook treatment of utility: scalar utility would remain important, but as a special case inside a broader architecture that can identify when scalar compression is valid, merely diagnostic, or structurally misleading.

The current proof package has been reduced to a finite review set. The live theorem packet is V3.25; V3.26 is only a status-and-boundary layer. The package has already gone through adversarial AI-assisted file-control and claim-scope review, but that is not a substitute for a human technical reviewer.

I am looking for someone with strength in one or more of:

mathematical economics
decision theory
utility theory
optimization
formal methods / proof verification
multi-criteria decision theory

The review I need is adversarial. I do not need encouragement. I need someone to look for theorem defects, hidden assumptions, overclaims, condition drift, and places where a proof-control note may be doing more work than the theorem actually supports.

If you know someone who would be willing to review this kind of proof package, or if you think there is a better venue for finding such a reviewer, please contact:

amundsenlance@gmail.com

The review question is simple:

Is scalar utility best understood as the whole decision model, or as a powerful but structurally limited subroutine inside a broader decision architecture?

Commented: Can a non-scalar selection architecture strictly contain scalar aggregation?

Tue, 26 May 2026 00:13:53 +0000

Answered: The Broken Demand/Supply Model of US Healthcare - How to Fix?

Mon, 25 May 2026 14:36:56 +0000

Commented: Minimal benchmark: non-scalar policy selection in gridworld (seeking critique)

Mon, 25 May 2026 14:26:22 +0000

Answered: Using ChatGPT AI for Publishing

Mon, 25 May 2026 14:07:13 +0000

Answered: Is Anyone Willing to Review my Paper?

Mon, 25 May 2026 14:04:23 +0000

Commented: is it important to apply kalman filter in each cell of the matrix for my input ouput model, what the best way to do it?

Mon, 25 May 2026 13:13:02 +0000

Answered: Any paper constructs trimmed+stacked data to do Staggered DID?

Sun, 24 May 2026 21:43:52 +0000

Answered: Identify movers in SIPP

Sun, 24 May 2026 21:41:10 +0000

Commented: Webcast Availability for ASSA 2026 Sessions

Sun, 18 Jan 2026 04:29:12 +0000

Answered: Should central banks change their inflation targets?

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 21:24:49 +0000

Adam Smith and the colonial origins of institutions

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 19:25:13 +0000

While reading Adam Smith's, Wealth of nations (Wordsworth editions, Ware, Hertfordshire, UK, 2012), I was amazed by the fact that he can be regarded as a distant predecessor of the theory of colonial origins of institutions and cross-country differences in economic growth. Specifically, I found these passages in which Smith argues that thinly inhabited European colonies had set better political institutions and, consequently, witnessed more rapid growth.

The colony of a civilized nation which takes possession either of a waste country, or of one so thinly inhabited that the natives easily give place to the new settlers, advances more rapidly to wealth and greatness than any other human society. (Book 4. Of systems of political economy, Chapter 7. Of colonies, p. 560)

Plenty of good land, and liberty to manage their own affairs their own way, seem to be the two great causes of the prosperity of all new colonies. In the plenty of good land, the English colonies of North America, though no doubt very abundantly provided, are, however, inferior to those of the Spaniards and Portuguese, and not superior to some of those possessed by the French before the late war. But the political institutions of the English colonies have been more favourable to the improvement and cultivation of this land, than those of the other three nations. (Book 4. Of systems of political economy, Chapter 7. Of colonies, p. 567)

Answered: What are issues that arise in advising grad students and young colleagues, or about which you have sought advice?

Sat, 05 Jul 2025 21:44:58 +0000

Karfali-VAR 9-Year Cycle: Historical Patterns Forewarning Current Headwinds?

Sat, 05 Apr 2025 15:21:07 +0000

Following up on my previous posts about the Karfali-VAR model and its economic cycle analysis, with its hybrid methodology (30% cycle / 70% VAR), I want to emphasize that the model's discovery of a robust 9-year economic cycle, and its prediction of a potential slowdown or contraction phase around 2025, was established based on historical data analysis (since 1954) using strong statistical tools (like spectral analysis, Augmented Dickey-Fuller test with P=0.01, Granger causality test with P=0.03, plus out-of-sample testing) before the specific global economic frictions and events we see today escalated.

This prediction was not merely an abstract statistical result but was based on recurring patterns observed directly in the historical economic data. This data showed a repeated tendency towards slowing economic growth, manufacturing sector weakness (with the ISM index often nearing or falling below 50), and the appearance of other characteristic pressures of the late stages of the cycle.

Based only on recognizing these recurring historical rhythms, the methodology indicated that the 2024-2025 period represents a late and sensitive phase of the current cycle. Today, we observe that recent developments:

Heightened global discussions on trade policies and tariffs.

Notable volatility in commodity prices (like oil recently).

The ISM manufacturing index falling below 50, signaling contraction.

...strikingly align with the economic environment the model anticipated in advance, making the model serve as an analytical "warning" based on recurring patterns in the data.
ORCID :https://orcid.org/0009-0002-9626-7289
(Statistical details, data, and charts are available via the application: https://preview--cycle-insight-analyzer.lovable.app/ )

This alignment raises a question for discussion: Since the systematic analysis of these historical patterns enabled the model to signal potential economic weakness for the current period before the latest global events fully manifested, does this highlight the foresight value that can be gained by integrating statistically validated, medium-term cycle analysis into our economic monitoring and forecasting tools? Can these approaches offer critical foresight that complements short-term analyses? We invite your opinions on the value of integrating these cyclical approaches into economic monitoring and forecasting.

The karfali-var model identified the nine-year cycle using spectral analysis, ADF test, and Granger causality

Thu, 27 Mar 2025 21:09:19 +0000

The Carvali-Farr model developed a robust methodology to identify recurring patterns in economic data over a nine-year period, supporting the hypothesis of a nine-year economic cycle. By applying a range of advanced analyses, such as spectral analysis, the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test, and Granger causality testing, we were able to demonstrate that this cycle is not random but follows statistical patterns with clear significance in the historical data.

Spectral analysis showed a peak at the nine-year cycle, supporting the hypothesis that the economic cycle follows a fixed, periodic pattern rather than a random one. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test confirmed that the data contains non-random patterns, with a p-value of 0.01, reinforcing the hypothesis that there is a predictable economic cycle. The Granger causality test revealed a causal effect between the nine-year economic cycle and economic variables such as economic growth and employment, with a p-value of 0.03, indicating that the cycle has a significant impact on economic outcomes.

Out-of-sample tests were crucial in validating the model, where it was trained on data from 1954 to 1998 and successfully predicted the major recession of 2007. The model also forecasted another recessionary cycle in 2025, reflecting the accuracy of its future predictions.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth: There is strong growth in the early years of the cycle (1-3), followed by a slowdown in the middle of the cycle (4-6), with a significant weakening in the later years (7-9), where a recession is expected.
https://preview--cycle-insight-analyzer.lovable.app/pattern-detection
Unemployment rate: It begins to decline in the early years (1-3) with economic recovery, reaches its lowest levels in the middle of the cycle (5-6), but starts to rise as the cycle nears its end (7-9).

However, it should be noted that the model does not handle external economic shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, perfectly, which may lead to short-term forecasting errors. But in the long term, the model remains strong in predicting economic patterns.We look forward to discovering the model from your side

https://orcid.org/0009-0002-9626-7289

The oliGARCHy

Tue, 11 Mar 2025 16:32:26 +0000

This is not really a question, but rather an invitation to a new type of economics and a new way of economic thinking. Read the papers ( https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZFYY9VhSF1IVdPsYtqtRcK6lIyNEZW1C/view ), the code ( https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IasW7WyXM8BWOoVq7zeYuWTLsR3uNuvY/view ), the AI analysis I ( https://chat.jaay.fun/obfo29 ) and the AI analysis II ( https://chat.jaay.fun/kgjmfe ) using password 'TheGr8oliGARCH'. I hope this thread turns into a well-rounded discussion of the oliGARCHy.

Commented: Could Numerically-Based Economic Cycles Be the Key to Predicting Future Financial Crises?

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 22:00:40 +0000

Has the Phillips Curve been proven true for all countries?

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 22:22:27 +0000

I found in one research that there is a direct relation between inflation and unemployment in india in year 1960 to 2020

Answered: Survey: Is Economics a Science?

Mon, 09 Dec 2024 06:55:52 +0000

Answered: What are some dissertation-worthy topics in market design?

Fri, 06 Dec 2024 01:44:29 +0000

Answered: Is the prime directive of economcs to maximize net social benefits?

Fri, 06 Dec 2024 01:34:18 +0000

New Federal Research Data Center in Puerto Rico!

Wed, 25 Sep 2024 18:01:51 +0000

As announced recently by Census Bureau Deputy Director Ron Jarmin, the Census Bureau earlier this month officially opened the Puerto Rico Federal Statistical Research Data Center (PR FSRDC). As with the other 33 FSRDCs around the U.S. (https://www.census.gov/about/adrm/fsrdc/locations.html), the PR FSRDC provides a secure computing environment in which qualified researchers can analyze restricted-access data under safeguards that protect respondents from disclosure risks. As the first FSRDC in a U.S. territory, the PR FSRDC opens up new opportunities for scholars in Puerto Rico to use confidential census, survey, and administrative data to conduct research to inform policy and decision-makers and advance understanding of complex economic, social, demographic, and education- and health-related issues. The Census Bureau announcement can be found here: https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USCENSUS/bulletins/3b7de67.

What would it take for this forum to be better utilized?

Mon, 05 Aug 2024 16:19:43 +0000

Forgive the title for what could be interpreted as passive aggressive or critical--that isn't the point. Most posts on here get about 20 views and no responses. Broadly, I'm curious as to what this forum would need to be for people to use it more. What would make you check this forum more often? What would make you post more often? What would you want to see this forum used for? I'll say, for myself: I got off most social media because those sites are bad for my brain. Still, I would like a chance to see some of the things people would post on, say, econ twitter (conference announcements, calls for papers). I can see a number of reasons why this site can't be econ twitter, without a doubt. Still, this forum could be a great resource, if the conditions were right. Thoughts?

Price Insensitive Demand Concept

Thu, 04 Jul 2024 06:58:22 +0000

Greetings, I am a PhD scholar working in resource management and very new to the economics field. I wish to study the 'design' of non-price-based interventions in demand management in areas like energy. As a beginner, I understand the demand function is generally written by relating the amount consumed and the price. Is it possible, if I need to express the demand function solely as the effect of intervention, like energy usage feedback, by keeping the price as an incentive and has negligible effect? I read about the 'movement along the curve' and 'shift in the curve' concepts, but I still can't find research papers or materials that work on the equations involving non-price determinants. I will be grateful if any related research papers and content are shared. Thank you in advance and sorry if I asked some basic questions!!!

Entrepreneurship in the Population (EPOP) Survey Year 2 Data

Thu, 01 Feb 2024 14:55:10 +0000

Data from the second wave of the Entrepreneurship in the Population (EPOP) Survey are now publicly available.

The EPOP Survey is a publicly available resource for understanding the scope of entrepreneurial activities across the United States. The EPOP Survey includes a variety of measures of entrepreneurial activity providing policymakers and researchers with current information about the experiences and perceptions of entrepreneurs across the nation. The results support estimation at the state and major metropolitan area level.

EPOP data are available both as a public use or restricted use data file. To download the public use data or get more information on the application process for the restricted use file, refer to the EPOP website: https://epop.norc.org.

If you have any questions about the survey, please reach out to EPOPresearch@norc.org.

Please share your research. If you have been using EPOP data or have plans to do so in the future, we would love to amplify your research on the study’s publication page!

Thank you!

The EPOP Research Team
NORC at the University of Chicago
55 East Monroe Street, 30th Floor, Chicago IL 60603
EPOPresearch@norc.org

What would be the impact of removing the ability to publicly trade companies?

Fri, 20 Oct 2023 00:21:17 +0000

I was thinking about the incentives on publicly traded companies to show continuous growth, and wondered what the impacts would be if we just stopped doing that. I'm imagining a scenario where people can still invest in companies to support them in exchange for tax write-offs, and we still have the stock market for commodities, but remove publicly traded companies as an idea. I know there would be impacts in many areas, but I'm curious about the degree of those impacts and if we could improve corporate incentive structures without completely upending the entire economy.

What does OMB's proposed "Trust Reg" mean for the Federal Statistical System? Attend this 9/7/23 webinar to find out!

Tue, 05 Sep 2023 14:02:20 +0000

OMB has rolled out proposed regulations on "The Fundamental Responsibilities of Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units" -- also known as the "Trust Act." The Trust Act aims to promote public trust in the recognized Federal statistical agencies and units and lay groundwork for implementation of the "Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018" (a.k.a. the Evidence Act). To help call attention to the proposed changes, a webinar is being held on Thursday Sept. 7, 2023, 1-2pm, featuring Chief Statistician of the U.S. Dr. Karin Orvis, who will review and answer questions about key changes proposed in the rule. The event is cosponsored by the AEA's Committees on Economic Statistics and Government Relations, the American Statistical Association, the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics, the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research, the National Association of Business Economists, among others. The proposed Trust Reg is open for public comment till October 2, 2023, and can be viewed here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/08/18/2023-17664/fundamental-responsibilities-of-recognized-statistical-agencies-and-units.

Do you work on volunteering and civic engagement?

Thu, 17 Aug 2023 18:33:09 +0000

AmeriCorps – the federal agency for national service and volunteerism – is interested in hearing from economists whose research relates to volunteering and civic engagement, and/or who have used the Current Population Survey Civic Engagement and Volunteering Supplement (CEV) in their research.
AmeriCorp sponsors the CPS CEV supplement and runs a research grants program that supports interdisciplinary scholarship on volunteering and civic life in America. To develop a strategy for encouraging vibrant research on these topics in the years ahead, AmeriCorp’s Office of Research and Evaluation is reaching out to economists and other researchers who work in this area, aiming to collect information on diverse use cases of CEV data, learn about work being done by key players in this area, and identify strategic opportunities for collaboration around AmeriCorp's Volunteering and Civic Life in America research.
AmeriCorp would welcome perspectives from economists! If you'd like to contribute to this effort by participating in a 30-minute interview in fall of 2023, please contact Skyler Sauma at SSauma@cns.gov.
To learn more about the Current Population Survey Civic Engagement and Volunteering Supplement (CEV), check out: https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2023/civic-engagement-volunteering-supplement.html.

Debate: Oliver Hart, Stephen Walt, David Teece, Jay Barney, Luigi Zingales, Asli Arikan

Wed, 07 Jun 2023 16:28:31 +0000

Question: How will “the firm” be impacted by the current global, social, political, and economic rivalries, conflicts, and challenges? What does it mean for a firm to face relentless, unstoppable, and unavoidable rivalry?

Dear Colleagues;

Here is the (free) link for the recording of the debate:

“The Firm in the Age of Inexorable Rivalry:
A moderated discussion on the “Theory of the Firm.”

Debaters: Oliver Hart (Harvard), Stephen Walt (Harvard), David Teece (Berkeley), Jay Barney (Utah)
Cross Examiners: Asli Arikan (Kent), Luigi Zingales (Chicago).
Event recording date: May 23, 2023

Organizer and Moderator: Ilgaz Arikan

Free access- Please enjoy:
https://youtu.be/331elAnMHNg

Many thanks to the Academy of International Business (AIB) for their generous support and technical help with this event.

Answered: What is labor economics?

Sat, 13 May 2023 17:58:33 +0000

What are some dissertation-worthy topics in platform economics?

Sat, 03 Dec 2022 06:00:50 +0000

4 years ago, Prof. Al Roth had asked a similar question about market design and got several great answers. In the same spirit, I want to ask about platform economics - theoretical or empirical. That is, what are some areas that seem important but tractable, and therefore might yield productive research questions that could lead to a paper and maybe more? (Using the exact words of Prof. Roth as they perfectly capture my querry.)

Why to consider Taiwan over China or other emerging markets for testing asset pricing models?

Thu, 10 Nov 2022 18:15:38 +0000

What makes the Taiwan stock market special compared to other emerging markets?

New J-PAL Science for Progress Initiative (SfPI)

Wed, 02 Nov 2022 15:42:40 +0000

Yesterday Heidi Williams & Paul Niehaus of J-PAL announced a new "Science for Progress Initiative" (SfPI) which gets right to the heart of new interest in public support for translational research in science & technology. The National Science Foundation has launched a new cross-cutting Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) directorate that aims to fund research with potential to lead to scientific breakthroughs in areas that could foster large improvements in health, the environment, productivity, infrastructure, etc. Via support for multidisciplinary Convergence Accelerators and Regional Innovation Engines, the TIP program hopes to: advance critical technologies; address national & societal challenges; foster partnerships across industry, academia, government, nonprofits, civil society, and communities of practice; and promote and stimulate economic growth and job creation. [Go to https://beta.nsf.gov/tip/latest to read more]. Sounds great, you say -- but where's the evidence that these initiatives could work? J-PAL's new SfPI aims to help inform and shape this work by building evidence on causal links between research support and science-and-technology outcomes. Important questions in this respect include: What contracts, incentives, and institutions work best when funding scientific research? How should funders decide which projects to support? How to get benefits of expert peer review without throttling new ideas from outside the dominant research paradigm? Bringing the "science of science" into new efforts to catalyze scientific progress via public support seems critical to its odds of success. More information on SfPI's agenda can be found here: https://www.povertyactionlab.org/updates/release-new-j-pal-initiative-apply-scientific-method-improve-science-funding-and-policy.

Teaching economics and/or finance in secondary (high) school? How many hours (per school year) and using which textbook?

Tue, 23 Aug 2022 12:46:46 +0000

I am interested in experiences in teaching economics/finance at pre-college level

Why do authors not reply to private questions or comments on articles?

Sat, 20 Aug 2022 10:11:06 +0000

I have been a life member since the 70s. I received my PhD at Harvard in 1980. Back in Australia I have worked in Treasury, the Prime Minister's Department, the Office of the Economic Planning Advisory Council, as Private Secretary to a Senator, an economic consultant and now as a practising lawyer. I flatter myself that I perhaps know a little bit more about the realities of government and taxation policy and practice than most academic economists. Every now and then (not often), I see an article in the AER of interest and write to the authors with a comment. Most do not reply and, in one case, I got a rather arrogant reply which fudged the question. Given that there are probably few readers of most articles, I wonder why a reader does not get the courtesy of a response to a private comment? Does one have to sit down and write a public comment to the effect that the author is a bloody fool, his model is silly, the real world does not give a fig for his model and he (or she) does not know what he is talking about?

Do you have comments on Census Bureau's revised plans to protect the privacy of respondents in the CPS Public Use File?

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 14:35:02 +0000

The Census Bureau has revised plans to change privacy protections in the CPS Public Use File and is seeking comments through July 15, 2022.

If you use the CPS PUF and have insights as to how these changes would affect the value of the data, please consider weighing in. Comments can be emailed to the Census Bureau by 7/15/22 (ADDP.CPS.PUF.List@census.gov), or to the AEA's Economic Statistics and Government Relations Committees by 7/14/22 (martha.starr@aeapubs.org).

A detailed description of planned changes can be found here: https://apps.bea.gov/fesac/meetings/2022-06-10/Paper-Current-Population-Survey-PUF-Disclosure-Avoidance-Proposal-to%20FESAC-061022.pdf.

A thumbnail sketch of proposed changes is as follows.

Issue #1: PRECISION IN WAGE AND EARNINGS DATA

Full precision reporting in wage and earnings data can act as an identifier. As reported wages and earnings increase, the distribution becomes sparser, requiring a graduated rounding scheme

Initial plan                                                                             Revised plan
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dynamic monthly top-code: reported earnings       Same
for cases in the top 3% will be replaced with the
average in the top 3% for the month. (Replaces
former static top-code and should decrease
the % of top-coded cases).

Usual hourly earnings rounded to nearest                Usual hourly earnings rounded to nearest
$0.50 for wages under $9.99/hour;                              $0.05 for wages under $19.99/hour;
nearest $1 for wages $10-99.99;                                  nearest $0.25 for wages $20-39.99;
nearest $5 for wages $100-999.99;                              nearest $0.50 for wages above $40/hour.
nearest $10 for wages above $1000/hour.                Rounding stops at the top code.
Rounding stops at the top-code.

Usual weekly earnings rounded to nearest               Usual weekly earnings rounded to nearest
$10 for earnings under $100/week;                             $5 for earnings under $1000/week;
nearest $50 for earnings $100-999;                             nearest $25 from $1,000 to the top-code.
nearest $100 for earnings $1000-9999;
nearest $500 for earnings $10000-99999;
nearest $1,000 for earnings above $100000/
hour. Rounding stops at the top-code.

Flag used to identify workers who earn                     Same
less than the Federal minimum wage.

Issue #2: GEOGRAPHIC IDENTIFIERS

Re-identification risk exceeds the acceptable threshold for people living in metropolitan areas with populations below 250,000 or non-metropolitan areas.

Initial plan                                                                             Revised plan
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Code as “Other” the CBSA identifier for                    Use multivariate regression to impute
metropolitan areas with populations                         CBSA identifier and metro status for
<250,000 and non-metropolitan areas                       for people in metros with populations
                                                                                                 <250,000 and non-metro areas.

In both cases metropolitan status                               CBSAs with populations <100,000
coded as “not identified.”                                               are coded as “Other,” with metropolitan
                                                                                                 status coded as “Metro.”

                                                                                                People in non-metropolitan areas have
                                                                                                “Other” as CBSA identifier and “Non-metro”
                                                                                                for metropolitan status.

Has anyone yet realized how capitalist economy can get away from its doomed failure in this century?

Tue, 05 Jul 2022 03:35:45 +0000

Everything associated with the sphere of God's world is doomed, but human to certain extent has his liberty. Capitalist economy should have been doomed in the 20th century had not been Keynes's idea of "Demand Management," which later developed into two vital macroeconomic policy - monetary policy and fiscal policy. Capitalist economy nowadays is doomed again but it can hardly be saved by traditional Keynes's arguments and instruments for economies are no longer as independent entities as they were during the last century. Nevertheless, the idea of "Demand Management" has alternatively a theory, meaning some novel capitalist policy beyond monetary policy and fiscal policy. This leads to the idea of "Demand Management" in the 21th century, and that capitalist economy can get away from its doomed failure this century rests on whether or not it could practically develop such a policy instrument, like monetary policy and fiscal policy developed last century.

Answered: Asymmetric Information and Fraud: How well are they covered in textbooks and the literature?

Tue, 05 Jul 2022 01:53:42 +0000

Commented: Fair salary for covering a course during a maternity leave

Tue, 28 Jun 2022 04:30:34 +0000

Has there been an empirical revolution in economics?

Sun, 26 Jun 2022 00:26:25 +0000

I sometimes read that the last twenty years have seen an empirical revolution in economics and that economic theory has begun to lose its saliency in graduate schools. Certainly, an inspection of the table of contents of the major economics journals shows a preponderance of empirical papers. But much of this literature seems to simply reflect economists' skills as data analysts rather than economists per se since the topics addressed would appear to be equally at home in criminology, political science, sociology, and public administration journals. The relevance of much of this research to economics is not clear to me. This is not to deny the high quality of this research. However, traditional economics questions concerning how economic agents behave when their constraints change seem not to be of much interest to the younger generation of economists. I am also concerned with the extent to which this research program is atheoretical, I am old enough to remember the "measurement without theory debate" and to have attended the LSE where I was taught by Lipsey and Co. that science was about the fruitful interaction between theory and empirical analysis. Probably I am just an old fogey.

Why do economists ignore their own supply and demand model?

Sat, 25 Jun 2022 23:23:44 +0000

Three years ago I started a thread that criticized the way in which we teach the supply and demand model. The emphasis was on <<model>> because my concern was with how S&D is taught, especially to majors (and, perhaps, graduate students). The standard verbal/graphical exposition is implicitly or explicitly based on a three equation mathematical model. But the third equation is an <<equilibrium condition>> that means that the market is <<assumed>> to always be in equilibrium. Because there are no equations that show how maximizing agents will react to a disequilibrium price - something that cannot exist in the model - the standard narrative's account of how the market adjusts to disequilibrium is not consistent with the model that is claimed to underpin the analysis. (The claim that firms and consumers can adjust prices violates the <<assumption>> of perfect competition.) Economists seem to be reluctant to admit that their verbal and geometric <<analysis>> is at odds with their mathematical model, which is not to deny the correctness of their intuition of how markets seem to behave. Disequilibrium dynamics is a notoriously difficult and seemingly intractable problem - see Fisher's "Disequilibrium Foundations of Equilibrium Economics" (1984). The math that economists use to come to grips with the problem is very primitive by the standards of professional mathematicians, let alone Fields medalists, and it may be that we need help from mathematicians in coming to grips with this problem. (Just as physicists have maintained a fruitful dialog with mathematicians for the last four hundred years.) In 2018 the Fields medal was awarded to two mathematicians who have made contributions to economics (see https://afinetheorem.wordpress.com/2018/08/01/the-2018-fields-medal-and-its-surprising-connection-to-economics/).

Economics - Definition Itself Is All Wrong

Wed, 22 Jun 2022 03:25:07 +0000

Mahatma Gandhiji said "There is enough in the World for Every person's need but not Enough for One Person's Greed" . Conventional Economics is defined as "The Study of Use of Scarce resources to fulfill Unlimited Wants" . Clearly the two definitions are diametrically opposite understanding of human material problem. If you believe the conventional economics then human material problem won't get solved 1000 years from now. However according to Mahatma Gandhiji the human material problem is due to greed. I have published a paper in an academic journal. Please comment on this paper at this link https://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jef/pages/vol.13i3-Series-1.html

Has anyone yet realized the true reason for inflation?

Sat, 04 Jun 2022 08:15:15 +0000

In terms of an institutionalized economy, some great nation of the ancient mode of civilization can never be really an institutionalized market for the world economy while indeed it can be open as an institutionalized technology for the world economy. The decades of globalization have been thus evolved such that some other nations have been enjoying low prices of products while suffering the loss of the technology of industries and the polarization of the society. The global inflation of these days indicates the reverse of the development and there will be a long period of adjustments. As the matter is of time and structure, unless certain strategic measures are well-planned, short-term monetary and fiscal policies can do little to the matter. Moreover, without a solid and structured technology of supply, fiscal policy has long lost its basis or usefulness.

Has anyone yet realized that trade principles of WTO are based on a collection of technological economies?

Wed, 13 Apr 2022 02:57:36 +0000

In a technological sense, the world is flat so that "Free Trade Policy" is reasonable and applicable. However, as soon as it is realized that the world consists of institutionalized economies, we come to see "Free Trade Policy" is reasonable if trades occur among the economies which are the same or similarly institutionalized; whereas "Protective Trade Policy" is reasonable if trades occur between the economies which are heterogeneously institutionalized. As a Chinese scholar, beyond this tip I'd say no more!

Automatic stabilization of a market sector via the social-ism of the law?

Tue, 12 Apr 2022 15:24:46 +0000

We should have no homeless problem in an at-will employment State with equal protection of our own laws. What would be a Pareto Optimum minimum wage for unemployment compensation in our at-will employment States? Also, what would landlords consider an optimum form of minimum wage for unemployment compensation in order for their market sector to function in a more optimum fashion and manner? Solving simple poverty is also command economics that can function via market-friendly means.

Demonetisation in India can happen in future ?

Sat, 02 Apr 2022 15:57:22 +0000

Do you feel the demonetisation event in India which happened in the year 2016 may occur in the future, i.e., 2030, 2050, etc.?

Has anyone yet realize that DSGE and/or RBC are flawed models in information?

Fri, 01 Apr 2022 08:26:19 +0000

Simply considering that the course of an economy includes not only the state variable of technology but also the state variable of human preference and the state variable of market institutions, one may realize the fact that, apart from the technological shocks, the psychological shocks as well as institutional shocks can also systematically affect the welfare end of an economy.