Government budget deficit and economic growth
The US budget had a deficit of $32.6 billion in January compared with a deficit of $13.3 billion in December and a surplus…
Why banks are not lenders as such?
According to the popular way of thinking the subject matter of lending is banking activity. It is banks, so it is held that…
Why US productivity data is questionable
According to the US Labor Department, workers productivity in the non-farm sector increased at an annual rate of 1.4% in the fourth quarter…
Expectations and economic growth
In various writings, Milton Friedman argued that there is a variable lag between changes in money supply and its effect on real output…
Why more money can’t generate economic growth?
The view that more money can revive an economy is based on the belief that money transmits its stimulatory effect through aggregate expenditure….
Why assessing business cycles using the NBER approach is questionable
Most economists are of the view that by means of economic indicators it is possible to identify early warnings regarding an upcoming recession or…
Should forecasting accuracy determine the acceptance of a theory?
In order to establish the state of the economy economists employ various theories. Yet what are the criteria for how they decide whether…
Do we need government to promote innovation and economic growth?
According to Mariana Mazzucato, the RM Phillips Professor in the Economics of Innovation at the University of Sussex, government is an important factor…
Why looking at the data without a theory cannot tell us much
For most so-called practical economists, information regarding the state of an economy is derived from the data. Thus if an economic statistic such…
Does the Friedman’s plucking model refute Mises’s boom-bust cycle theory?
According to an article in Bloomberg on November 5, 2019, Milton Friedman’s plucking theory seems to be vindicated. According to Friedman there appears to…