To Jason Hickel: I read your blog post elaborating the “de-growth” position that was recently criticized by Branko Milanovic. I have not read your recent book linking the inequality debate to the global warming crisis. And I’m not an academic or a professional economist. And I realize that Branko has already responded to your post. … Continue reading Growth is Good (I hope): An open letter to Jason Hickel
Inequality
Celeryville, Revisited
Yesterday, the New York Times ran a feature on Willard, Ohio – a town of some 6,000 people about 30 miles southwest of my birthplace of Oberlin and about 15 miles northeast of Savannah, where my 90-plus year-old parents now live. Growing up, I called it “Celeryville”, after a smaller, nearby community. Then, as now, … Continue reading Celeryville, Revisited
Book Club: Sampling Pseudoerasmus’ “Top 25 Economic History books since 2000”
Some months ago, Pseudoerasmus posted The 25 most stimulating economic history books since 2000 – not a “best” list, exactly, but a list premised on “best” = “makes you think”. My original, absurd hope was to review several of the books in depth. I’m settling instead for possibly-useful capsule descriptions of volumes that led, in … Continue reading Book Club: Sampling Pseudoerasmus’ “Top 25 Economic History books since 2000”
Branko’s Law: Inequality is eating away at Democracy
The anonymous blogger Pseudoerasmus recently returned to activity after a hiatus (not counting Twitter) of several months. Though he describes himself as a “hopeless positivist”, I think of Pseudo as a sort of empirical volcano; his trademark style is to confront plausible-sounding (but often complacent) economic-historical theories with a veritable ash-storm of contradicting facts. These … Continue reading Branko’s Law: Inequality is eating away at Democracy
winter tomato 