J. Bradford DeLong's Blog, page 67

Note to Self: Polanyi: Aristotle Discovers the Economy: H...

Note to Self: Polanyi: Aristotle Discovers the Economy: Hoisted from the Archives: A whole bunch of this article is simply wrong: the claims that "in the fourth century... Greeks initiated the gainful business practices that in much later days developed into the dynamo of market comnpetition" are false. This means that Polanyi is wrong when he says that Aristotle is examining a new phenomenon when he looks at the economy. Aristotle is examining an old phenomenon from the point of view of an Athenian aristocrat. But there is much of value in Polanyi's exposition of what Aristotle says...

#ancienteconomy #economichistory #notetoself #2020-02-11

Dan Ziblatt argues that right-of-center parties, historic...

Dan Ziblatt argues that right-of-center parties, historically, have sought electoral success in broad-franchise political systems by attempting to focus attention on issues other than plutocracy: on clashes either between economic sectors; or over cultural, ethnic, and nationalist issues. In America, there has been another approach: to argue that conservative pro-plutocracy economic policies are what they are they claiming they will not do what they will do. I join Duncan black in believing that this has had a corrosive impact on the discourse ethics of the American right and of many of the journalists who cover American politics: Duncan Black: No One Will Believe You https://www.eschatonblog.com/2019/11/no-one-will-believe-you.html: 'I think about this a lot: "For example, when Priorities informed a focus group that Romney supported the Ryan budget plan���and thus championed 'ending Medicare as we know it'���while also advocating tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, the respondents simply refused to believe any politician would do such a thing." It is a problem when you can completely accurately describe what Republicans very explicitly say they want and people will refuse to believe you and perhaps get mad at you for "lying" to them...

#noted #2019-12-01

This feature, started by Equitable Growth now-alumnus Nic...

This feature, started by Equitable Growth now-alumnus Nick Bunker, is always one of my monthly must-reads. The JOLTS data set is a uniquely valuable source of information: Raksha Kopparam and Kate Bahn: JOLTS Day Graphs: November 2019 Report Edition https://equitablegrowth.org/jolts-day-graphs-november-2019-report-edition/: 'Every month the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics releases data on hiring, firing, and other labor market flows from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, better known as JOLTS.... This report doesn���t get as much attention as the monthly Employment Situation Report.... Below are a few key graphs using data from the report...

#noted #2020-02-11

I tried my cut on these issues in Project Syndicate a lit...

I tried my cut on these issues in Project Syndicate a little while ago: https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/trolls-win-control-of-the-public-square-by-j-bradford-delong-2019-12. I think Annalee Newitz is doing a better job: Annalee Newitz: A Better Internet Is Waiting for Us https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/30/opinion/social-media-future.html: 'Social media is broken. It has poisoned the way we communicate with each other and undermined the democratic process.... Erika Hall���s design firm Mule.... ���I absolutely believe that you can design interfaces that create more safe spaces to interact, in the same way we know how to design streets that are safer,��� she said. But today, she told me, the issue isn���t technical. It has to do with the way business is being done in Silicon Valley.... Companies like Facebook and Twitter lack an incentive to promote better relationships and a better understanding of the news ���because they make money through outrage and deception,��� Ms. Hall said. Outrage and deception capture our attention, and attention sells ads. ���At a business model level, they are ad networks parasitic on human connection.���.... Scalzi... digital media companies that will serve the generations of people who have grown up online (soon, that will be most people) and already know that digital information can���t be trusted. They will care about who is giving them the news, where it comes from, and why it���s believable.... After the social media age is over, we���ll have the opportunity to rebuild our damaged public sphere by creating digital public places that imitate actual town halls, concert venues and pedestrian-friendly sidewalks.... As we���ve already learned from social media, anonymous communication can degenerate quickly. What���s to stop future public spaces from becoming unregulated free-for-alls, with abuse and misinformation that are far worse than anything today?... We need to stop handing off responsibility for maintaining public space to corporations and algorithms���and give it back to human beings. We may need to slow down, but we���ve created democracies out of chaos before. We can do it again...

#noted #2020-02-11

Equitable Growth leader Heather Boushey at the Aspen Inst...

Equitable Growth leader Heather Boushey at the Aspen Institute. Very much worth watching: Heather Boushey: Measure What Matters: Realigning Measures of Economic Success with Societal Well-Being https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVGml8TwAn8&feature=youtu.be...

#noted #2020-02-11

After World War I, 1917-1930

https://delong.typepad.com/files/econ-115-lecture-5.pdf

https://delong.typepad.com/files/econ-115-lecture-5.pptx

#berkeley #economichistory #highlighted #politicaleconomy #2020-02-10

Empire and War, 1870-1919

https://delong.typepad.com/files/econ-115-lecture-4.pdf

https://delong.typepad.com/files/econ-115-lecture-4.pptx

#berkeley #economichistory #highlighted #politicaleconomy #2020-02-10

Wikipedia: Scillus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scillus:...

Wikipedia: Scillus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scillus: 'Scillus or Skillous (Ancient Greek: �����������������) was a town of Triphylia, a district of ancient Elis, situated 20 stadia south of Olympia. In 572��BCE the Scilluntians assisted Pyrrhus, king of Pisa, in making war upon the Eleians; but they were completely conquered by the latter, and both Pisa and Scillus were razed to the ground. Scillus remained desolate till about 392��BCE, when the Lacedaemonians, who had a few years previously compelled the Eleians to renounce their supremacy over their dependent cities, colonised Scillus and gave it to Xenophon, then an exile from Athens. Xenophon resided here more than twenty years, and probably composed the Anabasis here, but was expelled from it by the Eleians soon after the Battle of Leuctra, in 371��BCE. He has left us a description of the place, which he says was situated 20 stadia from the Sacred Grove of Zeus, on the road to Olympia from Sparta, It stood upon the river Selinus, which was also the name of the river flowing by the temple of Artemis at Ephesus, and like the latter it abounded in fish and shell-fish. Here Xenophon, from a tenth of the spoils acquired in the Asiatic campaign, dedicated a temple to Artemis, in imitation of the celebrated temple at Ephesus, and instituted a festival to the goddess. Scillus stood amidst woods and meadows, and afforded abundant pasture for cattle; while the neighbouring mountains supplied wild hogs, roebucks, and stags. When Pausanias visited Scillus five centuries afterwards the temple of Artemis still remained, and a statue of Xenophon, made of Pentelic marble. Scillus's site is near the modern village of Makrisia...

#noted #2020-02-08

Sparta as Theme Park: Cicero: Tusculan Disputations https...

Sparta as Theme Park: Cicero: Tusculan Disputations https://www.gutenberg.org/files/14988/14988-h/14988-h.htm: 'Do you not see how much harm is done by poets? They introduce the bravest men lamenting over their misfortunes: they soften our minds; and they are, besides, so entertaining, that we do not only read them, but get them by heart. Thus the influence of the poets is added to our want of discipline at home, and our tender and delicate manner of living, so that between them they have deprived virtue of all its vigor and energy. Plato, therefore, was right in banishing them from his commonwealth, where he required the best morals, and the best form of government. But we, who have all our learning from Greece, read and learn these works of theirs from our childhood; and look on this as a liberal and learned education. But why are we angry with the poets? We may find some philosophers, those masters of virtue, who have taught that pain was the greatest of evils. But you, young man, when you said but just now that it appeared so to you, upon being asked by me what appeared greater than infamy, gave up that opinion at a word. Suppose I ask Epicurus the same question. He will answer that a trifling degree of pain is a greater evil than the greatest infamy; for that there is no evil in infamy itself, unless attended with pain. What pain, then, attends Epicurus, when he says that very thing, that pain is the greatest evil! And yet nothing can be a greater disgrace to a philosopher than to talk thus. Therefore, you allowed enough when you admitted that infamy appeared to you to be a greater evil than pain. And if you abide by this admission, you will see how far pain should be resisted; and that our inquiry should be not so much whether pain be an evil, as how the mind may be fortified for resisting it.... I do not deny pain to be pain���for were that the case, in what would courage consist?���but I say it should be assuaged by patience, if there be such a thing as patience: if there be no such thing, why do we speak so in praise of philosophy? or why do we glory in its name?.... By the laws of Lycurgus, and by those which were given to the Cretans by Jupiter, or which Minos established under the direction of Jupiter, as the poets say, the youths of the State are trained by the practice of hunting, running, enduring hunger and thirst, cold and heat. The boys at Sparta are scourged so at the altars that blood follows the lash in abundance; nay, sometimes, as I used to hear when I was there, they are whipped even to death; and yet not one of them was ever heard to cry out, or so much as groan. What, then? Shall men not be able to bear what boys do? And shall custom have such great force, and reason none at all?...

#noted #2020-02-08

Esteban Ortiz-Ospina, Diana Beltekian and Max Roser: Trad...

Esteban Ortiz-Ospina, Diana Beltekian and Max Roser: Trade and Globalization https://ourworldindata.org/trade-and-globalization: 'Over the last two centuries trade has grown remarkably, completely transforming the global economy. Today about one fourth of total global production is exported. Understanding this transformative process is important because trade has generated gains, but it has also had important distributional consequences. From a historical perspective, there have been two waves of globalization. The first wave started in the 19th century, and came to an end with the beginning of the First World War. The second wave started after the Second World War, and is still continuing...

#noted #2020-02-08