Beyond the mainstream

In this post, I continue the draft of sections of my forthcoming book, “Marxian Economics: An Introduction.” This, like the previous two posts, is for chapter 1, Marxian Economics Today. Beyond the Mainstream This is certainly not the first time people have looked beyond mainstream economics. There is a long history of criticisms of both mainstream […]

Crisis and recovery—pandemic edition

In retrospect, I can now recognize that we were both right and wrong, as is always the case when one tries to look into the future. — Henning Mankell Regular readers of this blog know two things about me: I don’t make predictions. And I use these posts not to pronounce firm conclusions or solutions, […]

Utopia and markets

We hear it all the time. On a regular basis. Having to do with pretty much everything. Why is the price of gasoline so high? Mainstream economists respond, “it’s the market.” Or if you think you deserve a pay raise, the answer again is, “go get another offer and we’ll see if you’re worth it […]

Utopia and macroeconomics

From the beginning, mainstream macroeconomics has been a battleground between the visible and the invisible hand. Keynesian macroeconomics, represented on the left-hand side of the chart above, has an aggregate supply curve with a long horizontal section at levels of output (Y or real GDP) below full employment (Yfe). What this means is that the […]

Utopia and healthcare—2

The dystopia of the American healthcare system certainly invites a utopian response—a ruthless criticism as well as a vision of an alternative. As I showed last week, the left-wing response involves a critique of the conditions and consequences of the capitalist organization of U.S. healthcare and the fashioning of a radical alternative. Single-payer, which uses tax […]

The gilded age: a tale of today*

The timing could not have been better, at least for me. It just so happens I’m teaching Thorsten Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class this week. It should become quickly obvious to students that, as I have argued before on this blog, we’re now in the midst of a Second Gilded Age. This is confirmed […]

Tackle this!

The latest IMF Fiscal Monitor, “Tackling Inequality,” is out and it represents a direct challenge to the United States. It’s not just a rebuke to Donald Trump, who with his allies is pursuing under the guise of “tax reform” a set of policies that will lead to even greater inequality—or, for that matter, Republicans in state […]

Looking for answers

I’m pleased to announce the Democratic Left Scotland has just published Stephen Whitefield’s interview with me. Over the course of our conversation, we discuss the rethinking of Marxism in the United States and its political implications, the difference between political and economic populism, the significance of the Bernie Sanders campaign and how the U.S. left […]

Bottom line

The business press is having a hard time figuring out this one: the combination of unrelenting drama in and around Donald Trump’s White House and the stability (signaled by the very low volatility) on Wall Street. As CNN-Money notes, One of the oldest sayings on Wall Street is that investors hate uncertainty. But that adage, much like other conventional wisdom, […]

Essays in persuasion

I’m often asked—by students and readers of this blog—why I include Keynesian economics, alongside neoclassical economics, within mainstream economic theory. The major reason I do so is because the mainstream debate within the discipline of economics is mostly confined within limits defined by neoclassical economics and Keynesian economics—between (as I explained last year), the conservative invisible […]