There is a marvelous article in the ‘Washington Post’ (yes, I know it’s owned by Bezos, the man that owns Amazon, so is not my usual read either) but it provides the best summary of Bitcoin that I’ve yet encountered. I’ve quoted the introduction to whet the appetite: Bitcoin changes prices too quickly to be… Read more
Category:
Basic Economics
Uneconomic aimed at the general reader. Normally descriptive with minimal Mathematics
What is the economy for? Further thought for 2018
In my earlier piece on ‘What is the economy for?’ I should really have mentioned the economist Steve Keen’s idea of what the economy is for, which is “to provide for all the population”. This very succinct summary certainly conveys clearly the idea that it is not to provide for any one group in particular…. Read more
Rethinking economics? What is the economy for?
As much interest has been provoked by the recent effort to make economics less of a belief system and more of a servant to society I thought it worth revisiting a post from much earlier in the year to help us fathom rethinking this thing called economics. It is said there is no such thing… Read more
Ireland As Cyprus Rather than Germany?
The Good Friday agreement allows for a border poll and the reunification of Ireland should there be a possibility of a majority in NI being in favour of the poll. Like the Brexit referendum a simple majority (50%+1) is sufficient to trigger a United Ireland (unlike the Brexit referendum which was simply advisory a NI… Read more
Why can’t a household be more like a bank?
The short answer to this question is of course that householders don’t issue their own money. But banks do. So perhaps we should be complaining less about the household analogy that is the bugbear of a proper understanding of how the economy works – and suggesting another more fitting analogy. A government with a sovereign… Read more
The Duopoly of Money Creation
How is money created? Fiat money is created from nothing on the basis of a promise – a promise to deliver goods or service in the future. Another word for promise is debt – I prefer promise. Only if we believe in these promises does money have value. The teacher promises to teach. The roofer… Read more
What is Fiat Money?
This post addresses the question: What is fiat money? Once we have answered this question, we consider a much harder question – how to maintain confidence in the fiat money belief system?… Read more
Playing Food Monopoly
We now find out that Amazon has bought ‘Whole Foods’. This may be important for them in America but in the UK ‘Whole Foods’ has made consistent losses and have a share of the food market that is so small as to be imperceptible…. Read more
The government spend and tax circuit
If you are interested in how money works and why a teacher (or police officer) costs a lot less than their salary then have a look at this. And here’s a diagram that may help visualise the spend and tax circuit that we discuss. … Read more