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Every end of the year, by the end of the year, we receive numerous estimates of global GDP growth and inflation for the following year. Historically, almost in all cases, expectations of inflation and growth are too optimistic in December for the following year.
In a December 23 article published on mises.org, Lipton Matthews made the compelling case for advocates of free market capitalism to prioritize the moral superiority of capitalism rather than making the case for capitalism’s superior productivity.
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For most experts a key factor that policymakers should be watching is the ratio between actual real output and potential real output. The potential output is the maximum output that the economy could attain if all resources are used efficiently. In Q3 2020, the US real GDP–to–potential US real GDP ratio stood at 0.965 against 1.01 in Q3 2019.
Why do individuals pay much higher prices for some goods versus other goods? To provide an answer to this question economists refer to the law of diminishing marginal utility. Mainstream economics explains the law of diminishing marginal utility in terms of the satisfaction that one derives from consuming a particular good. For instance, an individual may derive vast satisfaction from consuming one cone of ice cream. However, the satisfaction he will derive from consuming a second cone might also be large but not as large as the satisfaction derived from the first cone.
In the Ruins of Neoliberalism: The Rise of Antidemocratic Politics in the West
by Wendy Brown
Columbia University Press, 2019
viii + 248 pages
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On the Judgment of History
by Joan Wallach Scott Columbia University Press, 2020
xxiii + 117 pages
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As we await fall semester grades, the end of my oldest daughter’s high school career is now in sight. For all intents and purposes, the spring semester will have a muted effect.
The other day, during my daily dose of immersion in the cesspool of leftist propaganda that is Instagram, I came across a post that perfectly captures the essence of climate activism. The post comes from Bill Nye, the man who was once a well-liked and entertaining television personality and children’s science educator. Many younger Americans during their primary schooling watched episodes of his PBS show, Bill Nye the Science Guy.
Thomas Jacob: Professor Hoppe, you are known as a critic of the state and of political centralization. Doesn’t the coronavirus prove that central states and central government regulations are necessary?
Hans-Hermann Hoppe: On the contrary.
