New ideas in economics and the social sciences

I crunch the numbers on COVID vaccines. No surprises … they’re going overwhelmingly to rich countries.

Blair Fix

Around the world, rich countries are celebrating as their COVID numbers fall. Their success is no mystery — it’s because of a massive rollout of COVID vaccines. While we should celebrate the development of these vaccines, their

 deployment

highlights the tyrannies of capitalism. Most of the basic research for COVID vaccines was funded by the public. Yet their manufacture is controlled by Big Pharma.

The Quant Case for Open-Access COVID Vaccines

I take a detailed look at the quantitative ritual that orders our social world.

There’s something mysterious about finance. The symbols are arcane. The math is complex. The practitioners are impressively educated. And the stakes are high. All of this gives finance the veneer of higher truth — as if quants are uncovering a reality not accessible to the rest of us. In a sense they are. But the ‘reality’ is not what you think. When you look at stock-market numbers, they do point to a truth about the world.

The Ritual of Capitalization

It has been an … interesting month. But I did manage to finish a small project.

Greetings readers. It’s been an interesting month for me, what with Toronto dealing with an explosive 3rd wave of COVID, and me trying to get work done while my 5-year-old daughter does ‘school’ from home. Life has been, shall we say, interesting. Then, two weeks ago my appendix decided it was time to rupture. That put me in the hospital for a few days, and then home in bed for a few more. I’m now almost fully recovered.

RECASP Back Catalogue Now in Full-Text HTML

A rapid-fire post about Nitzan and Bichler’s buy-to-build indicator.

Today I’m trying a different type of post — one that’s not a deep dive, but instead, a rapid-fire summary of an important topic. My inspiration comes from Cory Doctorow, a sci-fi author who runs an old-fashioned links blog that he syndicates across the internet. (At last count, it’s on pluralistic.net, Twitter, Mastodon, and Medium). I read Doctorow’s blog daily, as he writes consistently excellent commentary on political economy.

A Brief History of the Buy-to-Build Indicator

I explore the power struggle behind ‘free speech’.

They say that Americans love two things: freedom … and guns. The trouble with guns is obvious. The trouble with freedom is more subtle, and boils down to doublespeak. When a good old boy defends his ‘freedom’, there’s a good chance he has a hidden agenda. He doesn’t want freedom for everyone.

Free Speech For Me, Not You

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/partisan_cover.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/partisan_cover.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/partisan_cover.png?resize=450%2C450&amp;ssl=1 450w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/partisan_cover.png?resize=60%2C60&amp;ssl=1 60w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/partisan_cover.png?resize=550%2C550&amp;ssl=1 550w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/partisan_cover.png?zoom=2&amp;resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 300w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" data-attachment-id="10285" data-permalink="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2025/01/31/partisan-politics-and-the-road-to-plutocracy/partisan_cover/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/partisan_cover.png?fit=3000%2C2700&amp;ssl=1" data-orig-size="3000,2700" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="partisan_cover" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/partisan_cover.png?fit=300%2C270&amp;ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/partisan_cover.png?fit=723%2C651&amp;ssl=1" />In this essay, I take a deep dive into the history of American plutocracy and its conspicuously Republican roots.
The post <a href="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2025/01/31/partisan-politics-and-the-road-to-plutocracy/">Partisan Politics and the Road to Plutocracy</a> appeared first on <a href="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com">Economics from the Top Down</a>.

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Partisan Politics and the Road to Plutocracy

I discuss Suaste Cherizola’s prize-winning essay ‘From Commodities to Assets’

As some of you may know, I recently became the editor of the

 Review of Capital as Power

(RECASP), a journal that publishes research on the power underpinnings of capitalism. Each year, RECASP hosts an essay competition. I’m proud to announce that the winner of this year’s prize is Jesús Suaste Cherizola.

 1

His prize-winning paper is called From Commodities to Assets: Capital as Power and the Ontology of Finance.

Jesús Suaste Cherizola Wins the 2021 CASP Essay Prize

Have humans always been egalitarian? The evolutionary evidence suggests not.

Man is born free, yet he is everywhere in chains.

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1762 In his epic 18th-century treatise

 Discourse on Inequality

, Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued that inequality is an ill of civilization, created by private property. If you roll back the clock on civilization, he claimed, you should also roll back inequality. Rousseau was probably both right and wrong.

The Deep History of Human Inequality

Here’s the manuscript for a new piece in The Mint Magazine about the language of economics.

A few months ago, I went down a rabbit hole analyzing word frequency in economics textbooks. Henry Leveson-Gower, editor of

 The Mint Magazine

, thought the results were interesting and asked me to write up a short piece. The

 Mint

article is now up, and is called ‘Power: don’t mention it’. What follows is my original manuscript. If you’ve ever taken Economics 101, then you’re familiar with its jargon.

Power … and the Dialect of Economics

Is capitalist power built on social sabotage?

James McMahon and Blair Fix


 The most important feature of private ownership is not that it enables those who own, but that it disables those who do not.

— Jonathan Nitzan and Shimshon Bichler A key aspect of Jonathan Nitzan and Shimshon Bichler’s theory of ‘capital as power’ is that it treats property not as a productive asset, but as a negative social relation.

In Search of Sabotage

I review Carey King’s new book ‘The Economic Superorganism’.

King, C. W. (2020).

 The Economic Superorganism: Beyond the Competing Narratives on Energy, Growth, and Policy

. Springer Nature. If you are interested in the megatrends of the 21st century, then Carey King’s new book

 The Economic Superorganism

should be on your reading list. It is a well-written, meticulously researched opus on how to understand the sustainability problems that face humanity.

A Review of Carey King’s ‘The Economic Superorganism’

The talk version of my recent paper on degrowth.

This week I had the good fortune to talk with Rok Kranjc and Michel Bauwens about my research on degrowth and hierarchy. The full discussion will be available in a month or so at the Seoul Platform for Initiating Discourses on an Equitable and Resilient Society (which supported this research).  For now, here is my presentation. I discuss ideas from the paper Living the Good Life in a Non-Growth World: Investigating the Role of Hierarchy.

Living the Good Life in a Non-Growth World — The Talk Version

This is the second in a series of two essays written for and supported by the Seoul Platform for Initiating Discourses on an Equitable and Resilient Society. These essays investigate the role that hierarchy plays in driving inequality and unsustainability. Summary   Humanity’s most pressing need is to learn how to live within our planet’s boundaries — something that likely means doing without economic growth.

Living the Good Life in a Non-Growth World: Investigating the Role of Hierarchy (Part 2)

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/rent_poor_cover.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/rent_poor_cover.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/rent_poor_cover.png?resize=450%2C450&amp;ssl=1 450w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/rent_poor_cover.png?resize=60%2C60&amp;ssl=1 60w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/rent_poor_cover.png?resize=550%2C550&amp;ssl=1 550w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/rent_poor_cover.png?zoom=2&amp;resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 300w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" data-attachment-id="9520" data-permalink="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2024/10/23/the-american-housing-crisis-a-theft-not-a-shortage/rent_poor_cover/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/rent_poor_cover.png?fit=3000%2C2700&amp;ssl=1" data-orig-size="3000,2700" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="rent_poor_cover" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/rent_poor_cover.png?fit=300%2C270&amp;ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/rent_poor_cover.png?fit=723%2C651&amp;ssl=1" />I test if the US housing crisis could be solved by taking money from the rich and handing it too the poor. Spoilers ... it would work.
The post <a href="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2024/10/23/the-american-housing-crisis-a-theft-not-a-shortage/">The American Housing Crisis: A Theft, Not a Shortage</a> appeared first on <a href="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com">Economics from the Top Down</a>.

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 The U.S. has a shortage of 7.3 million rental homes affordable and available to renters with extremely low incomes.

— National Low Income Housing Coalition If mainstream economics teaches us one lesson, it’s that when something becomes unaffordable, it’s because of a shortage. And that brings me to the US housing crisis.

The American Housing Crisis: A Theft, Not a Shortage

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/hpi_cover.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/hpi_cover.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/hpi_cover.png?resize=450%2C450&amp;ssl=1 450w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/hpi_cover.png?resize=60%2C60&amp;ssl=1 60w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/hpi_cover.png?resize=550%2C550&amp;ssl=1 550w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/hpi_cover.png?zoom=2&amp;resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" data-attachment-id="9160" data-permalink="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2024/08/22/from-commodity-to-asset-the-truth-behind-rising-house-prices/hpi_cover/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/hpi_cover.png?fit=3000%2C2400&amp;ssl=1" data-orig-size="3000,2400" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="hpi_cover" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/hpi_cover.png?fit=300%2C240&amp;ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/hpi_cover.png?fit=723%2C578&amp;ssl=1" />Houses are getting more expensive. In this post, I look at the reasons why.
The post <a href="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2024/08/22/from-commodity-to-asset-the-truth-behind-rising-house-prices/">From Commodity to Asset: The Truth Behind Rising House Prices</a> appeared first on <a href="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com">Economics from the Top Down</a>.

Your browser does not support the audio tag. Download: PDF | EPUB | MP3 | WATCH VIDEO

 Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.

— John Maynard Keynes, 1936 When it comes to rising house prices, nearly everyone has a theory about the cause.

From Commodity to Asset: The Truth Behind  Rising House Prices

What’s the most pernicious scientific idea ever? I’d give first prize to eugenics and second prize to human capital theory.

If there was an award for the most pernicious scientific idea ever, what theory should get first prize? I would vote for eugenics, a theory that claims we can ‘improve’ humanity through selective breeding. If there was a second prize, I’d give it to human capital theory.

The Rise of Human Capital Theory

This is the first of two essays written for (and supported by) the Seoul Platform for Initiating Discourses on an Equitable and Resilient Society. These essays investigate the role that hierarchy plays in driving inequality and unsustainability. This piece introduces the facts of hierarchy.

Living the good life in a non-growth world: Investigating the role of hierarchy

A hellish year is over and a vaccine is rolling out. Let’s be thankful for science.

We’ve finally reached the end of 2020, a year that many people are happy to forget. In the history books, 2020 will be known for little besides the Covid pandemic. Fortunately, the end of this disaster is in sight. With multiple vaccines starting to roll out, it looks like 2021 will be a better year. Speaking of vaccines, I’ve been racking my brain to find things to be thankful for this holiday season. It’s not easy.

As 2020 Ends, Let’s Celebrate Science

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/earth_backfire.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/earth_backfire.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/earth_backfire.png?resize=1200%2C1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/earth_backfire.png?resize=800%2C800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/earth_backfire.png?resize=600%2C600&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/earth_backfire.png?resize=400%2C400&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/earth_backfire.png?resize=200%2C200&amp;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/earth_backfire.png?resize=450%2C450&amp;ssl=1 450w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/earth_backfire.png?resize=60%2C60&amp;ssl=1 60w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/earth_backfire.png?resize=550%2C550&amp;ssl=1 550w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/earth_backfire.png?zoom=2&amp;resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" data-attachment-id="8598" data-permalink="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2024/05/18/a-tour-of-the-jevons-paradox-how-energy-efficiency-backfires/earth_backfire/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/earth_backfire.png?fit=3000%2C2700&amp;ssl=1" data-orig-size="3000,2700" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="earth_backfire" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/earth_backfire.png?fit=300%2C270&amp;ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/earth_backfire.png?fit=723%2C651&amp;ssl=1" />Efficiency isn't a tool for conserving energy --- it's a catalyst for technological sprawl.
The post <a href="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2024/05/18/a-tour-of-the-jevons-paradox-how-energy-efficiency-backfires/">A Tour of the Jevons Paradox: How Energy Efficiency Backfires</a> appeared first on <a href="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com">Economics from the Top Down</a>.

Your browser does not support the audio tag. Download: PDF | EPUB | MP3 | WATCH VIDEO [R]esource productivity can — and should — grow fourfold. … Thus we can live twice as well — yet use half as much. —

 Factor Four

, 1997 When it comes to our sustainability problems, striving for greater resource efficiency seems like an obvious solution.

A Tour of the Jevons Paradox: How Energy Efficiency Backfires

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/five_cover.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/five_cover.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/five_cover.png?resize=1200%2C1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/five_cover.png?resize=800%2C800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/five_cover.png?resize=600%2C600&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/five_cover.png?resize=400%2C400&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/five_cover.png?resize=200%2C200&amp;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/five_cover.png?resize=450%2C450&amp;ssl=1 450w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/five_cover.png?resize=60%2C60&amp;ssl=1 60w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/five_cover.png?resize=550%2C550&amp;ssl=1 550w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/five_cover.png?zoom=2&amp;resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" data-attachment-id="8469" data-permalink="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2024/04/27/five-years-of-economics-from-the-top-down/five_cover/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/five_cover.png?fit=2000%2C1600&amp;ssl=1" data-orig-size="2000,1600" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="five_cover" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/five_cover.png?fit=300%2C240&amp;ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/five_cover.png?fit=723%2C578&amp;ssl=1" />It appears that I've been blogging for five years. Here's some obligatory navel gazing to celebrate.
The post <a href="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2024/04/27/five-years-of-economics-from-the-top-down/">Five Years of Economics from the Top Down</a> appeared first on <a href="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com">Economics from the Top Down</a>.

My how time flies. As of April 11th, 2024, I’ve been blogging for five years. To celebrate, I thought I’d engage in some obligatory navel gazing. Why blog? I started this blog on a whim. In the spring of 2019, I was one year post PhD and busy publishing pieces of my dissertation. It was about as much fun as licking sandpaper. The problem, I now realize, is that I hate academic writing.

Five Years of Economics from the Top Down

I discuss the advantages of writing technical documents in plain text. And I give you resources to learn how to do it.

As a scientist, I spend much of my time writing. Over the years I’ve experimented with a panoply of writing tools. This week I thought I’d share what I’ve learned. While you can ultimately write on any device that records your words, a good tool makes writing less painful. For a lot of people,

 the

writing tool is Microsoft Word (or some similar word processor). If it works for you, great.

Why and How I Write Scientific Documents in Plain Text

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/bitcoin_cover-1.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/bitcoin_cover-1.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/bitcoin_cover-1.png?resize=1200%2C1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/bitcoin_cover-1.png?resize=800%2C800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/bitcoin_cover-1.png?resize=600%2C600&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/bitcoin_cover-1.png?resize=400%2C400&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/bitcoin_cover-1.png?resize=200%2C200&amp;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/bitcoin_cover-1.png?resize=450%2C450&amp;ssl=1 450w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/bitcoin_cover-1.png?resize=60%2C60&amp;ssl=1 60w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/bitcoin_cover-1.png?resize=550%2C550&amp;ssl=1 550w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/bitcoin_cover-1.png?zoom=2&amp;resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" data-attachment-id="8287" data-permalink="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2024/03/21/is-bitcoin-more-energy-intensive-than-mainstream-finance/bitcoin_cover-2/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/bitcoin_cover-1.png?fit=2560%2C1707&amp;ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="bitcoin_cover" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/bitcoin_cover-1.png?fit=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/bitcoin_cover-1.png?fit=723%2C482&amp;ssl=1" />Yes, the Bitcoin network uses loads of energy. But so does mainstream finance. So which system is more energy intensive? In this post, I do the math.
The post <a href="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2024/03/21/is-bitcoin-more-energy-intensive-than-mainstream-finance/">Is Bitcoin More Energy Intensive Than Mainstream Finance?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com">Economics from the Top Down</a>.

Download:  PDF | EPUB  When it comes to Bitcoin, there’s one thing that almost everyone agrees on: the network sucks up a tremendous amount of energy. But from there, disagreement is the rule. For critics, Bitcoin’s thirst for energy is self-evidently bad — the equivalent of pouring gasoline in a hole and setting it on fire. But for Bitcoin advocates, the network’s energy gluttony is the necessary price of having a secure digital currency.

Is Bitcoin More Energy Intensive Than Mainstream Finance?

As we run out of oil, many people believe that its price will skyrocket. But I think the opposite will happen. Oil prices will plummet … yet oil will grow increasingly unaffordable.

It was a bet heard around the world. Okay, that’s an exaggeration. It was a bet heard mostly by academics and sustainability buffs. But still, it was a bet … and it was important. The year was 1980. The players were biologist Paul Ehrlich and business professor Julian Simon. The two had conflicting ideas about where humanity was headed.

As We Exhaust Our Oil, It Will Get Cheaper But Less Affordable

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/padlock.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/padlock.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/padlock.png?resize=600%2C600&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/padlock.png?resize=400%2C400&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/padlock.png?resize=200%2C200&amp;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/padlock.png?resize=450%2C450&amp;ssl=1 450w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/padlock.png?resize=60%2C60&amp;ssl=1 60w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/padlock.png?resize=550%2C550&amp;ssl=1 550w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/padlock.png?zoom=2&amp;resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" data-attachment-id="7988" data-permalink="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/padlock/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/padlock.png?fit=1080%2C720&amp;ssl=1" data-orig-size="1080,720" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="padlock" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/padlock.png?fit=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/padlock.png?fit=723%2C482&amp;ssl=1" />I take a dive into the world of software and look at the problem of managing dependencies. From the Unix design, we've inherited many problems. Can we nix them with 'Nix'?
The post <a href="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2024/02/17/nixing-technological-lock-in/">Nixing Technological Lock In</a> appeared first on <a href="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com">Economics from the Top Down</a>.

Download: PDF | EPUB Tech development is often portrayed as an open road — a smooth freeway of continuous progress. But the truth is that the road of technology is more like a suburban street, paved with numerous unmarked dead ends. To see one of these dead end, look at

 roads

themselves. As a method for moving people, roads work well … until you fill them with millions of cars.

Nixing Technological Lock In

Peak oil was all the rage a decade ago. Now nobody’s talking about it. The funny thing is, it’s still happening.

Do you remember peak oil? It was all the rage a decade ago. Now, almost no one is talking about it. The funny thing is, the problem never went away. If anything, it’s gotten worse. In this post, I take a deep dive into peak oil. I show you that the peak in the production of conventional crude oil isn’t some distant prospect.

Peak Oil Never Went Away

I build an app that lets you explore my econospeak data.

I’m a fan of hands-on science. My philosophy is that you don’t really understand something until you play with the data yourself. With that in mind, I’ve made an app that lets you explore the data from my last post, Deconstructing Econospeak. A brief refresher. In that post, I used a word-counting bot to analyze the language found in undergraduate economics textbooks.

The Deconstructing Econospeak App

<img width="150" height="150" src="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/tmpaxgnsdau.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/tmpaxgnsdau.png?w=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/tmpaxgnsdau.png?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/tmpaxgnsdau.png?resize=1024%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/tmpaxgnsdau.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/tmpaxgnsdau.png?resize=768%2C768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/tmpaxgnsdau.png?resize=1200%2C1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/tmpaxgnsdau.png?resize=800%2C800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/tmpaxgnsdau.png?resize=600%2C600&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/tmpaxgnsdau.png?resize=400%2C400&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/tmpaxgnsdau.png?resize=200%2C200&amp;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/tmpaxgnsdau.png?resize=450%2C450&amp;ssl=1 450w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/tmpaxgnsdau.png?resize=60%2C60&amp;ssl=1 60w, https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/tmpaxgnsdau.png?resize=550%2C550&amp;ssl=1 550w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" data-attachment-id="7728" data-permalink="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2023/12/29/top-posts-of-2023/tmpaxgnsdau/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/tmpaxgnsdau.png?fit=1280%2C1280&amp;ssl=1" data-orig-size="1280,1280" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="tmpaxgnsdau" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/tmpaxgnsdau.png?fit=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/economicsfromthetopdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/tmpaxgnsdau.png?fit=723%2C723&amp;ssl=1" />I spent the better part of 2023 debunking the idea that higher interest rates down-regulate inflation. Here were the top 5 posts.
The post <a href="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2023/12/29/top-posts-of-2023/">Top Posts of 2023</a> appeared first on <a href="https://economicsfromthetopdown.com">Economics from the Top Down</a>.

Well, another year of blogging is over. For me, it was a year of research themes. I spent the first half of 2023 debunking interest-rate orthodoxy. Then I spent the second half of the year studying the world’s billionaires. Here were the top 5 posts: Do High Interest Rates Reduce Inflation?

Massaging the Message: How Oilpatch Newspapers Censor the News

I built a bot that counts word frequency. Here’s what it says about the language in economics textbooks.

It’s been 20 years, but I still remember the feeling. It was a mix of curiosity and unease. I was curious because I was learning something new. But I was uneasy because something didn’t sit right. The place was Edmonton, Alberta, circa the year 2000. The situation? My first encounter with economics:

 Econ 101

. Interestingly, I can’t remember much of the course content.

Deconstructing Econospeak

Check out the new and improved Capital as Power Forum.

Nothing says 1990s like an ‘internet forum’. Nothing says 2000s like a ‘blog’. And nothing says 2010s like ‘social media’. As we contemplate how social media is ruining our society, let’s hearken back to a simpler day. Yes, I’m writing this on a blog. But today I want to talk about internet forums — specifically the Capital as Power Forum, which has recently relaunched.

The Capital as Power Forum Lives Again!

Here’s a tale about empirical work that demonstrates a simple rule: the deeper you go, the harder it gets.

This post begins with a sigh. For the last month, I’ve been working on a project that analyzes word frequency in economics textbooks. I’d hoped to have the final write up done by now. But I don’t … for reasons explained here. I’m calling this post ‘Working with Google Ngrams’. But even if you’re not interested in ngrams (i.e. word frequency), there’s useful information here.

Working With Google Ngrams: A Data-Wrangling Tale

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How the Rich Get Richer

The effects of class struggle, it seems, are written in the most unlikely of places: the

 stock market

.

It was a Thursday in August when all hell broke loose. The place was Logan County, West Virginia. The year was 1921. Over the next week, one million rounds of ammunition would be fired. Up to a hundred people were killed. All told, it was the largest armed uprising since the American Civil War. Yet you’ve probably never heard of it. That’s because the battle was a

 labor dispute

. It was called the Battle of Blair Mountain.

How the History of Class Struggle is Written on the Stock Market

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Billionaires Are So Predictable

Exciting news! I am the new editor of the

 Review of Capital as Power

.

Exciting news! As of this month, I’m the new editor of the

 Review of Capital as Power

. What is this journal? Why am I editing it? Read on to find out. The

 Review of Capital as Power

(

 RECASP

for short) is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes research that engages with the idea of capital

 as

power.

The Review of Capital as Power

DT Cochrane and I look at the network of corporate power behind Canada’s richest families.

Download: PDF | EPUB

 Blair Fix and DT Cochrane

Every billionaire is … a factory for producing policy failures at scale. — Cory Doctorow The planet has a billionaire problem. According to Oxfam, the world’s billionaires have more combined wealth than the bottom 60% of humanity — some 4.6 billion people. Given this obscene situation, calls are growing to rid the world of the billionaire class. But how do we make that happen?

Mapping the Ownership Network of Canada’s Billionaire Families

Frederick Soddy looms large in the field of ecological economics. Here’s a short dive into his ideas.

In the field of ecological economics, Frederick Soddy looms large. Born in 1877, Soddy became a chemist and eventually won a Nobel prize for work on radioactive decay. Then he turned his attention to

 economics

. Between 1921 and 1934, Soddy wrote four books that looked at how money relates to the physical economy. For his ground-breaking work, Soddy was rewarded with deafening silence.

Frederick Soddy’s Debt Dynamics

With my postdoctoral fellowship wrapping up, I muse about what comes next.

And with that, my postdoc is done. Backing up a bit, for the last two years I’ve had a wonderful research position at York University supervised by political economist Jonathan Nitzan. It was the rare kind of postdoc that allowed me to work on my own research. (What I did with my time? Look at the last two years of writing on this blog!)  Anyway, the job’s been a blast, but the position is over at the end of the month. So what comes next?

A Blind Leap

The US is in uncharted territory. Never before have stocks been so high relative to wages. Here’s what it means.

If you listen carefully, you can hear Jeff Bezos getting richer. There’s the sound again. Another billion in Bezos’ coffers. Let’s put some numbers to this sound of money. Since 2017, Bezos’ net worth has grown by about $4 million per hour — roughly 500,000 times the US minimum wage.

 1

This accumulation of wealth would be absurd during normal times.

Stocks Are Up. Wages Are Down. What Does it Mean?

Twitter trolls don’t think much of my chart relating income inequality to murder rates. Here’s a detailed response.

Download: PDF | EPUB  There’s nothing like waking up to a boatload of Twitter scorn. It’s refreshing, in a masochistic sort of way. Some backstory. After most of my blog posts, I put the charts on Twitter, usually with a provocative caption.

Masochistic Fun with Plutocratic Murder

Exciting news!

 Capital as Power

— the seminal text written by Jonathan Nitzan and Shimshon Bichler — is now available for free as both an epub and online book. Full disclosure: the typesetter was yours truly. What’s

 Capital as Power

? And why did I make a free ebook version? Read on to find out. You must unlearn what you have learned

 1

I don’t talk much on this blog about my personal journey.

Free Capital as Power Ebook

How do you tell the story of plutocratic crime? If you’re Cory Doctorow, you write a detective novel about a forensic accountant. It’s a must-read book that sheds light on the often-ignored world of elite finance.

Download: PDF | EPUB  I still remember when I first encountered Cory Doctorow’s writing. After an internet rabbit hole, I landed on his post ‘Ford patents plutocratic lane-changes’. Man, it made me laugh. Here was a sci-fi writer describing a (real) Ford patent that would monetize the right to change lanes. Is Ford paving the way to a plutocratic hell?

Red Team Blues: Cory Doctorow’s Anti-Finance Thriller

Nitzan and Bichler show that the ratio of net interest to profit is strongly related to the rate of unemployment. Here’s my take on their research, along with some data updates.

Download: PDF | EPUB  In my last post, I discussed the underwhelming relation between interest rates and unemployment. In this post, I’ll look at a better way to connect unemployment to interest income. It turns out that if you take US net interest and divide it by corporate profit, you get a ratio that closely tracks unemployment.

Unemployment and the Maturity of Capitalism

IQ tests have always bothered me. They claim to measure ‘general intelligence’. I think this is bullshit.

Donald Trump took an IQ test … you’ll never guess what he scored! Apologies. That was my attempt at clickbait.

 1

Now that I’ve hooked you, let’s talk about the elephant in the room. No, not Donald Trump. Let’s talk about

 IQ

. For as long as I can remember I’ve been skeptical of measures of ‘intelligence’. The whole procedure rubbed me the wrong way.

Why ‘General Intelligence’ Doesn’t Exist

Do higher interest rate increase unemployment? I look at the evidence and find it lacking.

Download: PDF | EPUB  For the last few months, I’ve been studying the distributional effects of interest-rate hikes. There’s been no shortage of surprising results. In this post, I’ll discuss an effect that is surprising because it’s underwhelming. Many economist claim that when interest rates rise, unemployment will increase. The idea is that higher rates make businesses tighten their belts, leading to less hiring and greater unemployment.

Interest Rates and Unemployment: An Underwhelming Relation

Are interest rates a neutral policy variable? Or are they a tool for class warfare? It turns out that the evidence speaks for itself. Here are three ways that higher interest rates redistribute income.

Download: PDF | EPUB [I]nterest rates are, first and foremost, a distributional variable that affects the income shares of various social groups. — Louis-Philippe Rochon &amp; Mark Setterfield (2007) When I read about monetary policy, I have a rule of thumb. Every time I see the phrase

 interest rate

, I replace it with the term

 wage rate

. Then I ask myself whether the discussion still makes sense. Often, it does not.

How Interest Rates Redistribute Income

People tend to become more individualistic at the same time that hierarchy grows. What explains this paradox?

In the early 1970s, Geert Hofstede discovered something interesting. While analyzing a work-attitude survey that had been given to thousands of IBM employees around the world, Hofstede found that responses clustered by country. In some countries, for instance, employees tended to prefer an autocratic style of leadership. But in other countries, employees preferred a democratic approach.

The Paradox of Individualism and Hierarchy

Using standard tools of economic analysis, I show that the key to reducing inflation is to raise wages as fast as possible.

Download: PDF | EPUB

 To manage inflation, governments have a simple tool


 at their disposal: raise wages as fast as possible.

— Milton Fryman For the last few months, I’ve been diving into the economics of inflation. In this post, I’m excited to review some forgotten history. Our journey starts with a basic question: what is the key policy tool for managing the rate of inflation?

The Key to Managing Inflation? Higher Wages

Here are 10 tips for making charts that pop.

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. In science, the corollary is that a good chart is worth a whole article. Okay, that’s probably an exaggeration … but only slightly. Millions of words are spilled each day communicating science. Yet people have finite time to read. The consequence is that most people skim articles, looking for things that interest them. What’s going to catch their eye as they skim?

10 Tips for Making Beautiful Charts

There is strong evidence that higher interest rates don’t mitigate inflation. Instead, they might make it worse. I wade through the details here.

Download: PDF | EPUB If you’re just tuning in, I’ve spent the last few months debunking some common misconceptions about inflation:

 Is inflation a uniform increase in prices?

No. Inflation is wildly differential.

 Is inflation driven by an ‘over-heated’ economy?

No. Inflation tends to come with economic stagnation.

Interest Rates and Inflation: Knives Out

Low energy growth tends to come with high inflation — what economists call ‘stagflation’. But what causes what? I have a look here.

Download: PDF | EPUB  In my last post, I looked at the relation between economic growth and inflation. As per usual, the evidence didn’t sit well with mainstream economics. According to standard theory, there is a trade off between low inflation and high economic growth. The idea is that you can have one or the other, but not both. So if you want to keep inflation low, you have to ‘cool off’ the economy by slowing economic growth.

The Cause of Stagflation

The rise and fall of empires is written in the language of energy. Let’s have a look at this ‘energy book’ and see why America won’t be ‘great’ again.

They called him the

 ‘Little Emperor’

. Romulus Augustus — better known as Romulus ‘Augustulus’ (‘Little Augustus’) — was the last Western Roman Emperor. He assumed the throne at the age of 16 during a period of unprecedented strife. There had been 8 emperors in the previous 20 years. Like his predecessors, the Little Emperor’s reign was short. It lasted less than a year.

Why America Won’t Be ‘Great’ Again

Here are my most popular posts of 2022. Thanks for reading!

And just like that, another year is over. I’ll remember 2022 as the year I unwittingly stepped into the world of pop psychology. My post on the Dunning-Kruger effect was meant as a humorous aside from my main work in political economy. Instead, that piece became my most-read post ever — pretty much dwarfing everything else I wrote in 2022. It’s an interesting demonstration of what drives attention on the internet.

Why Isn’t Modern Monetary Theory Common Knowledge?

Here’s an update to my post ‘The Truth About Inflation’. As expected, inflation is still differential. And no, it’s not caused by government spending.

Download: PDF | EPUB  In November 2021, I wrote a post called ‘The Truth About Inflation’. At the time, inflation fears were heating up. And as usual, mainstream economists were missing the bus. Sure, economists pointed to the consumer price index and said, “Look, it’s going up!” But they didn’t look under the hood of this index to see the big picture. Despite what economists proclaim, inflation is not a uniform increase in prices.

Inflation: Everywhere and Always Differential

A talk about how and why institutions grow with energy use.

This week was a first for me. I participated in an academic conference that was entirely online. The conference — called Thermodynamics 2.0 — was designed to connect the natural and social sciences. It was a fitting place to discuss my research, and there were many interesting (virtual) talks.

Energy and Institution Size

A how-to guide for academics who want to have their name on lots of papers.

Download: PDF | EPUB  Are you an aspiring academic? If so, this manual will reveal the secret to maximizing your scholarly output. Follow my advice, and you too can become an academic hyper-producer. The golden rule: Don’t do research   Newcomers to the academy typically think that the recipe for success is to ‘do high-quality research’. Nothing could be more false.

How To Be an Academic Hyper-Producer

Want to kill the oil industry? Just enforce its obligation to cleanup old wells.

Download: PDF | EPUB  Environmentalists often argue that if we accounted for the ‘true’ costs of the fossil-fuel business, the industry would go bankrupt. While I understand this sentiment, I think the idea of ‘true’ costs is dubious. Costs exist not because they are ‘true’, but because someone has the power to enforce them. (That’s why Apple can impose a 30% commission on everything in its app store.

How to Make the Oil Industry Go Bust

I dissect how neoclassical economics treats (neglects) natural resources, and discuss ways to fix it.

If it is very easy to substitute other factors for natural resources, then there is in principle no “problem”. The world can, in effect, get along without natural resources.

— Robert Solow, 1974 In the distant future, aliens come to Earth. They find a planet devoid of life. Looking closer, the aliens see that life on Earth

 was

once abundant, but was wiped out by a mass extinction.

Can the World Get Along Without Natural Resources?

I’ve spent a lot of time on this blog debunking economists’ claims about productivity. Usually, I come at the problem from a fairly technical angle, meaning I break down the contradictions involved in economists’ methods. Today, I want to try a more philosophical approach. I’m going to talk about dualism — the idea that something can be two things at once.

Dualism in Science, Theology, and Economics

Ever wondered what trait most affects your income? Turns out it’s your rank in a hierarchy.

If the history of science has taught us anything, it’s that we can’t trust our preconceptions about how the world works. All human societies have developed stories about their place in the cosmos. Almost without exception, these stories were wrong. True, we’ve killed many of the old myths. But the process was slow and excruciating. Humans have existed for hundreds of thousands of years.

What Trait Affects Income the Most?

I’ve started a new section of this blog where I’ll share tips for doing data-driven science.

Exciting news, readers! I’ve started a new section of this blog called Blair’s Science Desk. I’m going to use this section to post tips about doing data-driven science. In creating Science Desk, my goal is to separate two aspects of my writing. On the one hand, I like to write long pieces about original research. On the other hand, I also like to write short notes about doing science.

Check Out My Science Desk

In his recent book, Joseph Henrich argues Western culture exists because the Catholic Church got obsessed with incest. Here’s my in-depth review.

Download: PDF | EPUB The anthropologist Joseph Henrich has written a book called

 The WEIRDest People in the World

. It offers a captivating look at the roots of Western psychology (and capitalism). Here is my in-depth review. * * * Edward O. Wilson, the famed evolutionary biologist and entomologist, argued that the goal of science should be to construct a single ‘consilient’ tree of knowledge.

Weird Consilience: A Review of Joseph Henrich’s ‘The WEIRDest People in the World’

I revisit the productivity-income quagmire.

Today I’m going to revisit a topic that a month ago I committed to stop writing about — the productivity-income quagmire. Neoclassical economists argue that income is proportional to productivity. The problem is that they have no way of measuring productivity that is independent of income. So in practice, they test their theory by assuming it’s true.

Productivity and Income … Again

Do unskilled people actually underestimate their incompetence?

Have you heard of the ‘Dunning-Kruger effect’? It’s the (apparent) tendency for unskilled people to overestimate their competence. Discovered in 1999 by psychologists Justin Kruger and David Dunning, the effect has since become famous. And you can see why. It’s the kind of idea that is too juicy to

 not

be true. Everyone ‘knows’ that idiots tend to be unaware of their own idiocy.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect is Autocorrelation

I crunch the numbers on oil-and-gas depletion in Alberta.

A few months ago I received an intriguing email from researcher and activist Regan Boychuk. For the past 15 years, Boychuk has been studying the oil-and-gas industry in Alberta (Canada) and he wanted to know if I would join his project. I immediately said yes. Some backstory. You can think of Alberta as the Texas of Canada. Alberta is endowed with a vast trove of oil that it has been exploiting for the past 75 years.

A Case Study of Fossil-Fuel Depletion

As 2021 comes to a close, I’m having a distinct sense of déjà vu. A year ago, I wrote a post celebrating COVID vaccines as a triumph of science. And I noted that vaccine discovery is a

 collective

endeavour. The cumulative number of major vaccines tracks closely with the cumulative number of scientific papers, a bellwether for humanity’s collective knowledge.

COVID Déjà Vu

Here’s a recording of a talk that got zoom bombed.

An artist’s enemy is obscurity …  — Cory Doctorow  Like art, the dirty secret of science is that much of it remains painfully obscure. A scientist might spend years collecting and analyzing data, only to have their paper read by a handful of people. Such is the nature of highly specialized work.

Hierarchy, Zoom Bombed

When it comes to inflation, economists get it wrong. More than anything else, inflation is about income redistribution.

Download: PDF | EPUB

 Inflation is always and everywhere a phenomenon of structural change

. — Jonathan Nitzan, 1992 Milton Friedman has been dead for more than a decade, but his ghost still haunts us. In the 1960s, Friedman declared that inflation is ‘always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon’ — a problem of printing too much money.

Economics from the Top Down

A Case Study of Fossil-Fuel Depletion

Top 10 Posts of 2021

COVID Déjà Vu

Hierarchy, Zoom Bombed

The Truth About Inflation

Tips for Web Scraping in R and Python

Redistributing Income Through Hierarchy

Talking Hierarchy With Rachel Donald

Soft-wars

Institution Size as a Window into Cultural Evolution

A Review of Geoffrey West’s ‘Scale’