Robert Solow once remarked: Every discussion among economists of the relatively slow growth of the British economy compared with the Continental economies ends up in a blaze of amateur sociology. This is the final move of right-wing economists whenever the assumptions of their ideologically-infused policy prescriptions end up contradicted by observed reality. After a few… Continue reading Institutions Matter Except When They Are Socialist
Author: Matt Bruenig
The Social Democratic Sharing Economy
In a new piece in Democracy Journal, Nick Hanauer and David Rolf argue that, in response to the rise of the sharing economy, we need to transition away from our employer-provided welfare benefit system to a more public system. Jeff Spross had a nearly identical (though considerably shorter) argument in The Week earlier this month. While I obviously am a… Continue reading The Social Democratic Sharing Economy
Transrace and Transgender
When I am not reading economics-related material, one of the things I like to do is probe the strangest depths of Tumblr identity debates. Although I don’t write about it much (save one time before) and have no particular interest in their outcomes, I find these debates extremely fascinating on a purely argumentative level and… Continue reading Transrace and Transgender
What are the costs of attending college?
The college financing debate has a lot of weird quirks in it. One of those weird quirks is what gets spoken of as the costs of attending college. Consider the following three costs: Opportunity costs (i.e. foregone income in the years you are studying). Direct costs of college itself (i.e. tuition, books, fees, etc.). Living… Continue reading What are the costs of attending college?
Is the GPL aggression?
Is this aggression? I produce some source code and release it under the GPL, which requires that if you use the code in a program you create and distribute, you must release the source code of that program. You download the source code and then use it in a piece of software you produce. You… Continue reading Is the GPL aggression?