Number of words: 4,859 “You’re Hired!” is Casey Mulligan’s memoir of a year spent as Chief Economist of the Council of Economic Advisers. The book is pitched as an analysis of President Trump, “riveting first-hand accounts of President Trump’s engagement with policy and politics.” I read it in part for that reason. Opinions on the … Read more

Number of words: 52 In 19th century America, saloons offered free lunches with drinks; alcohol sales subsidised food. Over time, freeloaders grew so large that restaurants found the deal unviable. Economists have documented how Chicago became the place where both “free lunches” and “there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch”, or TANSTAAFL, movements … Read more

Number of words: 972 In 2015, Pieter Levels predicted there would be one billion digital nomads in the world by 2035. As much as I wanted to believe the Dutch founder’s bold prediction at the time, I couldn’t. It was obvious that the world of work was changing, but the numbers weren’t quite there yet. … Read more

Number of words: 895 Economists and Wall Street analysts are using the word recession to describe the looming plunge in output in the US economy. We’ll just make the point early that economists, exhibiting the typical emptiness of their failed science, can’t even agree on the definition of recession. Undeterred by lacking a definition, the … Read more

Number of words: 2,512 Right now, we have two large, complex systems. The first is a virus sweeping through the global population and our combined efforts to mitigate it. The second is a declining global economy. Both systems are incredibly difficult to measure and understand, much less predict. Both are so large and unruly that … Read more

Number of words: 1,693 Saudi Arabia has instigated two oil price wars in the last decade and has lost both. Given its apparent inability to learn from its mistakes it may well instigate another one but it will lose that as well. In the process, it has created a political and economic strait-jacket for itself … Read more

Number of words: 517 What went wrong? In the old days–six years ago- the kids got along with the system. (Would they now, since we have legislated against safety valves?) The kids are different now. Upon reflection, they too come up with the word deprived. If more kids can’t or won’t go along with us, … Read more

Number of words: 9,544 The strange thing about academics, which always fascinates me, is that they believe they’re completely immune to status considerations and consider themselves to be more or less monks. In reality, of course, academics are the most status-conscious people in the world. Take away a parking space from an academic and see … Read more

Number of words: 3,246 When Pete Buttigieg accepted a position at the management consultancy McKinsey & Company, he already had sterling credentials: high-school valedictorian, a bachelor’s degree from Harvard, a Rhodes Scholarship. He could have taken any number of jobs and, moreover, had no obvious interest in business. Nevertheless, he joined the firm. Each weekday … Read more