Inflation in the 21st Century: Taking Down the Inflationary Straw Man of the 1970s

This overview of the history of, and future prospects for, undesirable levels of price inflation in the U.S. economy concludes that concerns raised in 2021 by several well-known economists and analysts – regarding the prospects for accelerating levels of inflation as a result of pandemic-era and post-pandemic fiscal and monetary policy (enacted and proposed) – is misplaced. The wisdom of continuing expanded fiscal policy from late 2021 onwards is supported by an analysis of the prospects for future inflation in terms of both (i) the shortfall in aggregate domestic demand relative to existing endogenous and exogenous supply; and (ii) the metrics of untapped existing sources of additional supply of labor, capital and resulting production to offset incremental demand. To eliminate the issue from comparative association, the paper draws a multi-pronged distinction between the conditions of the early 21st century and those of the latter half of the 20th century that yielded the painful inflation crises of the 1970s. The analysis also includes a comparison of earlier periods dominated by cyclical core goods inflation, to the 21st century history of below-target inflation being supported primarily by service sector inflation in contract rents related to capital assets and in service sectors heavily influenced by third-party payment systems. The conclusion reached is that the four decades of relative fiscal austerity in the United States, coupled with accelerating globalization and technological development, have produced a disinflationary-to-deflationary tendency – extending from prices to labor incomes – that only substantial amounts of targeted federal spending can restore to equilibrium. With sustained levels of accelerating inflation being very unlikely. The paper is written in a style designed to be accessible to those who are not necessarily practicing economists, avoids complex mathematics in favor of graphic explanations, and eschews (or explains) terms that are not familiar to those with only a basic understanding of macroeconomic issues

Economics, Area Studies and Human Development

This paper suggests that area studies and economics have a better chance to be married successfully if we shift our attention from the exclusive emphasis on economic growth towards improvements in human development, especially the much broadened version of that concept. Different areas are shown to differ substantially in terms of the choices they make among the various independent dimensions of well-being and the various indicators within each dimension. The particular characteristics of each area play an important role in determining the choices societies make and the extent to which they are constrained by their initial conditions.Economics, Human Development, Area Studies

What’s Wrong with Contemporary Economics?

It is argued that in educating economists we should sacrifice some of the more technical aspects of economics (which can be learned later), in favour of the compulsory inclusion of (a) philosophy, (b) political science and (c) economic history. Three reasons for interdisciplinary studies are given. In the discussion of the place of mathematics in economics fuzziness enters when the symbols a, b, c are identified with individuals, firms, or farms. The identification of the precise symbol with the often ambiguous and fuzzy reality, invites lack of precision and blurs the concepts. If the social sciences, including economics, are regarded as a “soft” technology compared with the “hard” technology of the natural sciences, development studies have been regarded as the soft underbelly of “economic science”. In development economics the important question is: what are the springs of development? We must confess that we cannot answer this question, that we do not know what causes successful development.

Entrepreneurship is not a Binding Constraint on Growth and Development in the Poorest Countries

It is often claimed that entrepreneurship is indispensable for economic growth and development. These claims are mostly generated by scholars working in the field of entrepreneurship andmanagement studies. In contrast, development economics scholars seem to be less concerned about entrepreneurship in the development process Who is right? I show that the arguments and evidence marshalled so far fails to convincingly show that entrepreneurship is a binding constraint on development in the poorest countries. In development economics institutional weakness, not entrepreneurship, is considered by many tbe a more binding constraint on development, especially over the long run. However, recent advances at the interface of entrepreneurship and development economics suggest that unpacking the .black box. nature ofinstitutions may benefit from incorporating an .entrepreneur.. Thus, even if entrepreneurship isnot a binding constraint on economic development, it may still be worthwhile to study entrepreneurship in development as it may improve our understanding of the real binding constraints.entrepreneurship, development, development economics, institutions

Ranking mainstream economics journals: A note

This paper by applying Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) ranks Economics journals. In contrast with many other studies this paper ranks journals which are characterized as mainstream economic journals rather than interciplinary economic journals. By using one composite input and one composite output the paper ranks 180 journals. In addition for the first time three different quality ranking reports have been incorporated to the DEA modelling problem in order to classify the journals into four categories (‘A’ to ‘D’). The results reveal that the journals with the highest rankings in mainstream economics are Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Economic Literature, Review of Economic Studies, American Economic Review, Econometrica, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Economic Theory, Journal of Econometrics, Economic Journal, Journal of Monetary Economics, Journal of International Economics, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, International Economic Review, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty and Journal of Public Economics.Rankings; Economics Journals; Data Envelopment Analysis

Stock market development and long-run growth

The authors empirically evaluate the relationship between stock market development and long-term growth. The data suggest that stock market development is positively associated with economic growth. Moreover, instrumental variables procedures indicate a strong connection between the predetermined component in the long run. While cross-country regressions imply a strong link between stock market development and economic growth, the results should be viewed as suggestive partial correlations that stimulate additional research rather than as conclusive findings. Careful case studies might help identify causal relationships and further research could bedone on the time-series property of such relationships.Economic Theory&Research,Financial Intermediation,Health Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Financial Intermediation,Achieving Shared Growth,Governance Indicators,Health Economics&Finance

Regional Economic Implications of Water Allocation and Reliability

The understanding of how allocation decisions can maximise the economic returns to the community from water for irrigation has received little attention, but is a significant issue for regional councils, those interested in water allocation policy development, and for irrigated farmers. There is a tradeoff between the amount of irrigated area and the reliability with which it can be undertaken. Overseas studies have generated a curve with optimum levels of allocation which maximise the economic return to the community from the resource. The study on which this paper is based used a single case study to model the individual and regional economic outcomes for four scenarios of water allocation, using daily time step simulation models of the hydrological, irrigation, farm and financial systems over the 1973 – 2000 period. The results show that there is an increasing return to the region as the allocation from the resource increases, at the expense of lower returns to existing users.Irrigation, reliability, regional economic impacts, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Financial Economics, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Technological Developments and their Effects on World Trade: Any Implications for Governments?

This paper summarizes new developments in world trade, technological changes worldwide and their implications for recent theoretical studies in economics. After defining the economic globalization and schematizing its relations with international trade, economic growth and technological change, dramatic increases in world trade in goods, services and financial assets in last decades are statistically documented in Chapter 2. Theoretical studies of economists on international trade and economic growth are certainly affected by the fact that the actual technological developments have strong implications for world trade and output growth. In Chapter 3, this new perspectives in economics are discussed. Last chapter presents some concluding remarks with special reference to the role of governments in the process of technological development within an increasingly globalizing world economy.Technological development, international trade, new trade and growth theories, technology policy, education policy, health policy

Entrepreneurship and Economics

This paper has as objective to show the relationship between the Entrepreneurship and Economics and in this work we have the opportunity to verify the impact of entrepreneurial activity on competitiveness of a country, and I used as example whose countries considered for studies edited by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). We concluded that the relationship between Entrepreneurship and Economics is and will be always strong on measure that entrepreneurship is important to growth and development of the Nations, principally in the countries with strong necessities of that, to improve their life conditions, high their wealth, everything essential for their economic development.Keywords: Entrepreneur; Entrepreneurship; Economics