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The Tradeoffs of a Higher Federal Debt

2021 has a lot of fiscal policy. Economists trying to discuss what impact this would have on the supply side and what inflationary impacts might result. Looking at impact to US economy and to economies of OECD and EM. Exploring if/when/how the debt will wind down in the future. People in the discussion: Moderator: Raghuram Rajan, University of Chicago and NBER Lawrence H. Summers, Harvard University and NBER Carmen Reinhart. World Bank and NBER Richardo Reis, London School of Economics
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Milton Friedman's Social Responsibility of Business Revisited

In the wake of BLM, many corporate executives are standing up for social and political causes. Most recently, many companies released statements disapproving of Georgia's voter restricting laws. Despite being a fan of socially aware corporations, the many corporations allying themselves with social causes never sat well with me. Finally The Economist published an article that best explains my reservations. The Economist leans heavily on Milton Friedman's corporate obligation for profit maximization, which until 2020 I dismissed as being outdated in the modern era. Government is not particularly good at regulating new unknown technology/industries and the idea that Congressmen could ever properly regulate Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Tesla, and the like seemed infeasible to me. A few years ago I am sure The Economist would have been more sympathetic of my dismissal but it seems like they have changed their mind. Give it a read! I linked the original Times article as well as the ...

Lionel Robbins: A History of Economic Thought 1981

Currently going through this lecture series from Lionel Robbins from the London School of Economics given during 1979 - 1980 and 1980 - 1981 academic years. I am loving the episodic nature of his lectures. Summary: An episodic telling of great economic theorists from Plato to Irving Fisher. Heavily biased towards writers whom in his opinion had the greatest influence. Less comprehensive than other similar HET works. He has an excellent reading list at the back on Appendix A. Great place to pick up more interesting books. Essential readings according to Robbins: Joseph Schumpeter: Economic Doctrine & Method BOOK NEW Richard Cantillon: Essai sur la Nature du Commerce John Quesnay: Tableau Economique David Hume: Economic Essays Adam Smith: Wealth of Nations Richard Cantillon: Principles Marx: Das Kapital volumes 1 - 3; Critique of Political Economy (the earlier work) Cournot: Recherches sur les principes mathematiques de la theorie des richesses (translated by Irving Fisher) Jevons: T...