I have long admired taxi drivers. They are often well-informed and have a clear-eyed view of human nature that is neither cynical nor sentimental. In the days when there were [ … ]
Automation and jobs
I am often asked to opine about whether automation will destroy all the jobs. Yes, we talk about tractors, which brought farm employment from something like 70% of the country [ … ]
Black Money. India and the Visible Hand of the Market
This post was written by Kaushik Basu, the C. Marks Professor of International Studies and professor of economics at Cornell University, was chief economic adviser to the Indian government in [ … ]
Amazon acquires 91,000 employees. Robots are coming, the human usurption begins
“Amazon has no plans to use the technology it developed for Amazon Go to automate the jobs of cashiers at Whole Foods. No job reductions are planned as a result [ … ]
When everything is just a brand and marches are without a cause and demands without a policy
A few months ago, in a delphic stupor, or maybe I was having lunch, I saw, clear as I see you now, America being just a movie stage, a mock [ … ]
If We Don’t Change the Way Money Is Created, Rising Inequality and Social Disorder Are Inevitable
Centrally issued money optimizes inequality, monopoly, cronyism, stagnation and systemic instability. Everyone who wants to reduce wealth and income inequality with more regulations and taxes is missing the key dynamic: central [ … ]
More non-voting shares
Tim Kroencke at the University of Basel wrote a nice follow up on non-voting shares (previous posts here and here) , which I share with permission. Some of the controversy [ … ]
Non-voting shares response
Todd Henderson and Dorothy Shapiro wrote me a thoughtful response to my post on non-voting shares. Todd and Dorothy: Response to Cochrane We are grateful for Cochrane’s thoughtful response to our [ … ]
Trust Your Neighbors
photo credit: Bigstock I hesitate to show myself in a good light—it seems so much more honest, somehow, to confess to being a complete swine—but the other day I did [ … ]
The Over-Criminalization of American Life
The over-criminalization of America has undermined justice, the rule of law and legal egalitarianism. While the corporate media devotes itself to sports, entertainment, dining out and the latest political kerfuffle, [ … ]