The Radford Free Press – Page 54 – All life is problem solving.

Economics / democracy, economic theory, Karl Polanyi, plutocracy, power /

A Quick Note: Utopian or Real?

April 30, 2019

Just a brief follow-on to my recent comments on the role of economics and its relationship with power and/or politics. I pulled out my old copy of Polanyi’s “The Great Transformation” to refresh my memory of his position on the topic. Recall that he talked about the way in which economic activity is embedded within […]

Economics, Politics / capitalism, democracy, inequality, plutocracy, power, Scheidel /

Inequality Conundrums

April 30, 2019

What am I supposed to make of the Scheidel book? Having waded through it I emerge with a grim pessimism — certainly more than when I started. The basic thesis, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, is that periods of relatively greater equality are rare in history and that they ebb away soon after […]

Economics, Politics / democracy, economic theory, inequality, Lucas, plutocracy /

Power: Take Two

April 15, 2019

I have been reading Walter Scheidel’s wonderful book “The Great Leveler”, which gives us a very long period perspective on inequality. Were I to be limited to only two books on inequality, this would be one. It covers the ebb and flow of inequality over an extremely long time, with extensive discussions on civilizations as […]

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