Posts Tagged ‘Economics’
Puerto Rico: Is it America’s Greece? (Part II)
By Dr. Pierre Canac—This is the continuation of last week’s blog, and thus, it is advised to first read Part I if you haven’t done so. Remedies The ball is now in Congress’ court and the speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, indicated that he would push for a solution by March 2016. Commissioner Pierluisi…
Read MorePuerto Rico: Is it America’s Greece? (Part I)
By Dr. Pierre Canac—This is a two-part blog; the second part will appear next week. I usually write about international economics; however, this time I will let the reader decide whether this is what I am doing in this post. The Status of Puerto Rico Puerto Rico is a Commonwealth or a territory that belongs…
Read MoreA Mathematical Gem from Euler
By Dr. Hassan Shirvani–The Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler (1707–1783) is widely considered as one of the greatest mathematicians who ever lived. He made fundamental and path-breaking contributions to many areas of mathematics and physics. In the following example, Euler displays the inspired ease with which he managed to crack some of the most difficult mathematical…
Read MoreA Critique of Behavioral Finance
By Dr. Hassan Shirvani—The recent global financial crisis has raised serious questions about the rationality of the securities markets. In rational markets, prices tend to closely track their fundamental values, so that there is little or no chance of getting price bubbles. During the run-up to the recent crisis, however, many asset prices, including those in the housing sector, seemingly deviated from their correct values, resulting in subsequent financial crashes around…
Read MoreEconomic Inequality in America
By Dr. Hassan Shirvani–The impressive body of empirical evidence recently furnished by the French economist Thomas Piketty and his associates clearly demonstrates that there is a worsening trend of income and wealth inequality in America. This trend, in effect since the beginning of the 19th century, managed to take a breather in the first half of the…
Read MoreIs There An Aerotropolis In Your Future?
By Dr. Roger Morefield — AEROTROPOLIS – THE “FIFTH WAVE” An aerotropolis is a city anchored by an airport. Your first reaction to this may be, “huh?” Like most people, you might see the airport as a place to get in and out of as quickly as possible, and not a very good place…
Read MoreThe Economics of Karl Marx
By Dr. Hassan Shirvani —Karl Marx (1818-1883) was one of the most influential economists of the 19th century. His economics provided a bridge between the classical economics (1776-1850) and the neoclassical economics (1870-1936), with the latter being a precursor to the modern conservative economics. Indeed, much of the neoclassical economics was a reaction against and…
Read MoreDoes the U.S. Government Debt Fit in a Bucket?
By Dr. Pierre Canac —Nobody will disagree that $12.8tn is a large and potentially scary number! That is the U.S. Gross Federal Debt held by the public at the end of 2014. However, if you divide this number by the U.S. Gross Domestic Product which is $17.7tn, we get about 73%. Is this a large…
Read MoreLiquidity Traps: Old and New
By Hassan Shirvani—- The concept of a liquidity trap, introduced by the British economist John Maynard Keynes during the Great Depression of the 1930s, refers to the situation in which monetary policy becomes largely impotent in lowering interest rates to stimulate additional borrowing and spending in the economy. This can result from the fact that…
Read MoreIs it Time for Europe to Call in the Helicopter?
By Dr. Pierre Canac– “Let us suppose now that one day a helicopter flies over this community and drops an additional $1000 in bills from the sky, …. Let us suppose further that everyone is convinced that this is a unique event which will never be repeated,” (Friedman 1969, pp 4–5). In one of…
Read More