Blog

Thu, 03/26/2015

As many people are aware, MIT has the excellent Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), headed by economists Esther Duflo and Abhijit Bannerjee, among others (http://www.povertyactionlab.org/).  As they say on their About page, they have become "a global...

Sun, 03/29/2015

What is “the problem of the super-rich”?  

Put simply, it is the inequality r > g.  

Thomas Piketty’s blockbuster book “Capital in the 21st Century” identifies this relationship, r > g, as the fundamental driving force in income inequality.  The details are important, but let...

Mon, 04/13/2015

H.O.P.E.  Higher Order Profit Evaluation.  

The acronym is a joke, but the idea is serious. 

Our political economic system is sadly off track.  We have a sense of the problems facing the world today -- climate change, jobs, immigration reform, widespread discrimination -- and an...

Mon, 05/11/2015

We've heard about "teachable moments."  What about "teachable objects"?  Enter the BAL'N Vending Machine.  

While reading Piketty (2013), I have been struck by how little I understood about the level of income inequality in the world today.  In fact, I'm still trying to get my head around...