GDP Growth: Seriously Flawed but Not Going Anywhere

Mariano Torras Complexity, Ecological Economics, Environment/Sustainability, General, Macroeconomics, Methodology/Statistics, Politics, Public policy/Wellbeing, Reflections Leave a Comment

December 31, 2020

“Where do people earn the Per Capita Income? More than one starving soul would like to know.” (Eduardo Galeano) U.S. GDP plunged in the second quarter of 2020 at an annualized rate of 31.7 percent. From the standpoint of history, the report was shocking (although perhaps not surprising, given the abrupt policy response to the pandemic). Equally shocking (and unsurprising) was the news for the third quarter, which reported an unprecedented growth rate of 33.1 percent. Yet for most people …

Technological Complexity: The Next Black Swan?

Mariano Torras Complexity, Future, General, History, Microeconomics 1 Comment

December 14, 2020

A comment in Friday’s Financial Times by John Thornhill caught my eye, although not for the reason you might think. His piece was mostly a warning about how our overreliance on technology could spark the next global crisis. The article elaborated on a number of cyberwar and cybersecurity risks that make our modern society increasingly vulnerable to any number of attacks. And sure enough – would you believe it! – just two days later it appears that some Russians successfully …

Why Economic Generalist?

Mariano Torras Complexity, Economic Theory, Future, General, Methodology/Statistics Leave a Comment

June 12, 2020

Welcome to my blog! I am an academic economist, but professional writing for a specialized audience gets old given enough years. Academic writing has always run against my generalist tendencies because I am interested in too many different subjects. I have recently grown interested in writing about economics for a broad audience, instead of trying to communicate exclusively with economists. I disagree with many of them on most things anyway. A “generalist” approach to economics will, I hope, help me …