Launch of “Political Economy Now!”

Published in April 27th, 2009

In May 1973, dissatisfaction over the teaching of economics at the University of Sydney went from a festering sore amongst the staff only to an outright revolt by a minority of the staff, and a majority of the students. In 1975, a new Department of Political Economy had its first intake into Economics I(P). Thirty [...]

Launch of “Marx and Hayek” by Eric Aarons

Published in April 16th, 2009

Posted by Cassander in Debtwatch

220 Comments

Eric Aarons’ book Hayek versus Marx: And Today’s Challenges will be launched at Gleebooks on Friday April 24th at 6pm. I will make an opening speech about the book and its remarkable author. There will be pre-launch drinks from 6 till 6.40.
Attendance is free, but places are limited. Please contact Gleebooks on (02) 9660 2333, or [...]

“Crunchtime”: Bringing together the best policy minds to discuss Australia’s future

Published in April 16th, 2009

Posted by Steve Keen in Debtwatch

22 Comments

Title: “Crunchtime”: Bringing together the best policy minds to discuss Australia’s future
Location: Trades Hall Auditorium, 4 Goulburn St, Sydney NSW
Link out: Click here
Description: The best policy thinkers from Australia and abroad will come together for “Crunchtime” – Australia’s first progressive think-tank conference.
Tax, social policy, the global financial crisis and climate change will be pulled apart [...]

My PhD Thesis on Minsky and Financial Instability

Published in April 16th, 2009

Posted by Cassander in Debtwatch

8 Comments

A number of blog members have noted that they’d like to have my PhD thesis on Minsky available, as well as my more recent papers on financial instability and endogenous money.
As a first step, here is a link to my PhD thesis. It’s written in my usual style, though because it’s equation heavy, it wouldn’t [...]

Into 5 Figures

Published in April 15th, 2009

Posted by Cassander in Media Coverage

20 Comments

This is something members of the blog won’t be amazed to hear, but it’s a milestone nonetheless: Debtwatch has just had its first two days with more than 10,000 unique readers:

There are also something in the vicinity of 500 RSS readers (I would appreciate finding out how many there are right now, from anyone more [...]

Talk to the Fabian Forum: The Global Financial Crisis: How bad will it get?

Published in April 13th, 2009

Posted by Steve Keen in Debtwatch, Money dynamics, RBA

169 Comments

Broadcast on March 11 2009 by ABC Radio National Big Ideas
A blog member has kindly produced a transcript of the off-the-cuff talk I gave at this forum. I’ve made minor corrections to the punctuation below, but the text is otherwise as delivered on the night without speaking notes–so there are some grammatical slips. For those [...]

Who’d a thought it? Unemployment leaps 0.5% in a month

Published in April 9th, 2009

Posted by Steve Keen in Debtwatch

128 Comments

As usual, the latest set of data from the ABS on the economy was “unexpectedly worse” than (neoclassical) economists had been expecting. The consensus was for a 0.2% increase over the month of March, from 5.2 to 5.4 percent. In fact, it leapt by two and a half times as much, to 5.7%.
This was right [...]

Steve Keen’s Debtwatch No. 33 April 2009: Lies, Damned Lies, and Housing Statistics

Published in April 6th, 2009

Posted by Steve Keen in Australia, Debtwatch, RBA

146 Comments

“Lies, damned lies, and statistics” is part of a phrase attributed to Benjamin Disraeli and popularised in the United States by Mark Twain: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” The statement refers to the persuasive power of numbers, the use of statistics to bolster weak arguments, and the tendency of [...]

And you think I’m ornery (2)

Published in April 1st, 2009

Posted by Steve Keen in Debtwatch

185 Comments

I’ve just been sent this link to a hilarious face-off between Max Keiser and an Economics Professor. Max calls the Wall Street speculators “financial terrorists”, calls for decapitation as in days of olde…
The most fun I got out of this was watching the Professor’s discomfort, and his attempts to understand the crisis in terms of [...]