Asymptosis: Always Approaching

Tag: productivity

  • Depression Lessons: How Much Fiscal Stimulus?

    There's lots of talk these days on upcoming fiscal stimulus–how much it should be and how it should be delivered. The NYT Economix blog offers recommendations from several economists, assuming a $500-billion package. Here's one that Greg Mankiw likes. When it comes to the size of the stimulus–and as Krugman argues quite cogently, in this…

  • Why Prosperity Requires a Welfare State

    I’ve been spending a lot of time lately pondering James Livingston’s insights on how modern, high-productivity, post-industrial economies work, as expressed in two of his posts which I link to and encapsulate here. What finally closed the loop for me was re-reading Ray Kurzweil and others on past trends, and what the future holds: exponential…

  • All Cashed Up with Nowhere to Go: What Caused the Depression(s), and What to Do About It

    I’ve been meaning to post about this great two–part article by James Livingston (H/T to Mark Thoma), on the causes of the Great Depression and the current…whatever it is. Livingston’s explanation for both cases (in my words): There were oceans of money with not enough productive uses available (like, investments in physical plants and wages–things…