The Curse of Material Progress
the dominance of the economist’s perspective on the world has only spread, even into the language of public life. In hospitals and clinics worldwide, patients and doctors have been recast as customers and service-providers. In fields and forests on every continent, economists are calculating the monetary value of ‘natural capital’ and ‘ecosystem se
... See moreKate Raworth • Doughnut Economics: The must-read book that redefines economics for a world in crisis
A precursory understanding of economics will make it clear that price controls are always counterproductive, resulting in surpluses and shortages. The problems faced by the American economy in the 1930s were inextricably linked to the fixing of wages and prices. Wages were set too high, resulting in a very high unemployment rate, reaching 25% at ce
... See moreSaifedean Ammous • The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking
While this example is, at the moment, imaginary, there is an abundance of evidence demonstrating that new health care technologies very often lead to more spending rather than improved productivity.
Martin Ford • Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future
We’ve got to understand that sometimes as an option, self-checkouts are great. As an obligation, they’re bad—because sometimes the time spent in the process is where the value comes from. You can see this because people on a Saturday love nothing better than to shop in the most inefficient way possible. That’s basically what a farmer’s market is—le... See more
Adam Grant • Are We Too Impatient to Be Intelligent?
From medicine to agriculture, basic science is becoming less productive. “Consider what’s happened in medicine in the twenty-first century,”