Let me take a proverbial "stab" at three of these questions:
Multinational corporations have changed the global economic landscape, but some think that we have entered a process, post-pandemic, of "deglobalization," at least to some extent. I would recommend the essay by Rana Foroohar in last weekend's edition of the Financial Times. It is derived from her book, Homecoming.
The Federal Reserve attempts to balance inflation and unemployment through its influence on the supply of money and credit. If unemployment is regarded as the primary macroeconomic problem, it eases up on the money supply in an effort to stimulate spending. This was the case in 2008 during the financial crisis, as well as in 2020 during the pandemic. Right now, inflation is regarded as the primary macroeconomic problem, so the Fed is tightening the money supply in an effort to restrain spending and mitigate the upward pressure on prices.
The quote that has been historically associated with Milton Friedman is, "In the long run, inflation is always a monetary phenomenon." This means that Friedman laid the responsibility for inflation squarely at the feet of central banks (monetary policy), and not governments (fiscal policy, which refers to government spending and taxation.) Fiscal policy can have an indirect effect on monetary policy if, for example, the monetary authorities take into account the degree of government borrowing when formulating their policy decisions. However, it is not the primary factor.
Economics has never made sense to me. The politicians can’t govern it, the economists can’t predict it—neither group can even manage it well.
I am middle-class. I feel 6 feet from economic disaster each day—it weighs on me and I am tired of it. I dislike our market-driven economy (which insists on exponential growth on a finite planet), yet I rely on this economy because I am immersed in it and must function by its rules. Worse yet, I subscribe to the ethics of a basically penniless carpenter who lived 2000 years ago—a fellow who had not a 401K or Social Security who went around saying we needed to help the poor (and we know what the state and the religious leaders did to him!).
I sometimes joke that economics is some sort of voodoo. I’d much rather try to solve a quantum mechanics problem than deal with economics.
(By the way, it is an election season though, and if you ask the right person, they’ll pronounce that inflation is caused by Joe Biden! Economics is clear during election season…)
Sorry for the rambling! Thank you again John, and God bless.
You are asking really good questions as there is not a clear line between sociology and economics. Case in point is the "Green Revolution." Driven by strong industrial multinational corporations (Monsanto among others) using policies developed by lobbyists and the need of countries to solve the problem of low agricultural output. The World Bank (Created by the USA) allowed underdeveloped countries to borrow, purchase technology and increase their agricultural production. From importers these countries became exporters. The cost of this change is huge, monoculture and international dependence.
Let me take a proverbial "stab" at three of these questions:
Multinational corporations have changed the global economic landscape, but some think that we have entered a process, post-pandemic, of "deglobalization," at least to some extent. I would recommend the essay by Rana Foroohar in last weekend's edition of the Financial Times. It is derived from her book, Homecoming.
The Federal Reserve attempts to balance inflation and unemployment through its influence on the supply of money and credit. If unemployment is regarded as the primary macroeconomic problem, it eases up on the money supply in an effort to stimulate spending. This was the case in 2008 during the financial crisis, as well as in 2020 during the pandemic. Right now, inflation is regarded as the primary macroeconomic problem, so the Fed is tightening the money supply in an effort to restrain spending and mitigate the upward pressure on prices.
The quote that has been historically associated with Milton Friedman is, "In the long run, inflation is always a monetary phenomenon." This means that Friedman laid the responsibility for inflation squarely at the feet of central banks (monetary policy), and not governments (fiscal policy, which refers to government spending and taxation.) Fiscal policy can have an indirect effect on monetary policy if, for example, the monetary authorities take into account the degree of government borrowing when formulating their policy decisions. However, it is not the primary factor.
Economics has never made sense to me. The politicians can’t govern it, the economists can’t predict it—neither group can even manage it well.
I am middle-class. I feel 6 feet from economic disaster each day—it weighs on me and I am tired of it. I dislike our market-driven economy (which insists on exponential growth on a finite planet), yet I rely on this economy because I am immersed in it and must function by its rules. Worse yet, I subscribe to the ethics of a basically penniless carpenter who lived 2000 years ago—a fellow who had not a 401K or Social Security who went around saying we needed to help the poor (and we know what the state and the religious leaders did to him!).
I sometimes joke that economics is some sort of voodoo. I’d much rather try to solve a quantum mechanics problem than deal with economics.
(By the way, it is an election season though, and if you ask the right person, they’ll pronounce that inflation is caused by Joe Biden! Economics is clear during election season…)
Sorry for the rambling! Thank you again John, and God bless.
You are asking really good questions as there is not a clear line between sociology and economics. Case in point is the "Green Revolution." Driven by strong industrial multinational corporations (Monsanto among others) using policies developed by lobbyists and the need of countries to solve the problem of low agricultural output. The World Bank (Created by the USA) allowed underdeveloped countries to borrow, purchase technology and increase their agricultural production. From importers these countries became exporters. The cost of this change is huge, monoculture and international dependence.