I’ve been discussing this with Avi in between work since we hired him last year, and have learned a great deal from this promising young (old) Institutional Economist!
He’ll tell us about his PhD research at the University of Missouri at Kansas City (UMKC).
Should be: “Before Modern (Neoclassical) Economics”
That’s the great thing about economics.
It’s very vague and no-one really knows what it’s all about.
I’ve been a huge fan for many years now. He’s a public intellectual par excellence; a rare thing in our dismal science.
The interview was made during the time Yanis Varoufakis was visiting Zagreb as participant of the 6th Subversive festival “Utopia of Democracy” (4-18th May 2013). Interviewed by: Martin Beroš
You can find other recordings of talks by Varoufakis from the 2013 Zagreb visit here:
Why our happiness and satisfaction should replace GDP in policy making.
Since 1990, GDP per person in China has doubled and then redoubled. With average incomes multiplying fourfold in little more than two decades, one might expect many of the Chinese people to be dancing in the streets. Yet, when asked about their satisfaction with life, they are, if anything, less satisfied than in 1990.
The disparity indicated by these two measures of human progress, Gross Domestic Product and Subjective Well Being (SWB), makes pretty plain the issue at hand. GDP, the well-being indicator commonly used in policy circles, signals an outstanding advance in China. SWB, as indicated by self-reports of overall satisfaction with life, suggests, if anything, a worsening of people’s lives. Which measure is a more meaningful index of well-being? Which is a better guide for public policy?
Punkonomics (@DearBalak) 