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J Is for Junk Economics: A Guide to Reality in an Age of Deception
J IS FOR JUNK ECONOMICS is an A-to-Z guide that explains how the world economy really works – and who the winners and losers are. The book includes more than 400 concise and acerbic entries, several essays, and a full topic index. Expanding on KILLING THE HOW FINANCIAL PARASITES AND DEBT DESTROY THE GLOBAL ECONOMY, Prof. Hudson’s new book covers contemporary terms that are misleading or poorly understood as well as many important concepts that have been abandoned – many on purpose – from the long history of political economy. Two key concepts are RENT THEORY and DEBT, which explain how Unearned Income and the Financial Sector impoverish governments and populations the world over as power and riches flow upward into the hands of the few. Several additional essays provide background for key points and explore today's uncertain political and economic environment. To understand what’s really going on, it's not necessary to re-invent the wheel; the major issues that guide healthy economies were known to the Ancients and were expanded upon by the classical economists of the 18 th and 19 th centuries, including Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, E. Peshine Smith, Simon Patten, Karl Marx, Thorstein Veblen, and others of many political stripes whose aim was to leave the brutal legacy of feudalism behind. Their ideas and principles are brought back into the spotlight here. It is hoped that this book will deconstruct today's “value-free," watered-down and deceptive economics that favor the wealthy, allowing the next generation to create a successful economy with proper checks and balances that will benefit everyone. This is a book you will want to refer to again and again.
406 pages, Paperback
First published February 21, 2017
96 people are currently reading
1140 people want to read
About the author
Michael Hudson
78 books363 followersMichael Hudson is an American economist, Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri–Kansas City and a researcher at the Levy Economics Institute at Bard College, former Wall Street analyst, political consultant, commentator and journalist. He is a contributor to The Hudson Report, a weekly economic and financial news podcast produced by Left Out.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 23, 2018
Hudson is a leader among a group of heterodox economists who oppose the marginalist, model-based, anti-empirical mainstream arm of economics - opposed, that is, to the economists who routinely guide public policy, write columns in the New York Times, and win Nobel prizes. J is for Junk Economics explains this opposition.
The book itself is poorly edited and repetitive, and really should have been condensed. And for those of us who have been reading Hudson's essays or following along with nakedcapitalism.com, there is not much new here. But from talking to lots of people I know that Hudson's approach is not widely known, and most people simply accept mainstream economic pronouncements as given. So for that reason this is a valuable book.
The key points of Hudson's approach are:
1. Economic theories typically work backward from a set of desired conclusions to models that will result in those conclusions.
2. Mainstream economic theory starts with the conclusion that the "free market" is self-stabilizing and leads to optimum outcomes.
3. The economic measures chosen by an economic theory are part of the design of that theory. Mainstream economics uses coarse-grained measures such as GDP, and ignore - or, rather, deride - measures of distribution of income and wealth.
4. Mainstream economic metrics, as well as mainstream economic theory, do not make a distinction between productive economic activity and parasitic economic rent - in the form of land and housing rents, monopoly pricing based on patent rights, privatized provision of basic services such as water and electricity, and monopoly pricing of health care. All such forms of income are treated as earned income.
5. Mainstream economic theories and metrics ignore asset prices as a form of wealth formation. This despite the fact that asset price increases are the primary source of wealth in modern economies.
6. Asset price increases in real estate are a significant driver of the ever increasing share of interest payments on debt - payments that go almost exclusively to the 1 percent.
7. Asset price increases are generally exogenous to the productive economy, and in fact act as a brake on growth of the productive economy.
I could go on, and Hudson does. But the main point is to understand that any eonomic theory has a class basis. Banker/1% friendly mainstream economics has gained intellectual hegemony, and has even managed to convince ordinary 99 percenters that the system we have - one in which gains go primarily to the 1 percent - is good for everyone; that all government services and assets are a drain on the economy; that taxes are a drain on the economy; that regulation is a brake on economic growth. Every one of these ideas is wrong, and every one of these ideas is repeated daily by the news media and by economists.
So Hudson (and William Black and a few others) has been fighting against the established orthooxy for decades. This book is part of that fight.
The book itself is poorly edited and repetitive, and really should have been condensed. And for those of us who have been reading Hudson's essays or following along with nakedcapitalism.com, there is not much new here. But from talking to lots of people I know that Hudson's approach is not widely known, and most people simply accept mainstream economic pronouncements as given. So for that reason this is a valuable book.
The key points of Hudson's approach are:
1. Economic theories typically work backward from a set of desired conclusions to models that will result in those conclusions.
2. Mainstream economic theory starts with the conclusion that the "free market" is self-stabilizing and leads to optimum outcomes.
3. The economic measures chosen by an economic theory are part of the design of that theory. Mainstream economics uses coarse-grained measures such as GDP, and ignore - or, rather, deride - measures of distribution of income and wealth.
4. Mainstream economic metrics, as well as mainstream economic theory, do not make a distinction between productive economic activity and parasitic economic rent - in the form of land and housing rents, monopoly pricing based on patent rights, privatized provision of basic services such as water and electricity, and monopoly pricing of health care. All such forms of income are treated as earned income.
5. Mainstream economic theories and metrics ignore asset prices as a form of wealth formation. This despite the fact that asset price increases are the primary source of wealth in modern economies.
6. Asset price increases in real estate are a significant driver of the ever increasing share of interest payments on debt - payments that go almost exclusively to the 1 percent.
7. Asset price increases are generally exogenous to the productive economy, and in fact act as a brake on growth of the productive economy.
I could go on, and Hudson does. But the main point is to understand that any eonomic theory has a class basis. Banker/1% friendly mainstream economics has gained intellectual hegemony, and has even managed to convince ordinary 99 percenters that the system we have - one in which gains go primarily to the 1 percent - is good for everyone; that all government services and assets are a drain on the economy; that taxes are a drain on the economy; that regulation is a brake on economic growth. Every one of these ideas is wrong, and every one of these ideas is repeated daily by the news media and by economists.
So Hudson (and William Black and a few others) has been fighting against the established orthooxy for decades. This book is part of that fight.
July 10, 2020
One of the best books on economics that I've read so far and one of the books that will shape my economic thoughts going forward. It all finally makes sense! Economics (more like Macroeconomics), as a subject, during school and college were highly mathematical without much regard for the real world. There were many unrealistic assumptions in each theory that I've read so far and the utter lack of relevance to the real world made it difficult to follow many theories (mostly macroeconomic theories, I've personally had fewer complaints with microeconomics) no matter how prestigious awards they might have received. The book has finally unmasked the reasons for any one who is interested.
This book is an expository work on the flaws of mainstream Economics taught at schools, colleges, and universities today. The books questions applicability of the mainstream Economics in the real world with very compelling evidences in the real world including what happened in Latvia after the country became an experimental ground for neo-liberal economists' half-baked and self-serving theories.
As the book seeks to demystify myths taught in mainstream Economics, the author starts with a list of commonly exploited vocabulary in the mainstream Economics. The author blatantly condescends the misuse of the common "Economics" vocabulary to serve interests of a few vested groups (that are affluent due to generational wealth as a result of ineffective policies in their forefathers' era to minimize wealth-grabs and the resulting wealth-gaps; the author calls this class the 'Rentier Class' because this class does not directly participate in the real economy that comprises production and consumption). What was even more eye-opening was the unmasking of the financialisation of rent by the financial sector (Banks that indulge in mortgage lending) and the consequent real-estate property inflation, which has been largely untouched by taxation laws due to neo-liberal economists and their tautology.
The author clarifies the difference between financial capitalism and industrial capitalism, the latter being the ideology promoted by classical economists like Adam Smith. The author's ideas are radical in that he emphasizes the fees/rent/interests paid to the FIRE(Financial, Insurance & Real Estate) sectors as more of overheads than the real factors of production. This main idea pervades the five main articles by the author that follow the glossary in the 50% of the book and the articles substantiate his argument that the mainstream Economics is deceptive and serves vested interests of limited affluent groups, leading the rest of the population into a perpetual modern debt serfdom and into systematic blaming of the victims of modern debt peonage (through unsuspecting creditor protection laws), instead of protecting the debtors that are being led into debt-slavery through predatory lending. All in all, a good book. I'd highly recommend this to anyone that wants to unlearn myths that they might have caught during their student life at schools, colleges, and universities.
This book is an expository work on the flaws of mainstream Economics taught at schools, colleges, and universities today. The books questions applicability of the mainstream Economics in the real world with very compelling evidences in the real world including what happened in Latvia after the country became an experimental ground for neo-liberal economists' half-baked and self-serving theories.
As the book seeks to demystify myths taught in mainstream Economics, the author starts with a list of commonly exploited vocabulary in the mainstream Economics. The author blatantly condescends the misuse of the common "Economics" vocabulary to serve interests of a few vested groups (that are affluent due to generational wealth as a result of ineffective policies in their forefathers' era to minimize wealth-grabs and the resulting wealth-gaps; the author calls this class the 'Rentier Class' because this class does not directly participate in the real economy that comprises production and consumption). What was even more eye-opening was the unmasking of the financialisation of rent by the financial sector (Banks that indulge in mortgage lending) and the consequent real-estate property inflation, which has been largely untouched by taxation laws due to neo-liberal economists and their tautology.
The author clarifies the difference between financial capitalism and industrial capitalism, the latter being the ideology promoted by classical economists like Adam Smith. The author's ideas are radical in that he emphasizes the fees/rent/interests paid to the FIRE(Financial, Insurance & Real Estate) sectors as more of overheads than the real factors of production. This main idea pervades the five main articles by the author that follow the glossary in the 50% of the book and the articles substantiate his argument that the mainstream Economics is deceptive and serves vested interests of limited affluent groups, leading the rest of the population into a perpetual modern debt serfdom and into systematic blaming of the victims of modern debt peonage (through unsuspecting creditor protection laws), instead of protecting the debtors that are being led into debt-slavery through predatory lending. All in all, a good book. I'd highly recommend this to anyone that wants to unlearn myths that they might have caught during their student life at schools, colleges, and universities.
November 6, 2020
Repetitive and intensely so, Hudson is an important economist on a crusade against the neoliberal, neoclassical economic claptrap flooding the mainstream and dominating capitalist strategy. Warning against a new rentier class that is bringing about an age of debt, and a possible age of neo-serfdom/neo-feudalism, Hudson goes to great lengths to disprove the hegemonic position of the modern economists and their purposefully confusing “junk economics.” The financialization of the economy, the valuelessness to social wealth, and the crippling power of debt, are important and defining to the global economy—Hudson goes to great lengths to spread the word and to prove it through his vast knowledge of history and of economics. I didn’t finish the book, but that’s because to read a few pages is to have read the whole thing. And, likewise, to read the whole book straight through would drive you insane. A valuable tool to have on the bookshelf and to accompany Hudson’s biggest works, of which I have read none. I have listened to a few interviews he’s given, and boy howdy, this guy has a lot to say. Give him the time of day, he’s well worth it.
August 20, 2019
A is for adam smith asset price inflation and austerity
accounting as fraud practice
"as if" as trained incapacity
b is for bubble and bailout that follows
balance sheet as a start point to understand eco
accrual of interest leads to exponential debt growth
c is for casino capitalism and client oligarchy
when look eco model, start with policy implications
d is for debt deflation and debt peonage
obliging homebuyers, student debtors as debt peonage
e is for economic rent and euthanasia of the rentier who extracts it
f is for fictitious capital and the FIRE sector
property and control of credit monopoly
different definition of free market from classical and financial
capitalist
g is for grabitization and the groundrent that is its main objective
h is for hyperinflation
hypercognizant
i is for inner contradiction and invisible hand
as if models consist only of rational, moral and ethical
individuals seeking to maximize their consumption(untility) by
working(disutility) and saving with no unearned income or
inherited wealth
the principle of security for private property is used to promote
the sanctity of debt claims...ultimately lead to revolution or
stagnation
j is for junk bonds junk economics and junk mortgages
k is for kleptocrat
l is for labor capitalism and learned ignorance
m is for marginalism and money manager capitalism
mathiness as use of algebraic symbols and quantitative data to
give an appearance of scientific content to ideological
preconceptions
if the government were to pay off this debt money permanently,
there would be no money except for what banks create
bank money is a cliam for payment by the bank, but is accepted by
government which has granted banks the money creating
privilege
when bankers write loans on their computer keyboards, this
creates a counterpart deposit
n is for neofeudalism and its neoliberal advocates
in any pure theory all propositions are essentially tautological,
in the sense that the results are implicit in the assumtions
made
o is for oligarchy and ownership society
p is for ponzi scheme and pension fund capitalism
q is for quandary
r is for rentiers and the race to the bottom they sponsor
investors are willing to pay land rent to banks as interest
creating debt overhead for the economy as a whole
rental income distinguished from economic rent
today's neoliberal ideology is the diametric opposite of this
leberalism, aiming at maximizing the fire sector's interest
and rent extraction
neoliberals have diverted attention from the land rent, resource
rent or monopoly rent that classical economists associated
with the fire sector, but only refer to politician and labour
union
to distract public attention from the desirability of taxing this
flow of unearned income to finance the legitimate functions of
government, the concept of economic rent and with it the
history of economic thought has been excluded from today's
mainstream academic curriculum, it has been replaced by the
mathematized tunnel vision of junk economics
s is for say's law and serfdom
when margaret thatcher said that "there is no such thing as
society," she meant that human and social relationships
outside of market pricing should be ignored-the very
definition of alienation
what most mainstream monetary theory leaves out of account is the
historically most important function of money, to denominate
debts
neoclassical and marginalist economists
what neoclassical economics dismisses as externalities often turn
out to be most important for the overall social system, e.g.
debt deflation. as such, macro analysis is the antithetical to
the ceteris paribus reasoning that underlies mainstream
economics
t is for trickle down economics
u is for unearned income
v is for the vested interests
vested interests as a term coined by thorstein veblen to describe
rentiers using their property and financial claims to buy
control of government
w is for wealth addiction
x & y are for the x & y axes
z is for zero sum activity
the 22 most pervasive economic myths of our time
group1 myths resulting from distortions in the U.S. National
Income statistics (NIPA) that bury economic rent
(unearned income), omit capital gains, and exclude fraud
and crime
money managers define total returns as current income plus
asset price gains
group2 myths of finance capitalism that rationalize its predatory
hold on the economy
group3 myths of labor capitalism, pension fund capitalism and
social security that promote transfer payments to the
financial sector
group4 myths that rationalize saving the bankers instead of the
economy
group5 myths that the economy will achieve balance by shrinking
government
economics as fraud
the public is asked to look at the economy in terms of a universe
in which money is either spent on producing current goods and
services or saved, but not created as loans and debts to buy
or gamble on real estate, stocks and bonds
economic methodology is ideology, and implies policy
a tipoff as to the politics of any economic theory is whether it
distinguishes between earned and unearned income
the essence of classical political economy is to explain how an
unproductive rentier debt overhead polarizes economies and
brings economic growth to a stop
does economics deserve a nobel prize?
hudson bubble model from asset price inflation to debt strapped
austerity
accounting as fraud practice
"as if" as trained incapacity
b is for bubble and bailout that follows
balance sheet as a start point to understand eco
accrual of interest leads to exponential debt growth
c is for casino capitalism and client oligarchy
when look eco model, start with policy implications
d is for debt deflation and debt peonage
obliging homebuyers, student debtors as debt peonage
e is for economic rent and euthanasia of the rentier who extracts it
f is for fictitious capital and the FIRE sector
property and control of credit monopoly
different definition of free market from classical and financial
capitalist
g is for grabitization and the groundrent that is its main objective
h is for hyperinflation
hypercognizant
i is for inner contradiction and invisible hand
as if models consist only of rational, moral and ethical
individuals seeking to maximize their consumption(untility) by
working(disutility) and saving with no unearned income or
inherited wealth
the principle of security for private property is used to promote
the sanctity of debt claims...ultimately lead to revolution or
stagnation
j is for junk bonds junk economics and junk mortgages
k is for kleptocrat
l is for labor capitalism and learned ignorance
m is for marginalism and money manager capitalism
mathiness as use of algebraic symbols and quantitative data to
give an appearance of scientific content to ideological
preconceptions
if the government were to pay off this debt money permanently,
there would be no money except for what banks create
bank money is a cliam for payment by the bank, but is accepted by
government which has granted banks the money creating
privilege
when bankers write loans on their computer keyboards, this
creates a counterpart deposit
n is for neofeudalism and its neoliberal advocates
in any pure theory all propositions are essentially tautological,
in the sense that the results are implicit in the assumtions
made
o is for oligarchy and ownership society
p is for ponzi scheme and pension fund capitalism
q is for quandary
r is for rentiers and the race to the bottom they sponsor
investors are willing to pay land rent to banks as interest
creating debt overhead for the economy as a whole
rental income distinguished from economic rent
today's neoliberal ideology is the diametric opposite of this
leberalism, aiming at maximizing the fire sector's interest
and rent extraction
neoliberals have diverted attention from the land rent, resource
rent or monopoly rent that classical economists associated
with the fire sector, but only refer to politician and labour
union
to distract public attention from the desirability of taxing this
flow of unearned income to finance the legitimate functions of
government, the concept of economic rent and with it the
history of economic thought has been excluded from today's
mainstream academic curriculum, it has been replaced by the
mathematized tunnel vision of junk economics
s is for say's law and serfdom
when margaret thatcher said that "there is no such thing as
society," she meant that human and social relationships
outside of market pricing should be ignored-the very
definition of alienation
what most mainstream monetary theory leaves out of account is the
historically most important function of money, to denominate
debts
neoclassical and marginalist economists
what neoclassical economics dismisses as externalities often turn
out to be most important for the overall social system, e.g.
debt deflation. as such, macro analysis is the antithetical to
the ceteris paribus reasoning that underlies mainstream
economics
t is for trickle down economics
u is for unearned income
v is for the vested interests
vested interests as a term coined by thorstein veblen to describe
rentiers using their property and financial claims to buy
control of government
w is for wealth addiction
x & y are for the x & y axes
z is for zero sum activity
the 22 most pervasive economic myths of our time
group1 myths resulting from distortions in the U.S. National
Income statistics (NIPA) that bury economic rent
(unearned income), omit capital gains, and exclude fraud
and crime
money managers define total returns as current income plus
asset price gains
group2 myths of finance capitalism that rationalize its predatory
hold on the economy
group3 myths of labor capitalism, pension fund capitalism and
social security that promote transfer payments to the
financial sector
group4 myths that rationalize saving the bankers instead of the
economy
group5 myths that the economy will achieve balance by shrinking
government
economics as fraud
the public is asked to look at the economy in terms of a universe
in which money is either spent on producing current goods and
services or saved, but not created as loans and debts to buy
or gamble on real estate, stocks and bonds
economic methodology is ideology, and implies policy
a tipoff as to the politics of any economic theory is whether it
distinguishes between earned and unearned income
the essence of classical political economy is to explain how an
unproductive rentier debt overhead polarizes economies and
brings economic growth to a stop
does economics deserve a nobel prize?
hudson bubble model from asset price inflation to debt strapped
austerity
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 11, 2019
If you know a little about economics, you've probably heard the phrase "Lender of last resort." Well, this book is my dictionary of FIRST resort. Any time I need a refresher on some economic term I pop open Hudson's wonderful book and inform myself with his wit and candor.
Even better, the book comes with five enlightening essays and an interview with the author, further explicating the ideas of one of the best living economists.
Even better, the book comes with five enlightening essays and an interview with the author, further explicating the ideas of one of the best living economists.
May 12, 2023
This is a deeply dissident economics work that will cause you to re-evaluate many, if not most, of the economic assumptions you hold--including implicit assumptions you aren't even aware of. It exposes the two great ruses of modern orthodox economics: first, the eg... [see the rest on my book review site.]
March 15, 2020
This is an informative and surprisingly enjoyable collection of polemic. Hudson breaks the economist stereotype; he is of vigorous, even hyperbolic disposition, and spares no drop of vitriol in his attack on the captivity of his discipline (and, indeed, the global economy) to rentier interests.
June 14, 2024
Just a series of essays. Just watch Hudson’s interviews.
August 9, 2023
This is a companion book to Michael Hudson’s “Killing the Host” that should not be overlooked!!! I’m not familiar with economics as a whole simply because it’s both boring and complex. However, this book demonstrates the importance of understanding the basic principles of economics to expose the flaws within our own capitalist turned oligarchic system. Hudson stresses the need to understand the history behind economics and how money creation came into existence to recognize trends and problems that need addressing in our present day economy. Sadly, he mentions that the neo-liberal takeover of economic studies in educational institutions has replaced historical information with mathematical equations based on virtual reality.
This book is engaging, interesting, and provides jaw-dropping details of economic history. The 1% truly hoards the entire wealth around the globe, leaving us in a state of debt peonage. Wordplay is key in this book as Hudson clearly points out euphemisms used today to confuse/ lull the masses and minimize the predicament that we are in. Demystifying rent extraction and the Financial, Insurance, and Real Estate (FIRE) sector is essential in understanding how our democracy has turned into an oligarchy.
This book is structured in a way where each chapter is dedicated to important economic terms from A through Z. It’s a great way to search for specific topics of interest! The end is dedicated to diving deeper into the politics of economics and is fascinating! I think I finally understand what has led to the current Ukraine predicament that we are witnessing. The US and NATO have specific plans that involve a takeover of resources at the expense of leaving Ukraine in large debt. This book was published in 2017, so it’s crazy how all of this is playing out now!
I’m really interested in Hudson’s other works!
Killing the Host is next on my list!
This book is engaging, interesting, and provides jaw-dropping details of economic history. The 1% truly hoards the entire wealth around the globe, leaving us in a state of debt peonage. Wordplay is key in this book as Hudson clearly points out euphemisms used today to confuse/ lull the masses and minimize the predicament that we are in. Demystifying rent extraction and the Financial, Insurance, and Real Estate (FIRE) sector is essential in understanding how our democracy has turned into an oligarchy.
This book is structured in a way where each chapter is dedicated to important economic terms from A through Z. It’s a great way to search for specific topics of interest! The end is dedicated to diving deeper into the politics of economics and is fascinating! I think I finally understand what has led to the current Ukraine predicament that we are witnessing. The US and NATO have specific plans that involve a takeover of resources at the expense of leaving Ukraine in large debt. This book was published in 2017, so it’s crazy how all of this is playing out now!
I’m really interested in Hudson’s other works!
Killing the Host is next on my list!
February 1, 2020
There are some good points here. There's a Goodreads review by Dale which does a good job of outlining them. I suggest you read that. It's the majority of what you'll gain from investing many hours in this book.
If you are feeling really curious and you find this book in a library, then read one of the essays towards the end of the book. That will achieve the same end but bombard you with lots of invective which will make you wonder whether the author has a point (he does) or is an obsessive nutter (he definitely seems to be) and should certainly lead you to question whether he is serving what he evidently sees a grand cause as well as he could.
On no account should you pick this up if you share my Aspergery (is that a word? who cares? me, a bit, but let's move on....see? I'm working on it) tendency to read books in their entirety on the grounds that you have started, so you'll finish. The encyclopaedic dictionary approach when his theory isn't all that complex means he ends up saying the same thing over and over and over again but differently ordered and with some variety in his insults. Once you figured out his case (before you're through with A iirc), the fun becomes predicting what is coming in each entry (he's going to take this to Mesopotamia again) and once you're bored of that which pejorative terms he will be unable to resist using before the end of the entry. The main pay-off is the satisfaction of finally having made it to the end, but it isn't worth it.
This book is hands down the worst presentation of a decent case I've ever come across. Avoid!
If you are feeling really curious and you find this book in a library, then read one of the essays towards the end of the book. That will achieve the same end but bombard you with lots of invective which will make you wonder whether the author has a point (he does) or is an obsessive nutter (he definitely seems to be) and should certainly lead you to question whether he is serving what he evidently sees a grand cause as well as he could.
On no account should you pick this up if you share my Aspergery (is that a word? who cares? me, a bit, but let's move on....see? I'm working on it) tendency to read books in their entirety on the grounds that you have started, so you'll finish. The encyclopaedic dictionary approach when his theory isn't all that complex means he ends up saying the same thing over and over and over again but differently ordered and with some variety in his insults. Once you figured out his case (before you're through with A iirc), the fun becomes predicting what is coming in each entry (he's going to take this to Mesopotamia again) and once you're bored of that which pejorative terms he will be unable to resist using before the end of the entry. The main pay-off is the satisfaction of finally having made it to the end, but it isn't worth it.
This book is hands down the worst presentation of a decent case I've ever come across. Avoid!
July 5, 2023
In this book, Hudson defines economic terms with his personal opinions woven in. It's a clever idea, but unfortunately the format is incredibly repetitive. If you want Hudson's economic thoughts I'd recommend his essays or other works. Also as an aside: he complains a lot about the "math" behind neoclassical and neo-Keynesian economics without seeming to understand it. It's quite annoying; there are valid concerns with econometrics and DSGE models but I don't think Hudson actually hits on any of the important points. Overall, a disappointing read.
December 10, 2020
Michael Hudson's books are must reads for both categories of people, economists/MBAs as well as the non economists.
For the economists/MBAs because they are throughly/actively misinformed & non economists because they are uninformed.
For the economists/MBAs because they are throughly/actively misinformed & non economists because they are uninformed.
August 31, 2018
insightful if (very) repetitive by the end (although the interview is good).
September 28, 2020
Difficult reading if you are not an economist
March 22, 2022
Good definition terms
December 5, 2024
The A-Z is extremely repetitive, but the essays and bits'n'bobs at the end are marvelous. He was spot on about Ukraine.
February 5, 2025
Very good, heavy read. Good economic explanation of why it is logical to be a socialist.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews