Saturday, June 2, 2012

Steven Spadijer — "The old, the new and the ugly"


Presentation and interview at Prosper Australia
Blaming The 70′S Economic Bust On Oil Is Incorrect
Posted by Karl Fitzgerald
(h/t Senexx at Modern Monetary Mechanics)

Senexx adds that Steven Spadijer is both a Neo-Chartalist and a Georgist.

6 comments:

Trixie said...

I found this presentation difficult to follow. And the intro in the audio kinda freaked me out.

If it can be done in a sentence or two, what does he see as the cause of the 70s economic bust if not oil?

Tom Hickey said...

Spadijer provides pretty good evidence based on data that the the economic crisis was not inflation-driven by petro prices but rather Ponzi finance that drove up property prices to unsustainable levels, very similar to this crisis. Examining the history of crises, Spadijer finds that they are the result of inflated assets especially real property.

The presentation is worth studying. Lots of good stuff in there. from George, Schumpeter, and Schumpeter's student Hyman Minsky, for instance. Spadijer makes the connections and shows similarities of analysis.

Trixie said...

Thx Tom, will revisit and put more effort in this time.

Another question if you are so inclined: No economic school can deny the economic boom of WWII, but predictably, each interpret it differently.

To me, it's always been an obvious vindication of Keynesianism, and the positive impact massive gov spending into a depressed economy can have.

Yes, gov spending dropped off significantly after the war. I see that as nothing more than the result of sectoral balances management.

But some point to the fact that the success of the US economy after the war had everything to do with the destruction of most developed nations. Ie, last man standing.

High-level thoughts on that last point?

Tom Hickey said...

Destructive wars fuel an ensuing boom in reconstruction and meeting pent-up demand. Lend lease and the Marshall Plan weren't all just the US being the good guy. There was a lot of national interest involved, too.

BTW, the last slide (44 of 44) of Spadijer's presentation is a good summation.

Anonymous said...

Ps Minor point: His name is spelt "Steven", not Stephen (i.e. Steven Spadijer) - might help those who google his work.

Tom Hickey said...

Thanks. Fixed.