John Kay » Theory

I have a new working paper with Matthew Ford looking at ‘Ergodicity Economics‘, which is an attempt to produce “a re-write of economic theory, taking account of the ergodicity question: are...

https://www.johnkay.com/2022/06/20/a-critique-of-ergodicity-economics/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-critique-of-ergodicity-economics

John's contribution to this book, published by Springer in March 2017. The post Economic Ideas You Should Forget: The Axioms of Revealed Preference appeared first on John Kay .

https://www.johnkay.com/2017/03/24/economic-ideas-forget-axioms-revealed-preference/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=economic-ideas-forget-axioms-revealed-preference

The term “helicopter money” is derived from a vivid image created by the US economist Milton Friedman in which a central banker showers notes on a grateful populace. More recently, the notion...

https://www.johnkay.com/2016/05/18/helicopter-money-a-disguise-for-debt-financing-funded-by-short-term-borrowing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=helicopter-money-a-disguise-for-debt-financing-funded-by-short-term-borrowing

It is characteristic of science to give precise meaning to concepts and the basis of their measurement. Economics is genuinely harder. Yet it is all too easy to write a mathematical symbol withou...

https://www.johnkay.com/2015/10/07/beware-mathiness-the-use-of-algebra-and-data-to-reinforce-ideological-preconceptions/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=beware-mathiness-the-use-of-algebra-and-data-to-reinforce-ideological-preconceptions

Since 2008, UK employment has risen substantially and working hours have increased but output has barely grown. To explain this productivity puzzle we must dig into the detail of how aggregate st...

https://www.johnkay.com/2015/05/20/be-careful-with-summary-statistics-when-the-underlying-population-is-changing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=be-careful-with-summary-statistics-when-the-underlying-population-is-changing

Following the global financial crisis there has been much discussion of curriculum reform in university economics teaching. More pluralism is required, but there is no need for "two communities w...

https://www.johnkay.com/2015/04/15/we-can-reform-the-economics-curriculum-without-creating-new-disciplines/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=we-can-reform-the-economics-curriculum-without-creating-new-disciplines

Our perception that inflation is the normal condition is no more than a reflection of the experience of people alive today. And there is no qualitative difference between an economy in which pric...

https://www.johnkay.com/2015/01/28/why-worry-about-deflation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=why-worry-about-deflation

The days when economic power was acquired by inheriting the mill are long gone. Mr Buffett began his business career as a mill owner, but closed the mills and went into insurance. That is the rea...

https://www.johnkay.com/2014/11/26/if-capital-is-back-its-in-a-different-sense/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=if-capital-is-back-its-in-a-different-sense

Price indices are compiled by measuring the changes in the cost of buying a fixed bundle of goods chosen to represent the consumption of an average household. But what the average household buys ...

https://www.johnkay.com/2014/11/05/precise-inflation-figures-ignore-evolutions-in-product-quality-and-consumer-choice/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=precise-inflation-figures-ignore-evolutions-in-product-quality-and-consumer-choice

It is a poor criticism of a thermometer that it does not tell us how comfortable we feel. The post GDP is flawed – just not the way most people think appeared first on John Kay .

https://www.johnkay.com/2014/04/16/gdp-is-flawed-just-not-the-way-most-people-think/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gdp-is-flawed-just-not-the-way-most-people-think