Nick Johnson
@nickfj.bsky.social
Blogging at peofdev.wordpress.com, mainly on heterodox economics, development, political economy | Former grad student at SOAS, London Uni
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Blogging on economics and political economy in 2026 – Part 1
Some topics of great and continuing personal interest. More in Part 2 next week. Judging by overall views, in 2025 this blog has generated the most interest since 2020, the year of the pandemic. It…
peofdev.wordpress.com
New post: Blogging on economics and political economy in 2026 - Part 1
Some topics of great and continuing personal interest. More in Part 2 next week. peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/12/24/b...
Some topics of great and continuing personal interest. More in Part 2 next week. peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/12/24/b...
New post: Blogging on economics and political economy in 2026 - Part 1
Some topics of great and continuing personal interest. More in Part 2 next week. peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/12/24/b...
Some topics of great and continuing personal interest. More in Part 2 next week. peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/12/24/b...
Blogging on economics and political economy in 2026 – Part 1
Some topics of great and continuing personal interest. More in Part 2 next week. Judging by overall views, in 2025 this blog has generated the most interest since 2020, the year of the pandemic. It…
peofdev.wordpress.com
December 24, 2025 at 10:05 AM
New post: Blogging on economics and political economy in 2026 - Part 1
Some topics of great and continuing personal interest. More in Part 2 next week. peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/12/24/b...
Some topics of great and continuing personal interest. More in Part 2 next week. peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/12/24/b...
New post: Quote of the week - Economic theories as propaganda peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/12/22/q...
Quote of the week: Economic theories as propaganda
Here is a third extract from James Galbraith and Jing Chen’s new book Entropy Economics, which is proving to be a rich and highly quotable resource. “When we discuss rival theories R…
peofdev.wordpress.com
December 22, 2025 at 10:44 AM
New post: Quote of the week - Economic theories as propaganda peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/12/22/q...
New post: China must rebalance for all our sakes
Three reasons why the country's massive current account surplus is a problem for the world.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/12/17/c...
Three reasons why the country's massive current account surplus is a problem for the world.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/12/17/c...
China must rebalance for all our sakes
Three reasons why the country’s massive current account surplus is a problem for the world China’s economy is struggling. But it is selling more than ever to the rest of the world. Its …
peofdev.wordpress.com
December 17, 2025 at 10:04 AM
New post: China must rebalance for all our sakes
Three reasons why the country's massive current account surplus is a problem for the world.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/12/17/c...
Three reasons why the country's massive current account surplus is a problem for the world.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/12/17/c...
New post: Quote of the week - Equilibrium doesn't exist
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/12/15/q...
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/12/15/q...
Quote of the week: Equilibrium doesn’t exist
Following on from last week’s quote, here is another choice extract from my current reading, Entropy Economics. When questioning any concept, one should always be aware that words are not ide…
peofdev.wordpress.com
December 15, 2025 at 10:02 AM
New post: Quote of the week - Equilibrium doesn't exist
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/12/15/q...
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/12/15/q...
New post: Beyond the individual - forces which shape our behaviour peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/12/03/b...
Beyond the individual: forces which shape our behaviour
As has been described many times on this blog, the foundations of mainstream, largely neoclassical economics depend greatly on the behaviour of the ostensibly rational individual. Economic outcomes…
peofdev.wordpress.com
December 3, 2025 at 10:16 AM
New post: Beyond the individual - forces which shape our behaviour peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/12/03/b...
New post: Quote of the week - Successful industrialisation needs industrial policy peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/12/01/q...
Quote of the week: Successful industrialisation needs industrial policy
This week’s quote needs little elaboration and speaks for itself. It sums up quite nicely the case for industrial policy in its broadest sense, based on the history of economic, social and po…
peofdev.wordpress.com
December 1, 2025 at 10:01 AM
New post: Quote of the week - Successful industrialisation needs industrial policy peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/12/01/q...
New post: Ways "the system" gets me - some controversial economic outcomes peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/11/26/w...
Ways “the system” gets me: some controversial economic outcomes
I have been studying economics, on and off, for more than 30 years, since I was a schoolboy. Back then, it didn’t take me too long to become attracted to controversial approaches to the subje…
peofdev.wordpress.com
November 26, 2025 at 10:15 AM
New post: Ways "the system" gets me - some controversial economic outcomes peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/11/26/w...
New post: Quote of the week - Three key imperialist tendencies of neoclassical economics - No.3 peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/11/24/q...
Quote of the week: Three key imperialist tendencies of neoclassical economics – No.3
Today’s quote is the third and final part of a short series of extracts taken from “erratic Marxist” Yanis Varoufakis’ useful and iconoclastic book Foundations of Economics.…
peofdev.wordpress.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:03 AM
New post: Quote of the week - Three key imperialist tendencies of neoclassical economics - No.3 peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/11/24/q...
New post: Taiwan's successful but imbalanced economy, and what it tells us about the global system
The country’s remarkable rise as a high-tech powerhouse masks deep structural imbalances that reveal much about the dysfunctions of today’s global economy. peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/11/19/t...
The country’s remarkable rise as a high-tech powerhouse masks deep structural imbalances that reveal much about the dysfunctions of today’s global economy. peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/11/19/t...
Taiwan’s successful but imbalanced economy – and what it tells us about the global system
The country’s remarkable rise as a high-tech powerhouse masks deep structural imbalances that reveal much about the hidden dysfunctions of today’s global economy. Taiwan is one of the great economi…
peofdev.wordpress.com
November 19, 2025 at 10:57 AM
New post: Taiwan's successful but imbalanced economy, and what it tells us about the global system
The country’s remarkable rise as a high-tech powerhouse masks deep structural imbalances that reveal much about the dysfunctions of today’s global economy. peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/11/19/t...
The country’s remarkable rise as a high-tech powerhouse masks deep structural imbalances that reveal much about the dysfunctions of today’s global economy. peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/11/19/t...
New post: Quote of the week - Three key imperialist tendencies of neoclassical economics - No. 2 peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/11/17/q...
Quote of the week: Three key imperialist tendencies of neoclassical economics – No. 2
Following the quote from two weeks ago (tendency No. 1), here is another from “erratic Marxist” Yanis Varoufakis on what he identifies as three key tendencies of neoclassical economics.…
peofdev.wordpress.com
November 17, 2025 at 10:01 AM
New post: Quote of the week - Three key imperialist tendencies of neoclassical economics - No. 2 peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/11/17/q...
New post: Carlota Perez and the AI boom - where are we in the cycle? peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/11/12/c...
Carlota Pérez and the AI boom – where are we in the cycle?
The explosion of investment and excitement around artificial intelligence feels like a new technological dawn — but history suggests it may also mark a familiar turning point. Drawing on Carlota Pé…
peofdev.wordpress.com
November 12, 2025 at 10:03 AM
New post: Carlota Perez and the AI boom - where are we in the cycle? peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/11/12/c...
New post: Quote of the week - Martin Wolf on the nature of economics peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/11/10/q...
Quote of the week: Martin Wolf on the nature of economics
Martin Wolf is the Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times and after long being a champion of free markets and globalisation, has since the crisis of 2008 become more critical of mainstr…
peofdev.wordpress.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:03 AM
New post: Quote of the week - Martin Wolf on the nature of economics peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/11/10/q...
New post: From left to right - ideology, the social and the individual in economics and beyond
Key differences in emphasis on human agency and social structure play a major role in the spectrum of political ideologies, even if this is not acknowledged.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/f...
Key differences in emphasis on human agency and social structure play a major role in the spectrum of political ideologies, even if this is not acknowledged.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/f...
From left to right: ideology, the social and the individual in economics and beyond
Why do left-wing thinkers tend to see social problems more as products of systems and structures, while the right emphasises individual responsibility and choice? Today’s post explores how th…
peofdev.wordpress.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:06 AM
New post: From left to right - ideology, the social and the individual in economics and beyond
Key differences in emphasis on human agency and social structure play a major role in the spectrum of political ideologies, even if this is not acknowledged.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/f...
Key differences in emphasis on human agency and social structure play a major role in the spectrum of political ideologies, even if this is not acknowledged.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/f...
Quote of the week - Three key tendencies of neoclassical economics - No. 1 peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/11/03/q...
Quote of the week: Three key tendencies of neoclassical economics – No. 1
Another extract from Yanis Varoufakis’ thought-provoking companion to studying economics. Today’s quote is the first of three in a series (the other two will follow in the coming weeks)…
peofdev.wordpress.com
November 3, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Quote of the week - Three key tendencies of neoclassical economics - No. 1 peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/11/03/q...
New post: Beyond austerity - a Keynesian path to sustainable debt reduction
Cutting deficits in isolation can make economies more fragile, not less. There is an alternative.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/10/29/b...
Cutting deficits in isolation can make economies more fragile, not less. There is an alternative.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/10/29/b...
Beyond austerity: a Keynesian path to sustainable debt reduction
As persistent government deficits and rising public debts around the world lead some commentators to urge fiscal restraint after years of crisis spending, a key question arises: can public debt be …
peofdev.wordpress.com
October 29, 2025 at 10:08 AM
New post: Beyond austerity - a Keynesian path to sustainable debt reduction
Cutting deficits in isolation can make economies more fragile, not less. There is an alternative.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/10/29/b...
Cutting deficits in isolation can make economies more fragile, not less. There is an alternative.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/10/29/b...
New post: Quote of the week - Karl Marx on the individual in society peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/10/27/q...
Quote of the week: Karl Marx on the individual in society
This week’s quote comes from Karl Marx’s Grundrisse, the collection of preparatory notebooks for his great work Capital, penned in 1857-8, but only published posthumously. It is emblema…
peofdev.wordpress.com
October 27, 2025 at 10:02 AM
New post: Quote of the week - Karl Marx on the individual in society peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/10/27/q...
New post: Quote of the week - Michael Hudson on Demagogy peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/10/20/q...
Quote of the week: Michael Hudson on Demagogy
Another provocative extract from professor Michael Hudson’s excellent iconoclastic ‘dictionary’. The words speak for themselves, and the topic seems altogether appropriate in toda…
peofdev.wordpress.com
October 20, 2025 at 9:02 AM
New post: Quote of the week - Michael Hudson on Demagogy peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/10/20/q...
New post: When protectionism works. And when it doesn't.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/10/15/w...
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/10/15/w...
When protectionism works
And when it doesn’t In recent years, protectionism has made a surprising comeback. The United States, once the champion of global free trade, has reintroduced tariffs on Chinese goods, subsid…
peofdev.wordpress.com
October 15, 2025 at 9:14 AM
New post: When protectionism works. And when it doesn't.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/10/15/w...
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/10/15/w...
New post: Quote of the week - How economics should be taught
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/10/13/q...
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/10/13/q...
Quote of the week: How economics should be taught
Robert Skidelsky is a professor of political economy and author of an acclaimed biography of John Maynard Keynes, probably the 20th century’s greatest economist. In the wake of the Great Rece…
peofdev.wordpress.com
October 13, 2025 at 9:04 AM
New post: Quote of the week - How economics should be taught
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/10/13/q...
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/10/13/q...
New post: Effective demand - the source of all good things?
Achieving full employment may produce a range of economic and social benefits, but can also result in problems which render it unsustainable. The solution to this may in the end be political.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/10/01/e...
Achieving full employment may produce a range of economic and social benefits, but can also result in problems which render it unsustainable. The solution to this may in the end be political.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/10/01/e...
Effective demand – the source of all good things?
Full employment, with a job for everyone who wants one, seems like a unalloyed good thing. It may result in huge economic and social benefits. But it also has potential downsides. The solution to t…
peofdev.wordpress.com
October 1, 2025 at 9:20 AM
New post: Effective demand - the source of all good things?
Achieving full employment may produce a range of economic and social benefits, but can also result in problems which render it unsustainable. The solution to this may in the end be political.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/10/01/e...
Achieving full employment may produce a range of economic and social benefits, but can also result in problems which render it unsustainable. The solution to this may in the end be political.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/10/01/e...
New post: Quote of the week - Economics and the paradox of freedom
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/09/29/q...
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/09/29/q...
Quote of the week: Economics and the paradox of freedom
This week’s quote is from self-styled ‘erratic Marxist’ economist, former Greek finance minister and prominent author of many popular books, Yanis Varoufakis. Through his “D…
peofdev.wordpress.com
September 29, 2025 at 9:08 AM
New post: Quote of the week - Economics and the paradox of freedom
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/09/29/q...
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/09/29/q...
New post: What I am reading right now, and why...#8
In the spirit of Keynes, Eatwell and Taylor's proposals for international financial regulation to improve global economic performance.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/09/24/w...
In the spirit of Keynes, Eatwell and Taylor's proposals for international financial regulation to improve global economic performance.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/09/24/w...
What I am reading right now, and why…#8
Regular readers of this blog might by now be familiar with these “what I am reading” posts. I have done a number of them in the past, and will do more in the future, so I thought it was…
peofdev.wordpress.com
September 24, 2025 at 12:20 PM
New post: What I am reading right now, and why...#8
In the spirit of Keynes, Eatwell and Taylor's proposals for international financial regulation to improve global economic performance.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/09/24/w...
In the spirit of Keynes, Eatwell and Taylor's proposals for international financial regulation to improve global economic performance.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/09/24/w...
New post: Quote of the week - The textbooks need to challenge the distributional status quo peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/09/22/q...
Quote of the week: The textbooks need to challenge the distributional status quo
This week’s quote comes from The Economics Anti-Textbook, an excellent, accessible volume which challenges much of mainstream microeconomics as presented in regular textbooks. Each chapter pr…
peofdev.wordpress.com
September 22, 2025 at 8:57 AM
New post: Quote of the week - The textbooks need to challenge the distributional status quo peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/09/22/q...
New post: QE was easy to start, but is proving harder to stop. Central banks are learning this the hard way. Was Richard Koo right about the "QE Trap"?
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/09/17/w...
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/09/17/w...
Was Richard Koo right about the “QE Trap”?
Central banks are now trying to unwind more than a decade of Quantitative Easing, shrinking their balance sheets through Quantitative Tightening. But as interest rates rise and growth slows, Richar…
peofdev.wordpress.com
September 17, 2025 at 9:03 AM
New post: QE was easy to start, but is proving harder to stop. Central banks are learning this the hard way. Was Richard Koo right about the "QE Trap"?
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/09/17/w...
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/09/17/w...
New post: Quote of the week - Neoclassical economics fails to describe capitalism
Another quote from Steve Keen, this time from his newly published book, "Money and Macroeconomics from First Principles, for Elon Musk and Other Engineers".
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/09/15/q...
Another quote from Steve Keen, this time from his newly published book, "Money and Macroeconomics from First Principles, for Elon Musk and Other Engineers".
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/09/15/q...
Quote of the week: Neoclassical economics fails to describe capitalism
The last quote from Steve Keen was only published here two weeks ago, but I have just been reading his latest book, Money and Macroeconomics from First Principles, for Elon Musk and Other Engineers…
peofdev.wordpress.com
September 15, 2025 at 9:05 AM
New post: Quote of the week - Neoclassical economics fails to describe capitalism
Another quote from Steve Keen, this time from his newly published book, "Money and Macroeconomics from First Principles, for Elon Musk and Other Engineers".
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/09/15/q...
Another quote from Steve Keen, this time from his newly published book, "Money and Macroeconomics from First Principles, for Elon Musk and Other Engineers".
peofdev.wordpress.com/2025/09/15/q...