DOC TAYROC'S [UNSOLICITED] ECONOMICS HOT THOUGHT

Marx and the Death of the Author XVIII: Capitalism in Crisis IV: The House that Watson Built

In my work as an economist I wasn't always the 'AI guy'. Especially since so much of my work predates the current AI bubble. At varying points in my work I've focused on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), international trade, intergovernmental organisations, non-AI digital automation, and 'platform economies'. When I started my PhD, the focus was on...

DOC TAYROC'S [UNSOLICTED] ECONOMICS HOT THOUGHT

Marx and the Death of the Author XVII: Capitalism in Crisis III: Home Ownership is a Comforting Lie

Editor's note: Due to an extremely busy couple of weeks, this is late, and I'm sorry, but I should be back to a normalish schedule now. If you'd like to see what kind of stuff I do 'irl', might I recommend a perusal of my Cyberspace page? (Admittedly, a work in progress). Of course, when you're done,...

If you're a fan of not being treated horribly as an employee, maybe consider giving GTA VI a pass.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/rockstar-had-a-mole-in-the-union-worker-discord-server-for-over-two-and-a-half-years-gta-6-company-reveals-during-legal-battle

DOC TAYROC'S [UNSOLICITED] ECONOMICS HOT THOUGHT

Marx and the Death of the Author Part XVI: Capitalism in Crisis Part II: Rail Mania

In last week's entry, I discussed capitalism's inaugural economic crisis, the infamous Dutch Tulip Mania of 1634-37. If you recall, we were metaphorical minutes into the rise of capitalism as a distinct economic mindset and already we began to see the weakness in holding capital for capital's sake, with the promise of (imaginary) future money. This promise of...

DOC TAYROC'S [UNSOLICITED] ECONOMICS HOT THOUGHT

Marx and the Death of the Author XV: Capitalist Crises: Tulip Mania, Rail Mania, and AI, part I

What makes capitalism different from what preceded it and what (hopefully) follows? The clue, my friend, is in the name. Capital is what makes capitalism different, and now I will try to explain what capital is, and why money doesn't have to be capital. You see, 'profit seeking' behaviour is not unique to capitalism, per se, but the particular role of...

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I've been hinting at and promising this book review for a while now, and so here it is.

In a recent workshop I ran on digital/'AI' literacy, I discussed the known phenomena of pareidolia, or the human trait of finding and ascribing meaning to patterns that do not actually exist. Part of the problem with discussing pareidolia as briefly as I will here, of course, is that proving whether or not an observed pattern...

Okay Essex, I'm gonna level with you. I don't really respect you, but Clacton has a real chance to mildly maybe change that tomorrow.

DOC TAYROC'S [UNSOLICITED] ECONOMICS HOT THOUGHT

Marx and the Death of the Author XIV: Services: The afterlife of manufacturing?

Most of my life has been spent in and around 'post-industrial' cities, they're a common sight in the UK, Europe, and the US. One of the many effects of neo-liberal capitalism has been the 'off shoring' of manufacturing jobs to China, leaving considerable parts of their former home nations behind with 'rust belts' full of industrial decay, because of course when...

DOC TAYROC'S [UNSOLICITED] ECONOMICS HOT THOUGHT

Marx and the Death of the Author XIII: Are factories the engine of progress?

This is part three of the 'sectoral analysis: Lewis style' series that I started here, and continued here. As I want to make clear here, an additional critique of Lewis' model I have here is the idea that one sector is more valuable, and therefore more desirable, than the others. The idea that the value of a sector is reducible to mere productivity relative to GDP...

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This one I have a hard time outright recommending because the publisher has taken a weird route that I can't really agree with, and frankly seem hostile to authors. But you know, there are many streams on the vast ocean of the internet. I'll say no more.

Regular readers are likely tired of hearing me bring up the 2007/08 financial crisis, but it was a fairly important moment in modern economic...

Once again, due to a busy week and weekend, this week's unsolicited book review will be delayed a day.

Of course, by the nature of it being an unsolicited book review, no one asked.

DOC TAYROC'S [UNSOLICITED] ECONOMICS HOT THOUGHT

Marx and the Death of the Author XII: Workers of the world includes farm labour too

Marx is buried in Highgate Cemetery, not too far from where I sit writing this, in the greater scheme of things at least. Those familiar with the biographical details of Marx's life know that he spent the bulk of his life in exile here in London, after the failed 1848 revolutions across the German states. In Marx's time, London was the largest city in the world....

This week's Marx and the Death of the Author will be delayed by a day due to a hectic work week...

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I've been quoting him, citing him, and letting him live 'rent free' in my head for the last few weeks, now it's time for you to be (re)introduced to one of the more influential pan-Africanists of the latter half of the 20th century.

Pan-Africanism is an odd beast of a political ideology, and that's unsurprising, as most pan-xyz ideologies often become weird 'big tent' monstrosities...

DOC TAYROC'S [UNSOLICITED] ECONOMICS HOT THOUGHT

Marx and the Death of the Author XI: Does losing the chains include supply chains?

The 1950s was a period of immense economic, technological, and political optimism. The bloody horrors of the Second World War had subsided, and the only countries experiencing the full paranoia of the Cold War were the United States, United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, in that order. The rest of the world was rebuilding after the horrors of war or moving...

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This book crossed my mind whilst writing the recent two-part series on Marxist versus capitalist reality, but I could not figure out how to incorporate it fully, so I decided to give it its own little review. In the interest of full disclosure, I was at this book launch, and he is a coworker at the university I also work at.

I was very good at physics, had I not become a economist I would have gone...

DOC TAYROC'S [UNSOLICITED] ECONOMICS HOT THOUGHT

Marx and the Death of the Author X: What is reality? Part II

In the last post, I discussed the concept of capitalist hyper-realism. Rereading it earlier today, I realised that I quoted the late, great Walter Rodney, but never explicitly said that it was, in fact, Dr Rodney I was quoting, although I did link to the book I got the quote from, so partial marks.

I also, rereading my post on Stiglitz's Freefall from...

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In terms of chronology, this is kind of the opposite of my review of From the Clinic to the Streets, in that I both read this back when I was first getting started in economics, back in 2010, and it came out in 2009, so it's not 'hot off the presses', but I think still worth a read.

Of course, this might raise some eyebrows amongst those of you noting specifics within my writing, namely that back in 2010 I...

DOC TAYROC'S [UNSOLICITED] ECONOMICS HOT THOUGHT

Marx and the Death of the Author, Part IX: What is reality? (Part 1/2)

Pop psychology is often problematic, there's an entire podcast that inadvertently returns to this central argument, 'If Books Could Kill', since pop psychology often comes to us in the form of self-help books. Nonetheless, some pop psychology is born of a genuine desire to help, sometimes it really is one of those 'the road to hell is paved with good intention' things....

Further update for all those concerned, the family health emergency largely seems to have been resolved, there is one follow-up appointment on Thursday, with a blood test for the family member, here's hoping that gives the full clean-bill of health. Now, without further ado...

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In a recent book review, namely...