A new issue of the Journal of Economic Perspectives is out. The first chapter from Valuing the Unique: The Economics of Singularities by Lucien Karpik. Trust is the best fiscal stimulus: How the potent hormone of empathy, oxytocin, is shaking up the field of economics (and more). Putting development economics into historical perspective: An interview with Bertram Schefold. Peter Victor is an economist who has been asking a heretical question: Can the Earth support endless growth? A handful of economists, along with interlopers from the natural sciences, believe that agent-based models offer the best hope of understanding the economy in all its messy glory. Does the hyperrational consumer actually exist? It makes sense on paper — but in reality, nobody is saving more just because there's a budget deficit. What were they thinking? Scientists pursue neurological and behavioral explanations for financial decision-making. When even a professor in Chicago’s market-oriented finance department fingers unequal incomes as a key factor behind the crash, you know something’s up. The economist as political philosopher: David Warsh profiles Raghuram Rajan, author of Fault Lines (and more and more). From The National Interest, a review essay on books about the Great Recession. The free-marketeers strike back: A counter-narrative of the financial crisis. Jobless and staying that way: Economists of all stripes rethink a safety net that assumes short-term unemployment. Is "more efficient" always better? Uwe Reinhardt investigates. A review of Taking Economics Seriously by Dean Baker.
