The 1932 science fiction novel Brave New World portrays a dystopian future where history is rewritten and words are redefined in order to make undesirable ideas “unthinkable.”footnote 1 The book is often associated with George Orwell’s 1984, where those who do anything undesired by those in power are made into an “unperson,” with all evidence… Read More Making thoughts unthinkable – the soft power of economic theory

This lecture is about the personality of Sr Ronald Fisher and his foundational ideas about statistics. The idea that statistics is all about “data reduction”, is due to lack of computational capabilities at the time of Fisher – it was not possible to analyze thousands of data points, without reducing them to manageable summaries. Even… Read More Fisher’s Flawed Foundations of Statistics

Hayek proposed the abolition of the government’s monopoly on the issuance of fiat money in his book “Denationalisation of Money: The Argument Refined” (1976). In reality, his support for a complete privatization of the money supply stemmed from his dissatisfaction with the management of central banks, which, in his opinion, had been heavily influenced by… Read More The crypto frontier of financialisation

According to ILO, the COVID-19 epidemic was changed from a public health disaster to an employment and social crisis. The pandemic has had a devastating impact on worldwide public health, employment, and daily life. In this scenario, a lack of comprehensive policy initiatives exacerbates inequality and limits overall workplace growth. Among the most significant labor-market… Read More Global labour landscape: public health and employment crisis

Invited Lecture at Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science, on 22 Apr 2021. ABSTRACT: A materialistic approach to life locates problems in external reality, and attempts to find technological, political, or economic solutions. This represents a misdiagnosis which makes cures impossible to find. The anthropocene was brought about by the spiritual stunting now widespread across the… Read More Alternative Models of Development: Becoming the Change You Want to See

This is a detailed summary of part 1 of the book “Is Science Western in Origin?” by Professor C. K. Raju. This part concerns the fabrication of the myth of intellectual superiority of the West over the course of centuries in three stages,, starting with the Crusades. In a nutshell, history provides us with many… Read More The Myth of Greek Origins of Knowledge

A previous post Quotes Critical of Economics collected assorted quotes which are useful in writing up different kinds of critiques of economics. In addition, I collected quotes from Romer’s Trouble With Macro which are sharply critical of economics. In terms of the “Loyalty, Voice, Exit” paradigm, I look for “Exit” quotes, which suggest that we need to… Read More More Quotes Against Economics

1      The Dilemma of Causality Study of causality confronts us with a huge dilemma. Intense controversy has raged for centuries over this topic among the philosophers. At the same time, studies of child development show that infants learn about causal concepts almost from birth, and toddlers have a sophisticated approach to causality. How… Read More Causality As Child’s Play

Video recording of talk at 3rd BANK INDONESIA INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON ISLAMIC FINANCE, Presented at Session 4: Macroprudential Policy Framework for Islamic Finance, Nusa Dua – Bali, Indonesia 30th & 31st May 2013. Video is followed by summary of talk 1       A Three-Dimensional Approach It is well-known that the Global Financial Crisis 2007, which made… Read More An Islamic Approach to Macro-Prudential Regulation