THE LEVY NEWS

CONTRIBUTE

November 4, 2024

HIGHLIGHTS

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to welcome Lord Robert Skidelsky back to the Levy Economics Institute on November 19. At this event, co-sponsored by the Institute and the Economic Democracy Initiative, Dr. Skidelsky will give the 2024 Economic Democracy Keynote on his latest book The Machine Age: An Idea, a History, a Warning.

Nearly a century ago, in the essay “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren” (1930), John Maynard Keynes predicted that his grandchildren’s generation would only need to be laboring a mere three hours a day, given the projected pace of technological change.

Skidelsky, Keynes’s biographer, explores why that has not come to pass. This leads him to a broader examination of how, with the intrusion of machines into our lives, “every increase in our own freedom to choose our circumstances seems to increase the power of technology to control those circumstances.”

The Machine Age is an ambitious survey of the impact of machines on humanity in its various aspects, peaceful and warlike, democratic and Orwellian, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Stay tuned, additionally, for my conversation with Skidelsky to be published as part of the Levy Institute Podcast series. We will be discussing the relevance of Keynes for a post-COVID economy and another of Skidelsky's recent volumes—Keynes for Today. This book presents John Maynard Keynes as a philosopher, visionary, economic theorist, persuader, and critic of capitalism and money. In this compelling volume, Skidelsky outlines how Keynes's economic thought remains a reliable guide to "the good life" to this day.

Be sure to listen to previous episodes of our podcast, available now:

I look forward to sharing my conversation with Robert Skidelsky with you all in the weeks to come.

Sincerely,

Pavlina R. Tcherneva

President

Levy Economics Institute

This open house will include an introduction by Levy Institute President Pavlina R. Tcherneva, a welcome from Graduate Director and Levy Research Scholar Tom Masterson, and presentations from Levy scholars and Levy students. Attendees will have a chance to discuss their application questions and research interests with Levy's graduate staff and faculty. In person attendees will have a social lunch with Levy's faculty, staff, and students.

The day will also provide an opportunity to learn about Levy's academic programs, student life, admission requirements, enrollment steps, financial aid procedures, and immigration requirements for international students.

FEATURED PUBLICATION

POLICY NOTE 2024/1 | The Boy Who Cried Wolf About Government Debt

In a New York Times editorial, David Leonhardt recounts Aesop’s apocryphal story about the boy and the wolf, warning that while deficit hawks have so far been wrong, the growing government debt will eventually bite. He reports the economic plans of both presidential candidates would add to the debt that will soon exceed GDP and grow to 130 percent of annual output under a President Harris, or 140 percent with a Trump presidency.

The story of the boy and the wolf was a fable, although it was within the realm of possibility. The fable of the debt wolf is not. While there are real world wolves—Leonhardt mentions climate catastrophe and autocratic leaders, and the authors would add rising inequality and the concentration of economic and political power in the hands of billionaires—authors Yeva Nersisyan and L. Randall Wray assert, federal debt is not one of them.

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IN THE NEWS

Senior Scholar Rania Antonopoulos was invited by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) as the keynote speaker to address trade unionists from throughout Europe, during a conference centered on the proposal of an EU-wide Job Guarantee. The jointly organized event took place on October 7, 2024 and was hosted by the European Labour Authority in Bratislava.

Levy Graduate Rudy Sassine won the contributed paper award from the National Association for Business Economics at the 66th NABE Annual Conference. His paper "Assessing Sectoral Capacity to Wage Increase," will be published in the NABE's journal, Business Economics.

The podcast Demystify Sci hosted Senior Scholar L. Randall Wray on the episode "Tally Sticks, Paper Money, and Central Banking" released on October 6. Additionally, on March 16, 2023, Wray had a discussion with recent winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Simon Johnson on the Network for Responsible Public Policy. You can hear their conversation on "Understanding Fiscal Policies, Debt, and Entitlements" here.

On October 14, Senior Scholar Ajit Zacharias gave a lecture on "Modeling Alternative Methods of Financing Investments For Gender Equality," in Mexico City at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM.

Research Associate Stephanie Kelton appeared on CBS Morning Plus to discuss Modern Monetary Theory and the national debt.

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