"Conventional approaches, unconventional conclusions" on the global finance and economic issues of the day. Rogue Econ has worked as a banker in several countries. Welcome to my blog.
3 questions test of whether it is worth the public spending
1. Does this create productive jobs for those who would be otherwise unemployed?
2. Will the newly hired workers have meaningful income that they can spend back in the economy?
3. Is the output of the jobs adding to capacity of goods/services demanded?
If it generates income for the unemployed, aggregate demand will go up. If it adds to demanded capacity, there will be no inflation. If the output is demanded by people, there will be no wastage.
I chose economics as my specific area of conversation because of its relevance to current world problems. And ever since I read Joseph Stiglitz’ Globalization and its Discontents, I have come to realize that what we sometimes know to be correct prescriptions to economic problems could actually be, if you think about it, making problems worse. His book convinced me that we really don’t know enough about economics for anyone to be a fool-proof prescriptive policy adviser. Each case is different, and requires a specific inquiry into its own circumstances.