Patrick Mcnutt

econissues

Patrick McNutt

>

Ireland

economic damage

  • The Dark Pool of Empty Markets

    Many have commented that the job market has become an enigma over the past few years. The jobless rate is low, but pay has risen slowly. Are we[1] measuring pay imperfectly? Vacancies co-exist with unemployment and the old phenomenon of under-employment and the new challenge of a zero-hours contract have emerged to colour the landscape.…

  • Bargaining & Dispute Resolution

    Recently, at the Manchester Business School we introduced bargaining as a solutions methodology for use in alternative dispute resolution (ADR). It was the central theme of Day 2 of a three day residential Workshop on the broad theme of ethics and responsibility in business (ERB) http://www.patrickmcnutt.com/news/new-module-ethics-in-business/ a new elective available to all MBAs. The material…

  • Wistful Economics

    Economics of times past, of Adam Smith and Keynes alas! Has economics become an illusion? Yes. It is an accidental tourist in the political landscape. Economic policy making is[1] ‘but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage’ of natural numbers, coupled with policymakers throwing[2] ‘sixes and fives in…

  • Whither the Euro? The Liar’s Paradox

    Whither the Euro? The Liar’s Paradox In Dickens’ Hard Times the character Mr Gradgrind can’t help but speak about Facts to his pupils: ‘Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else’. As we listen to…

  • Drifting into a debt-recession trap

    The despondency that has attached itself to the financial crisis is ‘taking shadows from the reality of things’. Dante would not approve. Europe is drifting into a prolonged recession as policy-makers worry about inflationary expectations and competitive devaluations. Households hope to be delivered from this agonizing crisis.  Are there solutions? The following is a grand…

  • Fiscal cliff and Kantian equilibrium

    The fiscal cliff is the Nash Equilibrium [NE]..it is the best the Democrats can do given the reaction of the Republicans; they will debate big ticket items on spending asnd taxes but both know that neitherparty wants to go there  –  but it will happen if there is no compromise, according to game theory. The…

  • Economic Damage & Spoiled Markets

    Markets are spoiled when policymakers place greater worth on the value of a penny saved than on a pound spent on doing something. Consumers prefer to save instead of spend, as each fears to spoil the chance of getting a better price later. With a declining demand at a time of positive technology expectations, economic…