Tweet

More from @BrankoMilan

Branko Milanovic

@BrankoMilan

28 Nov

(Long thread)
When it is pretended that values determine foreign policy (a propos of the forthcoming "Summit of Democracies").
At the Versailles Peace Conference one among young & idealistic British diplomats was Harold Nicolson. 3y younger than Keynes, he shared his unbounded

enthusiasm & believed the conference would bring the rule of law (based on general principles) in international affairs. He idolized Wilson. But as conference went on & those who pretended to be guided by principles began to break each and every one of them...

(like the self-determination that did not apply to Africans and Asians, equality of races that was found abhorrent by Wilson) his mood, like Keynes', soured. Keynes wrote The Economic Consequences, a devastating portrait of the main protagonists and Wilson in particular.

Read 10 tweets

Branko Milanovic

@BrankoMilan

2 Nov

Long thread.
Some of you know that I am writing a book on how economists from Quesnay, to Smith, Ricardo, Marx, Pareto and Kuznets, and then those during the Cold War economics in East and West and in the Third World perceived & studied economic inequality. All chapters are fun.

When the Cold War chapter will be finished (title: The Eclipse) it will be super critical of neoclassics. (They better be worried :-) But it is not ready yet & for now I have drafts of the first 5 chapters, from Quesnay to Pareto. Given the current situation with travel, I would

prefer to present some chapters online now in order to get comments rather quickly than to wait for future hypothetical seminars.
The most difficult chapter to write (& probably the most controversial) is on Marx. Smith comes next. I had received written comments from 4 readers

Read 9 tweets

Branko Milanovic

@BrankoMilan

1 Nov

2020 is the first year since the mid-1980s that population-weighted inter-country inequality has not declined. In fact, it even increased marginally (see the blue line uptick). (All measured by GDPpc in international dollars.)

The result does not change if one uses Theil index instead of Gini.

It was the worst year after WW2 in terms of growth. World's per capita GDP decreased by 5% if weighted by countries' incomes (blue) or 4% if weighted by population (red).

Read 4 tweets

Branko Milanovic

@BrankoMilan

31 Oct

This is a reasonably nice & short reading list for the study of ideological underpinnings of global inequality studies. (Am using it in my class.)
My thoughts prompted by Ch. Christiansen and S. Jensen’s excellent book "Histories of global inequalities".
brankomilanovic.substack.com/p/the-history-…

Review of Sebastian Conrad's "What is global history"
On Eurocentrism in economics
glineq.blogspot.com/2021/07/on-eur…

And of Samuel Moyn's excellent "Not Enough" (neoliberalism's combination of poverty research and democracy promotion)
From welfare in one country to global poverty alleviation...and now where?
branko2f7.substack.com/p/from-welfare…

Read 4 tweets

Branko Milanovic

@BrankoMilan

24 Oct

If your definition of economics is this:
"I would like to start with the one that I would have used when I was young and studied Marxist economics. Economics matters because it enables you to look at the grand political and economic changes in history and

to explain them using economic factors. In other words, it is, if I can say so, a branch of historical materialism. Decisions driven by economic factors shape societies and make them change."
Then you must read classics.

If your definition is this:
"A neoclassical view of economics would be more pragmatic. It would be to argue that economics matters - and to use Alfred Marshall’s definition there - because it deals with our ordinary life and its objective is to improve that ordinary life,

Read 6 tweets

Branko Milanovic

@BrankoMilan

22 Oct

I think these are 2 reasonable definitions of economics:
ageofeconomics.org/interviews/bra…
Q. Why does economics matter?
This is a huge and difficult question. Perhaps I can give two answers. I would like to start with the one that I would have used when I was young & studied Marxist econ.

Economics matters b/c it enables you to look at the grand political and economic changes in history and to explain them using economic factors. It is, if I can say so, a branch of historical materialism. Decisions driven by economic factors shape societies and make them change.

A neoclassical view of economics would be more pragmatic. It would be to argue that economics matters - and to use Alfred Marshall’s definition there - because it deals with our ordinary life and its objective is to improve that ordinary life, to make our incomes higher,

Read 4 tweets

Share this page!

Branko Milanovic

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

More from @BrankoMilan

Branko Milanovic

Branko Milanovic

Branko Milanovic

Branko Milanovic

Branko Milanovic

Branko Milanovic

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Like this author's thread?