With significant global events come repercussions and economic aftereffects that shape society. The pandemic was significant enough, whereas the situation in Ukraine is even more impactful. Three articles address changes from these events.

An Unprecedented Inflationary Experiment
Selective Quantitative Easing – A Brave New World of Monetary Policy
The End of the Post Cold War Order

It is interesting how, the farther I get from my original work “The Human Theory of Everything,” the closer I circle back to it. In my latest article, I address an extension of the Malthusian Trap, where we have shifted constraints on population limits to other resource stocks, all of which end up with excess carbon in the atmosphere. Yet, at the same time, population, economic growth, employment, and old age care cannot seem to keep up, in Western developed economies on fossil fuel, pre-COVID basis. Is the issue truly overpopulation, or is it that we cannot seem, as a society to approach our global problems….globally?

A Case for Addressing Population

One of the biggest elephants in the room economically is the speed and intensity for which jobs are being automated. Few speak of the significant social and societal effects, as conventional wisdom holds that productivity and growth are the de facto solutions to current economic deficits. As we are witnessing pre-tremors where a future without employees may one day be upon us, it is worth asking how our tax policy is configured to address this problem. The short answer is that it is geared toward creating the very problem that is concerning. The newest article “Arcane Tax Policy and its Unintended Encouragement of Automation” addresses some of these concepts.

In the early days of the Institute for Economic Innovation, one of the core problems I saw with the US economy was an unsustainable path that would likely lead to a form of economic apocalypse. I was, at the time, sensing unsustainable debt burdens and predicted the likely outcome of such a path, should we face another Great Recession before the fiscal house could get in order. Well, I was wrong. We went far longer than I expected, got more drunk on debt than my wildest dreams could have imagined, and have so far, despite coronavirus, not fallen off the cliff that I was convinced we’re hurdling toward. In a continuation of my original 2013 manifesto, a new five article series expanding on the concept has been released, connecting the dots from the original “economic fundamentalist” view to the present with a modified prophecy regarding our collective doom. The articles can be found under the “Articles” tab with a sub menu “Anatomy of a Meltdown.” The article list can be found here:

Articulating the Fears of a Developed World Currency Collapse (2013)
I – Revisiting Prophecies of Doom
II – Elaborate Delusions
III – Differences from 2008
IV – The United States of Zimbabwe
V – Coronavirus

Niccolo Invidia, Research Fellow for the Institute for Economic Innovation, has been elected to the Italian Parliament, as a member of the Five Star Movement in the Chamber of Deputies. His legislative district is based in Varese, Italy, northwest of Milan at the base of the Alps. His political approach is similar to his career path, focusing on innovation in the economic, education, and digital spheres. We wish him the best in this exciting new development!

Garrett Fisher has published two more aerial photography books: “American Texture: Canvas from the Sky” and “Field of Dreams: American Agriculture from the Sky.” Continuing the theme of locating unexpected data from artistic perspectives, both works focus on patterns, textures, and representations, as seen from above in an antique airplane, found either in wild American landscape or in traditional American agriculture. While the intention of farmers may be to make best use of their land for economic production, the result can be visually appealing and unexpected; however, we should almost expect as much as humans are motivated toward particular outcomes and our approach to maximizing use of private property is virtually universal. What is not necessarily expected is to see those similar patterns appear in nature, untouched by human influence, which causes reflective pondering as to the relationship between chaos, mathematical efficiency, and human behavior.

Garrett Fisher has published “Around the Summit: Flying Grand Teton” and “Yellowstone’s Hot Springs: An Aviator’s Perspective,” aerial photography books that document incredible beauty as found in each of these national parks. One may ask the relationship to economics, and while it may not be immediately obvious, the tenets of economic innovation call for noticing trends, correlations, and undercurrents present in our society in otherwise occluded fashions, yet they remain in the open. In concert with a theme of noticing the unconventional, each book looks at these national resources in ways unavailable to most: from the cockpit of a two-seater 1949 Piper PA-11 aircraft. Piloted by Mr. Fisher, who is also the photographer at the same time, views are up close and personal to the grand peaks of the Tetons, or voyeuristically directly overhead, looking into the heart of hot springs from otherwise forbidden angles.

While the works are primarily of an artistic and scenic nature, it causes some pondering to examine the value proposition around national parks. One of “America’s best ideas,” national parks are a testament to both specifically valuing natural beauty and excluding it from standard economics in order to protect it. Market pricing usually ascribes a exclusionary high pricing to things that have inherent value, yet at the same time, we recognize as a nation the limits of unfettered market forces, as the presumed resulting exploitation of resources within these parks would be something pitiable in the eyes of the American people. In a way, it’s a capitalist paradox, though for the moment, it is something that was merely enjoyed from above.

We are pleased to announce that Mr. Niccolo Invidia has joined the Institute as a Research Fellow, focusing primarily on our Global Poverty Project. Based in The Netherlands, he has an extensive educational background in social policy, political science, and international relations, and joins us with an innovative personal perspective on the causes of damaging wealth imbalances. His background can be found here.

See the new article posted, addressing the all too common drama of robotic utopias, or artificial intelligence hell where our robots kill us. The reality is somewhere in between, and it is a matter of who is affected. Read more here.

Poverty is one of the most stubborn problems that a) technically should be solved, given our economic, technological, and scientific successes and b) continues to confound the developed world. Poverty is also a gateway to a host of other societal issues that artificially restrains our society from reaching its maximum potential. Based on extensive research, the Institute is of the disposition that the current argument regarding the causes and proposed solutions of poverty is inaccurate and doomed to a continuous cycle of fruitless debate. An initiative has been launched to validate existing internal theories and to present a cohesive strategy to efficiently combat root causes of poverty.