Jakob Steffen
@jjsteffen.bsky.social
Fencing #PostKeynesian | MD J.S. Research KG | Scion of #Trier | political history buff 🇬🇧🇺🇲 | Dep. Chair Dt.-Britische Gesellschaft Ruhr | probably enjoying a pipe | blog: https://jakobsteffen.substack.com/
Wherever you look, alarm bells ring about government #debt seemingly spinning out of control.
But is it really? Or might, as so often, some political agenda setting be at work here?
jakobsteffen.substack.com/p/is-governm...
#economics #PostKeynesianism #PKE #money
But is it really? Or might, as so often, some political agenda setting be at work here?
jakobsteffen.substack.com/p/is-governm...
#economics #PostKeynesianism #PKE #money
Is government debt really out of control?
And is inflation inevitably to follow?
jakobsteffen.substack.com
October 24, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Wherever you look, alarm bells ring about government #debt seemingly spinning out of control.
But is it really? Or might, as so often, some political agenda setting be at work here?
jakobsteffen.substack.com/p/is-governm...
#economics #PostKeynesianism #PKE #money
But is it really? Or might, as so often, some political agenda setting be at work here?
jakobsteffen.substack.com/p/is-governm...
#economics #PostKeynesianism #PKE #money
Reposted by Jakob Steffen
Fascinating symposium papers in the Review of Keynesian Economics on the matter of #hysteresis/path-dependence in #economics - Thread 🧵
https://www.elgaronline.com/view/journals/roke/11/4/roke.11.issue-4.xml
https://www.elgaronline.com/view/journals/roke/11/4/roke.11.issue-4.xml
Review of Keynesian Economics Volume 11 Issue 4 (2023)
"Volume 11 (2023): Issue 4 (Nov 2023)" published on 14 Nov 2023 by Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.
www.elgaronline.com
January 19, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Fascinating symposium papers in the Review of Keynesian Economics on the matter of #hysteresis/path-dependence in #economics - Thread 🧵
https://www.elgaronline.com/view/journals/roke/11/4/roke.11.issue-4.xml
https://www.elgaronline.com/view/journals/roke/11/4/roke.11.issue-4.xml
These questions about the #IndustrialRevolution as presented by Robert Tombs in his "The English and Their History" will always remain a guideline for the social sciences - since the answers to them inevitably depend on the individual theoretical approach.
#economics
#economics
August 10, 2025 at 8:57 AM
These questions about the #IndustrialRevolution as presented by Robert Tombs in his "The English and Their History" will always remain a guideline for the social sciences - since the answers to them inevitably depend on the individual theoretical approach.
#economics
#economics
Reposted by Jakob Steffen
Mills and Moors, by Charles Ernest Cundall, 1890-1971 (Kirklees Museums and Galleries). #NorthernArt
August 9, 2025 at 7:14 AM
Mills and Moors, by Charles Ernest Cundall, 1890-1971 (Kirklees Museums and Galleries). #NorthernArt
The notion of the state crowding out the private sector by its #deficitspending is currently trending. On my blog, I point out why it's a fallacy:
#economics #PostKeynesianism #PKE #debt #rates
jakobsteffen.substack.com/p/the-nonsen...
#economics #PostKeynesianism #PKE #debt #rates
jakobsteffen.substack.com/p/the-nonsen...
The nonsense of crowding out - by Jakob Steffen
Why a key term bandied about in academia and media is simply erroneous
jakobsteffen.substack.com
July 30, 2025 at 2:13 PM
The notion of the state crowding out the private sector by its #deficitspending is currently trending. On my blog, I point out why it's a fallacy:
#economics #PostKeynesianism #PKE #debt #rates
jakobsteffen.substack.com/p/the-nonsen...
#economics #PostKeynesianism #PKE #debt #rates
jakobsteffen.substack.com/p/the-nonsen...
Reposted by Jakob Steffen
Used autos reduced core CPI by -0.3%-pt at annual rates in June. For context, Manheim's used auto price index is +19% ann. over the last three months vs +2% ann. for CPI used autos/trucks. Ex used auto, core prices up 3.1% ann., highest since the residual seasonality-impacted Jan spike to 5.5% ann.
July 15, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Used autos reduced core CPI by -0.3%-pt at annual rates in June. For context, Manheim's used auto price index is +19% ann. over the last three months vs +2% ann. for CPI used autos/trucks. Ex used auto, core prices up 3.1% ann., highest since the residual seasonality-impacted Jan spike to 5.5% ann.
🤩
Edinburgh O'Clock - 3 minutes to every hour. - we run fast so you don't miss your train.
A new hourly image to brighten your day taken in #Scotland very often #Edinburgh and shared with love by Tom Duffin
@tomduffinphotos.bsky.social.
Please repost with your own caption.
A new hourly image to brighten your day taken in #Scotland very often #Edinburgh and shared with love by Tom Duffin
@tomduffinphotos.bsky.social.
Please repost with your own caption.
July 10, 2025 at 4:28 AM
🤩
'(...) he is an opportunist exploiting a nihilist moment of moral despair and cultural disorientation to install an anti-liberal value system that many millions perceive as a cure for nihilism itself.'
This description of Trump by Sasha Mudd is the best I've read so far.
This description of Trump by Sasha Mudd is the best I've read so far.
May 11, 2025 at 9:02 AM
'(...) he is an opportunist exploiting a nihilist moment of moral despair and cultural disorientation to install an anti-liberal value system that many millions perceive as a cure for nihilism itself.'
This description of Trump by Sasha Mudd is the best I've read so far.
This description of Trump by Sasha Mudd is the best I've read so far.
#Sunday observation:
It would seem the purpose of all that modern communication technology is to enslave ourselves to the most irrelevant information. We expose us to a bombardment of messages clamouring for our attention real-time, even if it's only some friend passing on a not-really-funny meme
1/
It would seem the purpose of all that modern communication technology is to enslave ourselves to the most irrelevant information. We expose us to a bombardment of messages clamouring for our attention real-time, even if it's only some friend passing on a not-really-funny meme
1/
May 4, 2025 at 8:34 AM
#Sunday observation:
It would seem the purpose of all that modern communication technology is to enslave ourselves to the most irrelevant information. We expose us to a bombardment of messages clamouring for our attention real-time, even if it's only some friend passing on a not-really-funny meme
1/
It would seem the purpose of all that modern communication technology is to enslave ourselves to the most irrelevant information. We expose us to a bombardment of messages clamouring for our attention real-time, even if it's only some friend passing on a not-really-funny meme
1/
Excellent analysis of the #altright trap #Tories are walking into these days by @samfr.bsky.social
#Reform #UK #Badenoch
app.prospectmagazine.co.uk/story/69424/...
#Reform #UK #Badenoch
app.prospectmagazine.co.uk/story/69424/...
Kemi Badenoch’s alt-right trap
The revolutionary authoritarianism of the online right, in which the Tory leader has got herself caught up, is anathema to people who just want a quiet life
app.prospectmagazine.co.uk
April 6, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Excellent analysis of the #altright trap #Tories are walking into these days by @samfr.bsky.social
#Reform #UK #Badenoch
app.prospectmagazine.co.uk/story/69424/...
#Reform #UK #Badenoch
app.prospectmagazine.co.uk/story/69424/...
#Servicepost
With #Trump's #tariffs unveiled, we're now unequivocally in the lower-left corner of this chart posted in January.
With #Trump's #tariffs unveiled, we're now unequivocally in the lower-left corner of this chart posted in January.
April 3, 2025 at 6:30 AM
#Servicepost
With #Trump's #tariffs unveiled, we're now unequivocally in the lower-left corner of this chart posted in January.
With #Trump's #tariffs unveiled, we're now unequivocally in the lower-left corner of this chart posted in January.
"The beginning of a productive #disagreement is #curiosity, not persuasion" - writes @adamgrant.bsky.social in Saturday's Financial Times.
Or, even more condensed: #Listening is gold, perennial talking silver.
Or, even more condensed: #Listening is gold, perennial talking silver.
March 30, 2025 at 5:22 PM
"The beginning of a productive #disagreement is #curiosity, not persuasion" - writes @adamgrant.bsky.social in Saturday's Financial Times.
Or, even more condensed: #Listening is gold, perennial talking silver.
Or, even more condensed: #Listening is gold, perennial talking silver.
Now he schmoozes, now he threats: We're used to Donald #Trump's erratic behaviour. But is this madman theory reloaded, and can it work?
Excellent article by Daniel Drezner in @foreignpolicy.com
https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/01/07/madman-theory-international-relations-unpredictability/
Excellent article by Daniel Drezner in @foreignpolicy.com
https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/01/07/madman-theory-international-relations-unpredictability/
Will Trump's Madman Theory Work?
Trump likes to think his unpredictability is an asset.
foreignpolicy.com
March 30, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Now he schmoozes, now he threats: We're used to Donald #Trump's erratic behaviour. But is this madman theory reloaded, and can it work?
Excellent article by Daniel Drezner in @foreignpolicy.com
https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/01/07/madman-theory-international-relations-unpredictability/
Excellent article by Daniel Drezner in @foreignpolicy.com
https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/01/07/madman-theory-international-relations-unpredictability/
Bang-on - and accurate for centre-left parties elsewhere. If they continue to fail to act against social injustice, this will only get worse
#austerity #inequality
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/28/fascism-britain-neoliberalism-opened-door-for-it-labour?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
#austerity #inequality
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/28/fascism-britain-neoliberalism-opened-door-for-it-labour?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
How has fascism in Britain got this far? Neoliberalism has opened the door for it | George Monbiot | The Guardian
We need a new politics of belonging, not Labour’s craven appeasement of capital, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
www.theguardian.com
March 30, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Bang-on - and accurate for centre-left parties elsewhere. If they continue to fail to act against social injustice, this will only get worse
#austerity #inequality
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/28/fascism-britain-neoliberalism-opened-door-for-it-labour?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
#austerity #inequality
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/28/fascism-britain-neoliberalism-opened-door-for-it-labour?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
Elon #Musk's X is not so much about free speech - it's about unchecked power.
Elon Musk's social media platform X has suspended several accounts belonging to opposition figures in Turkey amid widespread civil unrest in the country.
Musk’s X suspends opposition accounts in Turkey amid civil unrest
Suspensions affect accounts spreading information about the widespread demonstrations.
www.politico.eu
March 23, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Elon #Musk's X is not so much about free speech - it's about unchecked power.
March 19, 2025 at 2:29 PM
This is almost ludicrous - yet exactly what #Keynes meant with his famous 'animal spirits': German investor sentiment skyrockets past expectations on the massive deficit spending programme to be passed by the #Bundestag today.
1/
https://tradingeconomics.com/germany/zew-economic-sentiment-index
1/
https://tradingeconomics.com/germany/zew-economic-sentiment-index
Germany ZEW Economic Sentiment Index
ZEW Economic Sentiment Index in Germany increased to 51.60 points in March from 26 points in February of 2025. This page provides the latest reported value for - Germany Zew Economic Sentiment Index - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.
tradingeconomics.com
March 18, 2025 at 10:28 AM
This is almost ludicrous - yet exactly what #Keynes meant with his famous 'animal spirits': German investor sentiment skyrockets past expectations on the massive deficit spending programme to be passed by the #Bundestag today.
1/
https://tradingeconomics.com/germany/zew-economic-sentiment-index
1/
https://tradingeconomics.com/germany/zew-economic-sentiment-index
#Fashion advice:
Beautiful, charismatic pocket handkerchiefs flourish from the pocket like a flower; aggressive, uniform-like ones take the angular form popular today.
Beautiful, charismatic pocket handkerchiefs flourish from the pocket like a flower; aggressive, uniform-like ones take the angular form popular today.
March 15, 2025 at 6:55 PM
#Fashion advice:
Beautiful, charismatic pocket handkerchiefs flourish from the pocket like a flower; aggressive, uniform-like ones take the angular form popular today.
Beautiful, charismatic pocket handkerchiefs flourish from the pocket like a flower; aggressive, uniform-like ones take the angular form popular today.
What a marvel of a metaphor (and spot-on into the addition):
'Trump is so obsessed with free riders, he forgets that it has been in the US interest to drive the bus.'
- Joseph Nye in the @financialtimes.com of March 8th
'Trump is so obsessed with free riders, he forgets that it has been in the US interest to drive the bus.'
- Joseph Nye in the @financialtimes.com of March 8th
March 15, 2025 at 6:26 PM
What a marvel of a metaphor (and spot-on into the addition):
'Trump is so obsessed with free riders, he forgets that it has been in the US interest to drive the bus.'
- Joseph Nye in the @financialtimes.com of March 8th
'Trump is so obsessed with free riders, he forgets that it has been in the US interest to drive the bus.'
- Joseph Nye in the @financialtimes.com of March 8th
Exactly! Together with Starmer's newly-found purpose as co-leader of a self-reliant Europe taking care of Ukraine, this is the moment to confront the public with the uncomfortable things to come - and I believe the public will be far more understanding than many might think.
Labour will need to raise taxes to rearm, just like they already would've had to raise taxes to properly deliver public services.
They are better having this conversation with voters now, before a narrative that public services are being cut to fund defence takes hold.
They are better having this conversation with voters now, before a narrative that public services are being cut to fund defence takes hold.
Ministers are going to have to explain the new reality to voters. There is no way that even spending 3% of GDP on defence is going to compensate for the US going rogue (just look at what was spent in the 1970s) and there is no way that minsters can keep taxes down
March 9, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Exactly! Together with Starmer's newly-found purpose as co-leader of a self-reliant Europe taking care of Ukraine, this is the moment to confront the public with the uncomfortable things to come - and I believe the public will be far more understanding than many might think.
Die neue Episode meines Podcasts mit Thomas ist da 📯
Dieses Mal sprechen wir über die ambivalentr dt. Haltung zur #Sicherheitspolitik durch die Jahrzehnte - und warum sie so besonders erschüttert worden ist.
#Zeitenwende
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1549213/episodes/16676880
Dieses Mal sprechen wir über die ambivalentr dt. Haltung zur #Sicherheitspolitik durch die Jahrzehnte - und warum sie so besonders erschüttert worden ist.
#Zeitenwende
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1549213/episodes/16676880
Episode #21 - Zeitenwende 2.0, Neorealismus und Kriegstüchtigkeit – die deutsche Wahrnehmung von Sicherheitspolitik seit Gründung der BRD
Deutschland steht vor der kritischsten sicherheitspolitischen Herausforderung seit den 1970er Jahren. Das Schlagwort von der Zeitenwende hat durch die Politik der neuen Trump-Administration in den USA eine noch größere Dimension erhalten; und Vert...
www.buzzsprout.com
February 24, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Die neue Episode meines Podcasts mit Thomas ist da 📯
Dieses Mal sprechen wir über die ambivalentr dt. Haltung zur #Sicherheitspolitik durch die Jahrzehnte - und warum sie so besonders erschüttert worden ist.
#Zeitenwende
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1549213/episodes/16676880
Dieses Mal sprechen wir über die ambivalentr dt. Haltung zur #Sicherheitspolitik durch die Jahrzehnte - und warum sie so besonders erschüttert worden ist.
#Zeitenwende
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1549213/episodes/16676880
Very thought-provoking blog post by Dan on a highly controversial subject (for full disclosure: I tend to side with him). This is a key part of where '#woke' (for want of a better label) went into self-destruction mode.
#philosophy
#philosophy
I wrote about what Karl Popper called "conspiracy theories of ignorance": www.conspicuouscognition.com/p/on-conspir...
On conspiracy theories of ignorance
Karl Popper, the doctrine of manifest truth, and the tendency to treat sincere disagreement as disinformation.
www.conspicuouscognition.com
February 19, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Very thought-provoking blog post by Dan on a highly controversial subject (for full disclosure: I tend to side with him). This is a key part of where '#woke' (for want of a better label) went into self-destruction mode.
#philosophy
#philosophy
Looking for some brain fodder on your Sunday?
Here, I demonstrate the compatibility of Knut #Wicksell and J.M. #Keynes, underlining there are two fundamentally different types of interest #rates, the interaction of which is essential for macro-#economics analysis as well as policy.
Here, I demonstrate the compatibility of Knut #Wicksell and J.M. #Keynes, underlining there are two fundamentally different types of interest #rates, the interaction of which is essential for macro-#economics analysis as well as policy.
February 16, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Reposted by Jakob Steffen
Truly mad king stuff www.cnn.com/2025/02/14/c...
Trump officials fired nuclear staff not realizing they oversee the country’s weapons stockpile, sources say | CNN
Some of the fired probationary employees included on-the-ground staff at facilities where nuclear weapons are built.
www.cnn.com
February 15, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Truly mad king stuff www.cnn.com/2025/02/14/c...