It was John Maynard Keynes who first pointed out its importance, and its consequences for policy. Keynes said that policies which are sound and necessary when the economy is fully employed, are unsound and destructive when the economy is shrinking. He knew what he was talking about. He had lived through the Great Depression of … Continue reading George Osborne fails to mind the output gap

The recent downsizing of A.J. ('Freddie') Ayer is none too soon. For several decades no one who went to Oxford could escape the stultifying influence of his Logical Positivism and its associated Verification Principle - the view that, apart from logic and mathematics, all statements which cannot be verified empirically are meaningless. This doctrine managed … Continue reading Reputations – A.J.Ayer