Surplus, Delegation, and the Oldest Question in Political Economy Every society produces more than it needs to survive. After the fields are tended, the widgets assembled, and the code deployed, after the cost of food, shelter, and keeping the lights on, there is something left over. Call it surplus, profit, margin, or cream. The central … Read more
Category: Politics
Play Street With No Traffic – Lyda D. Newman
On the evening of September 1, 1915, West 63rd Street was closed to cars. Not permanently, just from three in the afternoon until nine at night. It was called a “play street,” which was a new idea then, part of a Progressive Era experiment born of the ugly arithmetic of children and traffic sharing the … Read more
The Discipline of Taking a Beating
Your grandmother can join a sit-in. She cannot join a guerrilla cell. This simple observation explains more about the success of non-violent movements than any amount of moral philosophy. When ordinary people see a protest, they ask themselves whether they belong there. A march full of young mothers pushing strollers, retirees in lawn chairs, teenagers … Read more
Institutional Assignment, Not Ideological Blend: The Case for Falsifiable Hybridity in Political Economy
The capitalism-versus-socialism binary obscures the design question that governs performance: which institutions should be assigned to which domains, and how do we revise these assignments as evidence accumulates? Drawing on Schumpeter’s dynamic efficiency critique, the Hayekian knowledge problem, and contemporary debates between market abolitionists and real-utopian hybrids, I defend an explicitly experimental political economy: markets … Read more
The Next Democratic Nominee for 2028?
Why the 45–55 Cohort from Electoral Powerhouses Matters Democrats face a genuine hinge point in 2028. The goal isn’t only to win—it’s to hand the party to a leader who can knit together the Biden-Harris coalition, cut into GOP gains with working-class and younger voters, and front a credible governing record. That’s why the sweet … Read more
Too Effective for Their Own Good: NATO, Feminism, Vaccines and the Paradox of Success
We live in a world built on invisible scaffolding. It’s not the monuments we notice most, but the quiet, unremarkable stability—the absence of disaster, the daily freedoms that feel so ordinary we no longer remember they were once extraordinary. NATO, feminism, and vaccines belong to this category of “invisible institutions”: they have worked so well, … Read more
Decline in UK House Prices in the 1890s: Causes and Context
House prices in Britain stagnated or declined in the late Victorian era, particularly about incomes. Between the mid-1800s and early 1900s, housing became steadily more affordable as wage growth outpaced house price growth. One analysis finds that from 1850 up to the 1940s, the ratio of house prices to incomes was on a downward trajectory, … Read more
The Capitalist Dilemma: Who Gets the Cream?
Capitalism isn’t the problem. The problem is how the game is played and who sets the rules. In any system, the key question is: who is getting the cream? Profits should be the reward for innovation, efficiency, and superior outcomes, but too often, they are extracted through gatekeeping, monopolization, and exploitation. Unrestricted capitalism—where market forces … Read more