Economics is the study of how people and society choose, with or without the use of money, to employ scarce productive resources which could have alternative uses, to produce various commodities over time and distribute them for consumption now and in the future among various persons and groups of society. — Paul Samuelson
In the tradition of John Maynard Keynes, Samuelson favored run-on sentences, but his is one of the more generally accepted definitions of Economics. In short, it’s about the use and distribution of resources. Supply and demand. The haves and have-nots. Keeping up with the Joneses (whether a neighbor or an international conglomerate).
Via RSS, I’ve followed the Econbrowser blog for years. I don’t read everything there, but since inflation kicked in I’ve been making more of a point to keep up.
It does seem that Biden’s nearly $2 trillion stimulus, coming during the supply chain crisis, was a significant inflation trigger. Money chased goods that were stuck on container ships. Looks like Lawrence Summers was right.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/02/04/larry-summers-biden-covid-stimulus/
The Fed shouldn’t have waited so long to raise interest rates. This is from July 14, 2021.