I apologize for lack of content on this blog-slash-newsletter lately. Among other excuses, I’ve just been elected chair of the John Jay Economics Department. Many of you know how that goes. A chair is not a boss, they are just the department’s representative with the university, and the person to whom various administrative tasks are Continue reading Against Money, Against the Boss
TLDR: The value of corporate equity relative to GDP is at a historical high. But this does not necessarily mean there s a bubble: profits and shareholder payouts are also very high relative to historical values. I first started thinking about economics thirty years ago, during the (first) tech boom. This was the era of “irrational Continue reading Profits, Payouts and Equity Prices, Part 1
The following is a somewhat expanded version of testimony I presented on June 23 before the New York City Commission on Government Efficiency. My name is Josh Mason. I am an associate professor and chair of the economics department at John Jay College, CUNY, and a senior fellow at the Groundwork Collaborative. It’s a pleasure Continue reading The Case Against Hard Rules for City Reserve Funds
(I had a long conversation yesterday with Eric Levitz of Vox about the New York City rent freeze and the economics of rent regulation. I have posted the interview below just as it appeared there, for my archives and in case people want to read it without dealing with the paywall.) An economist makes the Continue reading At Vox, a Conversation on Rent Control
Last week, the Rent Guidelines Board voted for a freeze on the rent for New York City’s one million rent-regulated apartments, fulfilling one of Mayor Mamdani’s defining campaign promises. There has been plenty of discussion of the decision, both supportive and critical. But there’s one aspect of it, of particular interest to me, that has Continue reading At John Jay, We Study Economics to Change…
The other day, Laura and I were standing on the subway platform, on our way to see Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters, when a young man walked up to us. Well, up to me. “Are you the author of this book,” he asked; he had a copy of Against Money. I said that I was, Continue reading Responses to Against Money
Against Money is now out. It’s been spotted in a number of bookstores, including the Union Square Barnes and Noble, where it turns out to be shelved next to Marx s Capital in the Business section. As my friend Suresh said to me the other day, as writers we should think of books as landmarks for a larger Continue reading Talking about Against Money
Arjun and I did a webinar recently on our book Against Money, organized by Merijn Knibbe. We’re very grateful to him for putting it together, and should have video to share soon. Even in a friendly setting like this, it can be a challenge to explain what the real-world stakes are in debates over money. Continue reading Investment, Animal Spirits and Algae
This is the edited transcript of a talk I delivered on March 5 at the Heilbroner Center for the Study of Capitalism at the New School for Social Research in New York, at the invitation of Julia Ott. The talk is an attempt to explain what Against Money (my forthcoming book with Arjun Jayadev) is Continue reading At the New School: Against Money
(This piece was originally published at Phenomenal World, in cooperation with the New York Policy Project.) With the failure of Eric Adams’s last-ditch effort to stack the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB), Mayor Zohran Mamdani is now in a position to fulfill his promise to freeze the rent. The nine-member RGB sets maximum rent increases for Continue reading After the Rent Freeze