A recent video from Real Progressives, RealProgressives LIVE w/ Ellis Winningham – The Federal Jobs Guarantee, cast aspersions on DSGE.

I decided to look up the topic that went with the acronym which landed me at this Wikipedia article Dynamic stochastic general equilibrium. I think the criticism made in the video is the one mentioned in this excerpt from the Wikipedia article.

Robert Solow blasted DSGE models currently in use:

‘I do not think that the currently popular DSGE models pass the smell test. They take it for granted that the whole economy can be thought about as if it were a single, consistent person or dynasty carrying out a rationally designed, long-term plan, occasionally disturbed by unexpected shocks, but adapting to them in a rational, consistent way… The protagonists of this idea make a claim to respectability by asserting that it is founded on what we know about microeconomic behavior, but I think that this claim is generally phony. The advocates no doubt believe what they say, but they seem to have stopped sniffing or to have lost their sense of smell altogether

Even after reading this article, I still don’t know enough yet to form a judgment. This post is the beginning of my education on this subject. I am sure more will follow.

Naked Capitalism has reprinted the article How Russia Is Using Oil Deals To Secure Its Influence In The Middle East.

Here is but one example mentioned in the article.

By taking over part of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s distribution burden, Russia is helping the semi-autonomous zone bypass potential hurdles with Baghdad, which controls the flow of oil through crucial pipelines. Disagreements between the Iraqi capital and Erbil regarding oil export contracts have caused pipeline closures in the past. With a new ally in Russia, the KRG can devise new ways to get their oil products out without having to negotiate with the Iraqi government, buttressed by the U.S.

<sarcasm>I’ll bet you are shocked to find out that geo-political game we are playing with Russia is all about oil. Of course the real reason we are now enemies with Russia is because they took the Crimea back. That in itself proves they hacked the DNC email to tell us the truth about the DNC.</sarcasm>