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Overview of the Blog

 

The Beginning of the Modern Global Economy:  The Economic Rise of England Before the Industrial Revolution

 

The Beginning of the Industrial Revolution in England and America

 

The theme of the following five sections of the blog is that innovation and information, not price competition, are the main factors for understanding economic growth, competition, market structure and analysis.

 

Basic Concepts and Theory

Corporate Strategies And Management

Market Behavior and Structure

Market Dynamics and Information:  How Markets Work

Economic Theory and Markets

 

There is beginning a historic change in future populations and their demographics. This will interact with other variables and have a serious, maybe profound, effect on future economic growth.

Demographics, Population Projections and Economics

American History

American Economic History

Politics of the United States

The Roman Republic and America - Differences and Some Possible Parallels

 

China

India

Nigeria


The world seems to be in the midst of radical political and social change. Where are we going? Can studying past periods and countries facing disrupting change help us navigate our times? Maybe.

World War I:  The Beginning of the 20th Century

 

Economic and Fiscal Policy

Financial Markets and Investment Strategies

Foreign Exchange Markets
The United States
American Foreign Policy and International Relations
Geopolitics and the Global Economy
Geopolitics of Oil and Natural Gas

Visionaries

Humor, Satire, Whimsy

Higher Education

=====================================

 

OVERVIEW

 

About the Blog

 

THE BEGINNING OF THE MODERN GLOBAL ECONOMY:  THE ECONOMIC RISE OF ENGLAND BEFORE THE INDUSTRY REVOLUTION

 

Before the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the 1770s, England was already a relatively wealthy country with a large merchant and shipping class with wealth to invest.

 

England in the 1600s: The Beginning of England's Rise to Global Power and Wealth

 

The English East India Company:  Trade with India and Asia

 

Multinational Corporations vs. National Governments:  Is the English East India Company a Model for Future Multinational Corporations?

 

THE BEGINNING OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA

 

These posts analyze the factors behind the start of the Industrial Revolution in England and America.  Pre-conditions were important. They illustrate some of the reasons why, in the long run, America was able to continue industrializing, overtaking England, and why England fell behind.

 

The Beginning of the Industrial Revolution in England

 

Adam Smith's Pin Factory

 

Josiah Wedgwood, the Wedgwood Pottery Company, and the Beginning of the Industrial Revolution

 

The Beginning of the Industrial Revolution in America

 

Innovate or Fall Behind. A Cautionary Tale - England and the Industrial Revolution

 

BASIC ECONOMIC CONCEPTS AND THEORY

 

Critique of Basic Economic Theory

 

Introduction to Economic Theory

 

The Agricultural Revolution: A Function of the Industrial Revolution

 

The Marginal (Opportunity) Cost of Saudi Arabian Oil

 

Economic Development and Economic Growth

 

Demographics and Economic Growth

 

Modern Production Functions and Global Supply Chains

 

Demand Analysis

 

You, Your Brain and Credit Cards

 

The following post was contributed by Dennis Schuchman.

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Real Intelligence (RI)

 

CORPORATE STRATEGIES

 

Corporate Strategies:  Basic Concepts and Management

 

Corporate Strategies:   Mergers and Acquisitions

 

Corporate Strategies:  Marketing and Price Discrimination

 

Corporate Strategies:  Organizational Change in the Future

 

Corporate Growth Strategies

 

Robots:  The Future is Arriving

 

 

MANAGEMENT


The 10 Minute MBA - Almost Everything You Need to Know to Manage Organizations, People, and Yourself

 

 

MARKET BEHAVIOR AND STRUCTURE

 

Competition:  Strategies and Structure

 

Imperfect Competition: Large Companies and Oligopoly

 

A Stylized Model of Innovation:  The Dynamics of Capitalism

 

Corporate Growth Strategies

 

Markets and Large Companies:  A Case Study of Parker Hannifin

 

Bilateral Oligopoly

 

Examples of Bilateral Oligopoly

 

 

MARKET DYNAMICS AND INFORMATION:  HOW MARKETS WORK

 

This group of posts emphasize the dynamics of economic growth and development. They highlight the role of information in the functioning of modern markets.

 

Introduction to Information and Economic Structure

 

How Markets Work:  Transaction Costs and Market-Makers

 

Asymmetric Information and Market Prices

 

The Market for Companies:  Acquisitions and Asymmetric Information

 

 

ECONOMIC THEORY AND MARKETS

A Stylized Model of Innovation:  The Dynamics of Capitalism

 

Inconspicuous Consumption in the Age of Affluence

 

Manage Yourself

 

Alan Turing, Computers and Strategic Management

 

 

DEMOGRAPHICS, POPULATION PROJECTIONS AND ECONOMICS

 

Most countries outside of Africa have birth rates below replacement. Populations are beginning to fall in many countries. These posts present the latest long-run demographic and population projections, and the implications for economic growth and public policy. Read together, they provide a framework for the future geopolitical competition and tensions among different regions of the world.

 

Introduction to Demographics and Global Population Projections

 

Global Demographics and Population Projections

 

Birth Rates and Population Projection Issues

 

For demographics of specific countries:

 

Demographics, Immigration and Future Economic Growth of the United States

 

Immigrants and American Economic Development

 

The Demographics of Japan:  The Land of the Setting Sun

 

Demographics and Economic Growth

 

Nigeria:  A Case Study

 

Domestic Issues

 

Related - how urbanization and global warming might affect coastal cities, home to close to half of the total global population. Many of the world's large cities are subject to yearly flooding.

 

Miami's Submarine Future

 

AMERICAN ECONOMIC HISTORY

 

 

The Beginning of the Industrial Revolution in America

 

How America Industrialized and Became Wealthy

 

Introduction to the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Start of the Great Depression

 

The Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Beginning of the Great Depression

 

The Great Depression

 

Alice in Wonderland and the Origins of Silicon Valley

 

Demographics, Immigration and Future Economic Growth of the United States

 

Immigrants and American Economic Development

 

Age and Class in America

 

AMERICAN HISTORY

 

Why Study History? Lessons for Americans

 

American Colonial History, 1607-1775

 

The American Revolution and the New Country, 1775-1790

 

Why England Lost the American Revolutionary War

 

A New Nation, America from 1789 to 1860

 

The American Civil War:  Was It Inevitable?

 

Berkeley in the 60s:  A Personal Reminiscence

 

Alice in Wonderland and the Origins of Silicon Valley


Age and Class in America


Religion and American Politics: A Historical Perspective


America's 250th Birthday:  Which side are we now?


 

Nonprofits in the American Economic System

 

Nonprofits II:  Issues, Costs, and Benefits

 

What Now?  The Crisis of America's Middle Class

 

POLITICS OF THE UNITED STATES

The Prince in a Democracy

 

President Obama Learns Some Game Theory

Fear and Loathing in America

 

How to be Elected President

 

THE ROMAN REPUBLIC AND AMERICA - DIFFERENCES AND SOME POSSIBLE PARALLELS

 

The Roman Republic Commits Suicide:  A Cautionary Tale for America

 

The Roman Republic and America

 

CHINA

 

China's Development Strategy

 

The Strange Political Economics of the Chinese Auto Industry

 

China's Economy, Politics, and Demography

 

China's Economic Statistics

 

INDIA

 

The English East India Company:  Trade with India and Asia

 

India and the Geopolitics of the Indian Ocean

 

India:  Economic Growth, Demographics and Domestic Issues

 

Historical events can overcome or break trend lines. World War I was such as event. It had profound, unanticipated impact on the next 100 years.

 

WORLD WAR I - THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY

 

Bismarck and the Origins of World War I


The Beginning of the Twentieth Century:  The Path to World War I

 

Wealth and Power in Pre-World War I Europe 

 

The Austro-Hungarian Empire Before World War I

 

Europe on the Brink of World War I

 

Why Germany Lost World War I

 

The Immediate and Long-Run Historical Consequences of World War I

 

 

Related studies by Professor Andrea Dragon.

 

The Maxim Machine Gun and Smokeless Powder

 

New Jersey Artillery Explosives Production in World War I

 

KELP IS ON THE WAY: How American Kelp Helped Save the English Explosives Industry in World War I

 

 

ECONOMIC AND FISCAL POLICY

 

I Read the Financial News Today

 

John Maynard Keynes

 

Government Finance 101:  Fiscal Policy. Welcome to Alice in Wonderland.

 

Government Finance 102:  Monetary Policy. The Red Queen's Race

 

Trump's Tariffs and Their Consequences

 

President Obama Tries to Save American Capitalism and America's Global Influence

 

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Forecasts the Future

 

FINANCIAL MARKETS AND INVESTMENT STRATEGIES


The Economics of Financial Markets

 

Explaining Derivatives - An Analogy

 

 

FOREIGN EXCHANGE MARKETS

Foreign Exchange Markets I:  Appreciating Dollar, Commodity Prices and the American Economy

Foreign Exchange Markets II:  The Global Economy



AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

 

September 22, 2026. President Trump Speaks at the United Nations

 

Suggested Strategies After the War with Iran

 

Tariffs and America's Economic War with China

 

Tariffs, The American Auto Industry, and Tesla

 

Pax Americana:  America as a Global Power

Pax Americana:  The World America Made

Breaking Away:  Britain and the European Union

The Economy After the 2016 Election

Implementing Foreign Policy:  President Obama Learned to Think Like an Economist

American Foreign Policy Since 1991

 

 

VISIONARIES

John von Neumann, Alan Turing, and Claude Shannon (creator of information theory) knew each other, knew of each other's work, and discussed their ideas with each other. They laid the foundations for the computer, information technology, and the telecommunications revolution that dominate our lives and our economies.

 

John von Neumann Sees the Future

 

Alan Turing, Computers, and Strategic Management

 

Martin Luther King

 


HUMOR/SATIRE/WHIMSY

 

Future News:  A Little RoboHumor

 

Trump's World:  A Little Bit of Gentle Satire

 

The Sayings of the Don, the Capo Maga of Washington 

 

Future News

 

The Twilight Zone

 

Vlad the Inhaler Takes Draconian Action


Chinese Central Committee Report on America

 

Harry Starts a Family (especially for math lovers)

 

Ribbit Wins a Ribbon

 



HIGHER EDUCATION

 

The High Cost of Higher Education

 

School for Scandal:  An Insider’s Look at How and Why Colleges Rip Off Students, Parents, and Taxpayers

 

Taking a College Course:  What are You Buying?

 

Putting a Price on Professors

 

The Costs of Athletic Scholarships

How to Pay for College

How to Succeed in College

 

GLOBAL ECONOMICS AND POLITICS,

2010-2020

 

This essay, published in 2018, discussed many the issues that are central to the current EU crisis. In the latest survey (July 2026) 57% of the English polled regret leaving the European Union.

 

Breaking Away:  Britain and the European Union

(2018)

 

Background on the current crisis in Ukraine.

 

Ukraine and Russia  (2014)

 

Ukraine - Background, Outline, and Scenarios

(2014)

 

The Crimea, Russia, and U.S. Options  (2014)

 

The issues discussed in the following essay are still important today.

 

Arab Spring, Arab Autumn  (2012)

 

Why and how China has avoided the mistakes Russia made after the fall of Communism in 1991.

 

Russia and China - Contrasts  (2011)

 

Discusses the options the United States had, and still has, following the al Qaeda attack in 2001.

 

Superpower:  The United States and Terrorism

(2010)

 

GEOPOLITICS OF OIL AND NATURAL GAS

 

The geopolitics of oil will continue to remain important until the switch to substitute renewable resources and EVs.


Energy and Geopolitics I: The United States (2015)

Energy and Geopolitics II: The World ex-United States  (2015)

 

Note on the Current Global Oil Market  (2015)

 

Saudi Arabia, Oil and Geopolitics (2015)

 

The $100 a Barrel Solution  (2012)

 

Surprisingly (to me), some of the comments in the following essay may be somewhat relevant to the United States - more dependence on fracked oil and lag in innovative substitutes that will drive future economic growth and development.

 

The Oil Curse  (2010)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 












 














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Adam Smith's Pin Factory

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