Conner N. Howell

I got the chance to speak to the fine folks at Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church about money and the economy for their Sustainable Economics series.

Whatever happens next, I hope the Syrian people get a real say in it.

South Korea becomes first country to fill 10% of its workforce with robots The country has invested billions into robotics to address a shrinking working population due to low birth rates

🌐📈 South Korea becomes the first nation to replace over 10% of its industrial workforce with robots.

Just imagine – 10% of the workforce already replaced and the trend is rising.

Korea is the first nation with such significant robot 'population'.

#EconSky

www.independent.co.uk/tech/robots-...

Looking forward to presenting some of my work today. Good vibes all around

Gamers now spend over $20 billion on loot boxes every year. 90% of this revenue comes from just 1.5% of players ("whales").

Regular players enjoy loot boxes for their gameplay complementarity, but whales mostly get loot box value from the direct utility.

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

For the spree of new followers: thanks!

I'm a PhD student in economics at UMKC here in Kansas City. I have a bunch of interests, but mostly my recent work has been on shadow banking and securitization. I have a Post-Keynesian/Minskyan outlook, but I've dabbled in Marxian economics as well.

I assume something went down on Twitter again because I started getting more followers out of nowhere

It's always all been Hilbert spaces

What is common knowledge in your field but shocks outsiders?

We don't really have any good theories about the prices of most financial products. Most of the theories we have rest on assumptions which are known to be false or aren't falsifiable. Most prices are probably just vibes.

I'm enjoying your new anti-Marxist arc

YouTube video by Robinson Erhardt Michael Hudson: Debt, Economic Collapse, and the End of Civilization

A brilliant interview with Michael Hudson

youtu.be/SO-qHypWlgE?...

I couldn't agree more. We're not in the farmers markets anymore

I'm also looking for a nemesis, so we can help each other out

Conner Howell is a graduate student in economics at the University of Missouri - Kansas City. He does research on securitization and shadow banking through a Post-Keynesian lens. I learned a lot about this important and mysterious sector, and how it can inform our approach to economics. We also touched on some broader issues surrounding money and capitalism! Conner's Bluesky/Subtack account is here: https://bsky.app/profile/connernhowell.substack.com Shadow Banking 101 - with Conner Howell

I had a great conversation with @unlearnecon.bsky.social about some of my research on shadow banking and Emperor Trajan.

youtu.be/P8-lm6I5LJ8?...

Top financial watchdog says shadow bank vulnerabilities yet to be fixed FSB’s Klaas Knot warns global tensions and rising debt levels increase risk of new financial crisis

Shadow banking on the edge (part 6):

Top financial watchdog says shadow bank vulnerabilities yet to be fixed on.ft.com/4cPMKHD
#EconSky

That was a very interesting article. Admittedly some of the semiotics stuff put me out of my depth, but I enjoyed it all the same

Fun times ahead for us in America, Biden dropped out

I think it will probably continue for a while

I'm a graduate student in economics. My current research is in shadow banking and securitization.

My views on the current political climate are bleak, to say the least. It's reassuring that far-right parties were rebuked in the UK and France but I'm not so optimistic about my own country.

My concern with central planning is that it makes it much easier for one group to capture the process and reward themselves, which is the complaint central planning enthusiasts have about capitalism.

dang ol’ paradox of thrift 📈📉

MMT’s Leeds conference and disinvitations I have spent a night reflecting on whether to comment on a post Steve Keen made yesterday on his being uninvited from a  modern monetary theory (MMT) conference being held in Leeds this week. Steve r...

More drama in the MMT world

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/07...

You always see investment groups and CEOs talking about creating value for investors, but they never explain which theory of value they're using

A four-panel meme featuring scenes from Brooklyn 99. 1. **Top left panel**: A man with a confident expression, saying "I LOVE ECON JARGON!" 2. **Top right panel**: A woman with glasses and a surprised look, responding with "OK THEN NAME 3 ECON JARGONS." 3. **Bottom left panel**: The man, now looking a bit unsure, says "MARGINS, THE MARGIN, MARGINAL." 4. **Bottom right panel**: The woman, looking disappointed and saying, "That's on me, I set the bar too low."

We have good and precise language #econsky

It'd be interesting to see this next to charts of different social goods provided in those ZIP codes.

I'm less familiar with the UK case, but I'm not surprised. Part of what makes shadow banking difficult to deal with is that by its nature it seeks to circumvent financial regulations.

For me, as someone who works in a shadow banking activity (it's also my research area), it's frightening that shockingly little was learned from the GFC. The regulations introduced in the aftermath don't really seem to address the main risks associated with MBS markets.

I share your skepticism. I think it's contingent: depending on how people spend the debt service they receive from bonds and how higher interest rates impact credit creation, you could imagine different impacts on the price level.