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The United States under President Donald Trump launched a tariff war with China, imposing steep tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese imports. China retaliated in kind, escalating a tit-for-tat trade conflict that disrupted global supply chains and rattled financial markets. This period saw surging uncertainty: safe-haven assets like gold spiked to record…

“Once it is said that the realm of the ‘natural’ consists of everything that is the result neither of human action nor of human design” (Ullmann-Margalit, 1978). Adam Smith’s metaphor of the ‘invisible hand’ has long fascinated economists, including Ullmann-Margalit and Maki. At first glance, their works might appear to diverge: Ullmann-Margalit classifies two types of…

“Economists are in the process, it seems, of refashioning their central economic character,” wrote Morgan (2006). Morgan hypothesizes that the economic man periodically undergoes radical changes in character, particularly in light of advancements in behavioural economics and neurological research. He envisions this new economic man as a “well-rounded and more interesting character—one who can learn, bargain, act strategically, has…

“The efficient market hypothesis is just a model. It’s got to be wrong to some extent.” said Fama. At its core, EMH theorizes that stock market prices at any given moment reflect all available information—a result of the continuous and collective efforts of millions of investors attempting to outsmart the market. This revolutionary idea earned…

Economic theory has long been at the intersection of prediction and the quest for understanding deeper truths behind market phenomena. Recent work by Kevin J. Lansing (2025) on “Improving the Phillips Curve with an Interaction Variable” shows that even long-standing models can still be enhanced. Lansing’s study demonstrated that by including an interaction variable in…

Kebijakan tarif yang diberlakukan oleh Presiden Trump telah mengganggu tatanan perdagangan internasional. Pendekatan proteksionisme yang diusungnya bertolak belakang dengan prinsip-prinsip globalisasi yang menjadi dasar teori perdagangan internasional menurut David Ricardo. Ricardo sendiri menerima berbagai kritik tajam, terutama ketika realitas ekonomi global yang semakin dinamis dan kompleks berbeda dengan teorinya. Artikel ini mengkaji kritik terhadap teori ekonomi…

Downstreaming is critical to boosting Indonesia’s economy past a 5% annual growth threshold. Danantara, the newly established sovereign wealth fund, plans to drive various downstreaming projects, spanning mining (nickel, bauxite, and copper), AI data centers, oil refineries, petrochemicals, and even food and aquaculture processing. Since many of these industries will be in their infancy, the…

The current readings reminded me of Friedman (1953), who stated that “in general, the more significant the theory, the more unrealistic the assumption”[i]. This prompts a reflection on whether unrealistic assumptions are indeed necessary for the development of impactful economic theories. This essay reviews the writings of Maki (1998, 2008), Hausman (1998), and Lawson (1999)…

The main ideas of Popper, Kuhn, and Lakatos in economic methodology reflect their broader philosophies of science, each offering a unique perspective on how economic theories should be developed, tested, and evaluated. The differences in their concepts have sparked discussion among other economists. This essay will provide a critical review on these readings. Popper (1976)…

Economic modeling is the foundation in building economic analysis and insights. The reading material represents a spectrum of views on the role of realism and assumptions in economic modeling. This paper explores various perspectives on this issue, highlighting the importance of balancing predictive accuracy with realistic assumptions to develop robust and meaningful economic models. Mill (1844) started…