Anne Emerson-Twin, Photographer, Poet, and Writer
Essays - Magic Money, and More - for Today!
As time passes, content adapts. This page is now color-coded for items Annie thinks may help bring general readers into an economist's thought-process. She suggests they start by reading the blue texts, highlighted in yellow.
The "Magic..." essays were inspired by questions and comments from friends and neighbors about government policy during the pandemic. Annie used to teach this sort of fun stuff! She wanted to explain a few things to friends.
If you think the pandemic is over and you want to skip that part, you are invited to scroll down
to find Annie's thoughts on today's challenges.
​
Why might you pay attention to Annie's ideas? She lived through the decline of an Empire!
Perhaps there are some lessons to be learned from that. (Or perhaps not! Who knows?)
​
​
Most of these essays are for general readers - little or no economics required.
​
The Book Review - Essential Adam Smith, below - is background information about Adam Smith,
by an eminent author (not Annie). All Annie did was review the book.
Book Review: The Essential Adam Smith -
What He Said May Not Be What you Think
Magic, Money and the Pandemic
If you do not wonder how modern governments can create money out of nothing much, you may not be interested in these essays.
​
But, for example, do you know that modern financial systems often encourage both debt-financing
and avoidance of financial crises, by
"creating" money? See also essays on basic
economic concepts for general readers, below
These essays address monetary policy (central banking and the Fed), fiscal policy (government budgets), fiat money (including dollars and bitcoin), and inflation (price-level changes). They present accepted teachings in economics, for the general reader, with a few thoughts on the pandemic and its challenges tossed in.
​
​
Magic Growth and the Path of Change
These essays, for general readers, are based on accepted teachings, Annie's research, and Annie's reading on contemporary matters. Each essay includes a brief section explaining how it might differ from convention, if it does.
Annie's first foray into presenting complex economic ideas to creative artists resulted in the essay at the link above. More pages added below. More basic economic concepts for general readers coming soon. Maybe.
​
How do we feel about cuddly robots given to children and seniors, to help meet their needs? Perhaps robots are better than nothing, but is it OK, really?
The discussion of farm incomes, poverty traps, and differences in regional growth rates, on pages 34 to 43, in both the link above and that below, may be understood by non-economists.
Annie's "Model" and Today's Challenges
As news reports become more disturbing, Annie invites you to understand and reflect on the implications of her "model"
​
More -
​
Annie made a couple of numerical examples to illustrate her model. If you understand graphs, you should see from the figures at the blue link (left) what her theory implies. She could be wrong. She hopes you will think for yourself.
​
Annie's examples are typical of graphs you might see in a Principles of Economics textbook, illustrating a point. However, Annie's point is different from what is customarily presented in beginning economics textbooks. If you are a real, serious economist, please see the "About" page on this website and scroll down to "My Economics." You will see there why you need to take Annie's model seriously.
​
The second link at left - The Fighting Fed - discusses a banking dilemma. Different industries face different challenges; helping some may be at the expense of others, contrary to Adam Smith's ideal.
Annie's "tweaks" to current policy recommendations may be found in the Theory and Reality series of essays; in particular at the end of the "Q and A - Theory and Reality" essay.
​
Summary: Annie calls the two sectors in her model “money-magnet” industries, and “resource-losing” industries. [That's industries, not countries.] They each benefit more, or less, from global economic policies, because they each face a different financial environment. We might wish to treat them differently - different market-based policies might be appropriate for each - just as different human beings, facing different environments, benefit differently from them.
​
​
