Blair Fix

Political economist. Blogger. Scientist. Editor: Review of Capital as Power.

Support my research here: https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/membership/

Blog: https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/
Support: https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/membership/

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Last Notes

2026-10-04 00:01:18 UTC

In case you missed it, here are my thoughts on what distinguishes useful automation from useless machine slop.
https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2026/10/03/the-laws-of-useful-automation/

2026-09-25 17:50:03 UTC

US politics are now divided along a structural schism in US capitalism.
Turns out the Harris-Trump margin was a tight function of each state's business-to-industry index (share of world income relative to share of world energy use).
https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2026/09/19/the-business-to-industry-index-and-the-geography-of-global-capitalism/
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/117/332/922/303/673/522/original/84af6b234c838df4.png

2026-09-24 18:43:52 UTC

At first glance, this map looks like it plots US partisan politics. But it's actually a map of each state's business-to-industry index: its share of world income relative to its share of world energy use.
https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2026/09/19/the-business-to-industry-index-and-the-geography-of-global-capitalism/
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/117/327/479/197/916/351/original/9588cef195c3c3c5.png

2026-09-23 18:27:36 UTC

Here's the geography of global capitalism in 1990, as captured by the business-to-industry index (share of world income relative to share of world energy use).
Note the industry dominance in Asia, where communist policies were popular.
https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2026/09/19/the-business-to-industry-index-and-the-geography-of-global-capitalism/
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/117/321/751/217/269/343/original/ce456c6dc5ce6366.png

2026-09-22 23:03:29 UTC

I respect Sabine, but her takes on economics are consistently bad. This one's the worst yet.
https://youtu.be/8GYDQU5ftBs?si=bQM7zx3laTJ69YZ7

2026-09-21 11:55:46 UTC

Email subscriptions for my blog run on Jetpack, which reports to me the 'open rate' for each email.
This is creepy shit.
Do the big email providers sell data about what emails their users open? How does Jetpack get this information?
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/117/308/888/008/402/227/original/c68bc36763160bba.png

2026-09-20 14:20:15 UTC

Here's the rise and fall of Britain, as captured by its world income-share and energy-share (left). Combining these two views gives the business-to-industry index (right).
Notice the two stages: 'disruption' followed by 'monetization'.
https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2026/09/19/the-business-to-industry-index-and-the-geography-of-global-capitalism/
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/117/303/784/114/721/912/original/1bf74b7841aff4e7.png
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/117/303/785/343/834/352/original/dfb88b4b48039d16.png

2026-09-18 22:15:44 UTC

Given this week's AI doomer hype, I'm going to repost this old essay from 2023 because, well, nothing has changed.
https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2023/06/10/no-ai-does-not-pose-an-existential-risk-to-humanity/

2026-09-11 22:12:51 UTC

- reply

Fascinating analysis. What's in your commodity basket?
I'd guess that the basket makes all the difference. Standard GDP deflation goes out of its way have as broad a basket as possible, and generally uses methods designed to maximize perceived growth. For example, there's a growing gap between the US CPI and the US GDP deflator.

2026-06-20 13:03:20 UTC

A few months ago, Isabella K. Sabatino wrote a seminal critique of attempts to test the labor theory of value using the national accounts. Here is a response from Moraitis & Basu.
In my reading, it essentially concedes Sabatino's technical points of criticism.
https://capitalaspower.com/2026/06/moraitis-basu-deciphering-the-drivers-of-price-labor-value-vector-proximity-in-empirical-studies/

2026-06-06 14:05:48 UTC

As the Iran oil crisis unfolds, folks are again talking about 'stagflation' .... inflation combined with stagnation.
The truth, though, is that in modern capitalism, stagflation is the norm.
https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2023/01/17/is-stagflation-the-norm/

2026-05-26 20:33:40 UTC

- reply

You put you finger on it. Once you admit power into economics, nothing of neoclassical theory is left standing. Income in general says little to anything about 'productivity'.

2026-05-26 19:51:22 UTC

In hindsight, it looks like Bush's 'war on terror' signaled the end of the Pax Americana (the post-WWII imperial peace).
Here's the number of military conflicts involving the United States since 1946. The post-2001 jump is shocking.
https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2026/05/22/the-business-of-war-and-the-mismeasurement-of-military-might/
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/116/642/596/952/665/481/original/87e6eb572cb05ebf.png

2026-01-31 14:51:35 UTC

I read Robert Putnam's 'Bowling Alone' last night. I did not anticipate his evidence blaming *television* as a key cause for US civic breakdown.
Someone needs to update this research to include all forms of modern screen time. I suspect the results would be horrifying.

2025-11-12 17:26:03 UTC

YouTube doubles down on enshittification. The site will no longer load videos if it detects ublock origin on your browser.
@npub1fdr…lvhs
https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/internet/youtube-is-not-down-its-cracking-down-on-ad-blocker-users-3-ways-to-fix-it

2025-09-11 21:17:37 UTC

It's fascinating to watch Paul Krugman transform into a radical. If nothing else, Trump is running a very interesting social experiment in how to radicalize elites.
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/can-a-despised-autocrat-consolidate

2025-09-11 21:00:42 UTC

Here's an interesting new paper from Sandy Hager, in which he traces the shifting fortunes of corporate psychedelia.
https://capitalaspower.com/2025/09/hager-the-shifting-fortunes-of-corporate-psychedelia/

2025-09-07 21:46:24 UTC

2+2=5, says the White House. George Orwell rolls in his grave.
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/165/180/708/322/837/original/0089ffca2a7810a9.png

2025-05-26 17:22:01 UTC

In hindsight, the Cold War wasn't a competition between two superpowers. It was a battle between a dominant empire and an emerging competitor.
Here's the energy picture.
https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2025/05/13/the-soviet-experiment-with-empire/
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/575/272/029/815/817/original/bf4f80f3c1557b0c.png

2025-05-09 21:04:55 UTC

To what extent do politicians have a say over the rise and fall of empires?
The rhyme between US and British history suggests limits to political agency, at least via liberal democracy. (Revolutions, of course, are a different matter.)
https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2025/05/04/the-half-life-of-empire/
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/479/895/889/984/377/original/edb4e6a6c8d216a3.png

2025-03-14 20:22:03 UTC

It's worth stressing that modern Republican rule is in large part built on ignorance. Here's how the diversity of people's news sources declines as Republican state control increases.
https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2025/01/31/partisan-politics-and-the-road-to-plutocracy/
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/162/624/213/938/048/original/b55123dced4d108c.png

2025-02-25 17:05:55 UTC

When Republicans rule, more people are food insecure. Here's the data at the state level.
#plutocracy
https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2025/01/31/partisan-politics-and-the-road-to-plutocracy/
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/065/597/989/745/100/original/93c9b409da0ef076.png