Stabilizing an Unstable Economy, by Minsky

Hyman Minsky's theories and ideas are seeing a revival post the events of last year. I have previously read Manias, Panics and Crashes by Charles Kindleberger, which used Minsky's three-part taxonomy to describe various financial panics of the last few centuries. Now, I picked up one of Minsky's own book Stabilizing an Unstable Economy. As this is a fairly detailed and complex work, I think the best way to maximize efficiency is to take notes. So, I will be posting notes from various chapters going forward.

This book was written in 1986, so it deals extensively with the 1966 - 1982 era: the time frame went Dow Jones gave exactly 0% return. Sounds familiar. In particular, in Chapter 2, there is a very counter-intutive proposition. Corporate profits might increase during a recession, depending on how government deficits move. This is what happened in 1975. That is probably why stocks turn up before economy does - as is often said.

I need to understand this better, as this will lay waste to all the bear theories. Govt intervention work, even if they are inefficient, because they are massive.