This article continues the analysis of gambling deregulation from an institutional economics perspective done in the article "The Menace of Competition and Gambling Deregulation" by Atkinson, Nichols, and Oleson. John R. Commons' concept of the "menace of competition" is used to analyze how gambling industry laws have been gradually changed in the last decades of the twentieth century, which, in turn, helps the industry to grow throughout the United States. Since the article's publication, much has changed with gambling in the US. Sports gambling has grown dramatically since it was allowed beyond Nevada beginning in 2018, and casinos and lotteries have somewhat peaked. They are not growing as in the past, and horse racing gambling has shrunk dramatically. Charitable gaming has also suffered, and dog racing has almost disappeared. Additionally, online gambling has made it easier than ever before to make wagers and play lotteries and slots. As gambling has proliferated across the US since the late 1970s, some of the newly legal forms of gambling have cannibalized much of the revenues of other ones that have been around longer. Not only can Commons' writings still be used to assess recent developments, but also those of Paul A. Baran and Paul M. Sweezey and Thorstein Veblen.

This exploratory article outlines the idea and development of the economic surplus concept at the macroeconomic level. The notion of a residual amount of income over and above what is necessary for a society’s necessary and useful consumption (education, housing, food, clothing, and other necessities of life) that can be used either for further consumption by an elite class, used for reinvestment in productive activities, and/or wasted on unproductive efforts is one that has been and continues to be used in heterodox and neo-Marxian economics. The relevance of the economic surplus view to modern and recent US economic growth is examined especially in light of new ways that have been created to apply the economic surplus concept. Applications using the Baran Ratio and long-wave cycles theory are developed, and these two concepts show parallel but also divergent patterns. The monopoly capital view of overaccumulation as a cause of long-term stagnation is supported in the long-wave analysis, and this result hints at the prospect of political changes through realignment elections over the next few years if the US and global economies are at the end of a current long-wave cycle or at the beginning of a new one.

This article attempts to estimate trends in the levels of public and private investment, and national government surpluses and deficits from accumulated capital income, taxation, and rents estimated by different economic historians for England and the UK by utilizing the concept of Paul Baran and Paul Sweezy's economic surplus. The data support historical accounts that income per capita growth begins to increase around the 1600s in Britain, perhaps due to the level of capital, tax, and land income achieving an adequate threshold amount. According to some historians, this would also be about the time of capitalism's ascent as the dominant economic system in Britain. Even then, dramatic increases in investment and economic growth do not appear until the late eighteenth century when investment and deficits reach even higher levels. The new estimates developed in this article are offered as additional macroeconomic data supplements to works created by other authors and researchers and submitted as a demonstration of the concept of economic surplus and the power of threshold levels of private and public investment. Most of all they also give some support to Baran and Sweezy's notion of a society's economic surplus coming from labor exploitation and being used to further investment and government expenditures.

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When it comes to the British Industrial Revolution of the 18th Century, much of the mainstream economics literature has tended to focus on how property rights, limitations on the crown or government, and changes in agricultural and manufacturing techniques have caused a great transformation in the nation’s economic formation. Marxian and other heterodox economics views acknowledge these developments but also emphasize the enclosure movement and the development of a class of people that becomes an exploited proletariat. Both sets of views acknowledge the role of the British government in facilitating the Industrial Revolution, but in doing a review for this paper, there is only a small amount of literature on how government investment and spending and the housing of workers may have helped to spur on or exist simultaneously with the revolution. This is especially true within heterodox schools of thought, and this paper aims to add to the heterodox economics literature by discussing how government investment and spending, and investment in housing, dramatically assist with surplus absorption during the Industrial Revolution, which in turn helps the British economy to achieve greater heights. Datasets that have been developed over the last 15 years or so can be used to illustrate this. Finally, by using the concept of the Baran Ratio, it can be shown that a significant portion of the nation’s economic surplus is absorbed by government spending and investment and housing investment, and much of this in turn would have helped private business investment and spending in absorbing as much of the surplus as possible.

"Book review: John Komlos, Foundations of Real-World Economics: What Every Student Needs to Know, Third Edition (Routledge, New York, NY, USA 2023, softcover, ISBN 9781032001722, US$54.95; hardcover, US$160; ebook, US$49.95) 420 pp." published on 31 Jan 2024 by Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, most sectors of the various gambling industries in the United States were showing signs of stagnation. Over the last few years, these industries have seen mergers between horse racing tracks, between horse racing tracks and casinos to form “racinos”, and between casino companies. Many gambling facilities and racetracks have closed and have been sold to developers to be used for other purposes. An industry “shakeout” is occurring, and there appears to be a trend toward greater industry concentration as consumers are showing less and less interest in gambling in general. This has been partially fueled by stagnation of disposable personal income over the last 20 years or so. Consumer preferences and attitudes also seem to have changed regarding horse racing and gambling. Sports gambling and the expansion of online gambling do not appear to have offset negative trends. These current conditions are somewhat a reversal of past fortunes in that in the 1980s and 1990s the opening of a casino in a city often was considered a plus for local economic development. As more consolidation and establishment closures occur, the impact on various local communities and state governments must be examined regarding lost jobs, lost local and state tax revenues, and lost tourism. This paper is an attempt to assess these developments.

During 2021 and 2022, many news media outlets have reported that millions of workers in the United States have been quitting their jobs in record numbers. In a global economy rebounding from the economic downturn caused by the Covid-19 outbreak and demanding more workers, a high rate of resignations has exacerbated labor shortages and may be aggravating unemployment and underemployment rates if many workers are not participating at all in the labor force or only working part time. Many reasons have been offered to explain this ‘Great Resignation’ including high day care costs for working parents that may in turn be causing the trend of lower female labor force participation; the supposed ‘liberating’ experience of not working at all or to work from home instead of having to work from one’s usual work place during the Covid-19 quarantine/lockdown periods; stagnant/low wages and greater job tenure uncertainty which make working less attractive and more stressful; and the feeling by many of not wanting to work further for bad bosses or management who create bad work environments so that resignation becomes a means of escape from such conditions. This article analyses data of US labor trends since 2003 and demonstrates that resignations have been trending upward in the US aggregate economy and that quit rates mostly have been trending higher within many US industries. These phenomena can be explained by the concept of labor market segmentation, high unemployment, and underemployment rates that exist even in good economic times in some industries, minority group composition within industries, wage stagnation, and type of managerial supervision. Some of these same factors help to explain labor under-utilization greater than national/aggregate rates within these industries as well.

This paper briefly outlines the idea and development of the economic surplus concept at the macroeconomic level as opposed to the one in microeconomics often labeled as a Marshallian surplus. Of special interest and focus is the concept as developed and used by heterodox economists. The notion of a residual amount of output or income over and above what is necessary for a society’s consumption (education, housing, food, clothing, health care, transportation, and other necessities of life) that can be used either for further consumption by an elite class, used for reinvestment in productive activities, and/or wasted on unproductive efforts is one that has been and continues to be taught and used in heterodox and neo-Marxian economics. The relevancy of the economic surplus view to modern and recent US economic growth is examined especially in light of new ways that have been created to apply the economic surplus concept. Applications using the Baran Ratio and long wave cycles theory are demonstrated, and it appears that the Baran Ratio is a useful concept to help predict long wave movements that are based on the economic surplus.

Much has been written recently in the popular press about the rise of sports gambling, historical horse racing or instant racing (HHR), and esports. However, despite this, some note an overall decline in the popularity of gambling and gaming in general as horse racing (pari-mutuel) wagering has declined dramatically over the decades and as casino and lottery revenues have fallen slightly since before the Great Recession. This exploratory research note examines the trends in US gambling over the last several decades and explores whether the new forms of gambling will stem and reverse overall gambling stagnation in the United States. Despite reports of new gambling outlet successes, it appears that sports gambling, HHR, and esports have not done much to stop the overall fall in gambling revenues. This is probably due to stagnant disposable personal income growth.

Tax increment financing districts (TIFs) have become important local government tools in the USA over the last several decades as ways to help bring public and/or private investment dollars into inner city areas and/or older neighbourhoods which are deemed to need revitalisation. Within the last ten years, the concept has become popular in Canada, and it has been used as a component piece of enterprise zone programmes in other nations. This paper evaluates one of the first Kentucky USA TIFs started approximately 20 years ago with a pre-eminent Kentucky horse racing track, Churchill Downs, as the target for investment spending. Some of the desired spin-off effects of such investment are to help bring jobs, investment and general economic growth to an older and low-income neighbourhood which surrounds the track. This paper finds mixed results regarding these outcomes for the area surrounding Churchill Downs.

During 2021 and 2022 many news media outlets have been reporting that millions of workers in the US have been quitting their jobs in record numbers. In a global economy rebounding from the economic downturn caused by the Covid-19 outbreak and demanding more workers, a high rate of resignations has exacerbated labor shortages and may be aggravating underemployment rates if many workers are choosing not to be part of the labor force or only to work part time. Many reasons have been offered to explain this "Great Resignation" including high day care costs for working parents which may in turn be causing the trend of lower female labor force participation; the liberating experience of not working at all or to work from home instead of having to work from one's usual work place during the Covid-19 quarantine/lockdown periods; stagnant/low wages and greater job tenure uncertainty which make working less attractive and more stressful; and the feeling by many of not wanting to work further for bad bosses or management who create bad work environments so that resignation becomes a means of escape from such conditions. This paper does data analysis on US labor trends since 2003 and during and after the Great Recession of 2008-2009 and demonstrates that resignations have been trending upward in the US aggregate economy and that quit rates mostly have been trending higher within many US industries. These phenomena can best be explained by the concept of labor market segmentation, high unemployment and underemployment rates that exist even in good economic times among certain industries, minority group composition, wage stagnation, and type of managerial supervision. Some of these same factors help to explain labor under-utilization greater than national/aggregate rates within these industries as well.

Over the last 15 to 20 years or so horse racing has seen declines in wagering and fan attendance throughout the US. Because of this, the number of races, horses per race, the number of thoroughbred farms, and new thoroughbreds bred and born each year for about the last 10 to 12 years have also declined. The decline in wagering has occurred despite simulcasting of races, online betting, and gambling machines which employ films of past races (historical horse racing machines). Those racetracks doing well are usually part of larger casino and entertainment complexes (racinos). Kentucky, which has one of the greatest number of horses and horse farms per capita in the United States, and which is also home to one of the world's premier racetracks and horse races, Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby, has seen declining inflation adjusted horse industry tax revenues since the 1990s. These losses, although a small share of the state's overall tax revenues, somewhat exacerbate a budget which has already seen substantial declines in or an almost complete loss of tax revenues from two other major industries of the state, coal and tobacco. This research note explores why the Thoroughbred industries are declining and how this is impacting some Kentucky state tax revenues, especially revenues which support equine industries. Policy decisions will have to be made regarding future state support.

Investment in capital, new technology, and agricultural techniques has not been considered an endeavor worthwhile in a medieval economy because of a lack of strong property rights and no incentive on the part of lords and barons to lend money to or grant rights to peasant farmers. Therefore, the medieval economy and standards of living at that time often have been characterized as non-dynamic and static due to insufficient investment in innovative techniques and technology. Paul Baran’s concept of the economic surplus is applied to investment patterns during the late medieval, mercantile, and early capitalist stages of economic growth in England and the UK. This paper uses Zhun Xu’s Baran Ratio concept to try to develop general trends to demonstrate and to reinforce other historical accounts of these times that a productive and sufficient level of public and private investment out of accumulated capital income, taxation, and rents does not have a real impact on economic per capita growth until around the 1600s in Britain. This would also be about the time of capitalism’s ascent as the dominant economic system in England. Even then, dramatic increases in investment and economic growth do not appear until the late 18th Century when investment more consistently becomes more than one hundred percent of the level of economic surplus and takes in government spending. The types of investment, threshold amounts of investment out of profits and rents along with government spending seem to matter when it comes to a growth path raising GDP per capita and national income per capita to higher levels. Although much of this knowledge perhaps is embodied in current historical accounts, the Baran Ratio nicely summarizes and illustrates the importance of levels of investment to economic growth.

This paper attempts to estimate trends in the levels of economic surplus, public and private investment, and national government surpluses and deficits from accumulated capital income, taxation, and rents estimated by different economic historians for England and the UK. The data support historical accounts that income per capita growth begins to increase around the 1600s in Britain perhaps due to the level of capital, tax, and land income achieving an adequate threshold amount. According to some historians, this would also be about the time of capitalism’s ascent as the dominant economic system in England. Even then, dramatic increases in investment and economic growth do not appear until the late 18th Century when investment and deficits reach even higher levels. The data developed in this research note are offered as additional macroeconomic data supplements to works created by other authors and researchers.