Archive for the ‘Economics’ Category
Monday, October 13th, 2008 by BH
Announcement details here. Paul Krugman's academic writing reflected a convergence of theory and a considerable amount of luck. From the early days when John Von Neumann created game theory and John Nash improved upon his ideas, game theory moved quickly through the social sciences. This happened especially fast in economics. ...
Posted in Economics | 3 Comments »
Sunday, October 12th, 2008 by BH
Andrew Gelman, a statistician and political science professor, explains. HT goes to Andrew Gelman, at his other blog.
Posted in Economics, Politics | No Comments »
Saturday, October 11th, 2008 by BH
In a couple of posts Casey B. Mulligan, an economist at the University of Chicago channels our own AS. Mulligan, like AS, believes we should relax capital requirements for new banks and help expedite the destruction of old banks. Here's AS from way back in July. I did a follow ...
Posted in Economics | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 by BH
This is one of those terms that's been getting thrown around a lot lately. So perhaps a little definition is in order. Here's wikipedia's:
Pushing on a string is a metaphor for influence that is more effective in moving things in one direction than another. If something is connected to ...
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Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 by BH
Is leaving Portfolio and The New York Times Magazine, and presumably Bloomberg to take a job at Vanity Fair. This is a major coup for VF since Lewis is one of the best financial writers around. Very interesting stuff (NYO). The article has a brief discussion about some of Lewis' ...
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Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 by BH
Bill Gross caputures current market sentiment (Pimco):
We are to the point of fearing fear itself. America in all its resplendent free market capitalistic glory is on the auction block with few bidders. How this came to be is obvious in retrospect: too much exuberant leverage, not enough regulation; too strong ...
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Monday, October 6th, 2008 by BH
A while back Steve Landsburg wrote (The Atlantic):
Banks don't lend their own money; they lend other people's (their depositors' and their stockholders'). Just because the banks disappear doesn't mean the lenders will. Borrowers will still want to borrow and lenders will still want to lend. The only question is whether ...
Posted in Economics, Politics | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 by BH
Experts are constantly telling investors what to buy. Sometimes they give us good advice and sometimes not. So surely the fact that there are experts who give investment advice can't explain the trillion-dollar bubble and subsequent meltdown we're now witnessing. The key additional fact is that experts were selling advice ...
Posted in Economics, Politics | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 by BH
Why the vote on the Paulson Plan failed, from Dani Rodrik:
It is so obvious that I am puzzled why no-one is talking about it. If so many House members voted against the plan so as not to run afoul of their local constituents, it must be the case that those ...
Posted in Economics, Politics | No Comments »
Monday, September 29th, 2008 by BH
While discussing the financial crisis at lunch today our discussion turned to the giant from Bentonville. You may remember that several years ago banks were freaking out that Wal-Mart might enter their marketplace (BW):
The retailing giant's relentless push into financial services is starting to send shivers through the banking industry. ...
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Sunday, September 28th, 2008 by BH
Casey B. Mulligan, now a blogger, writes:
The non-financial sector today looks nothing like it did in 1930. The weak correlation between asset prices and non-financial sector performance and the strong profitability of today’s non-financial capital are two good reasons to scoff at the idea that the non-financial sector will collapse ...
Posted in Economics, Politics | No Comments »
Saturday, September 27th, 2008 by BH
Ben S. Bernanke jumped into the political fray this week when he urged quick action from Congress to deal with "grave threats'' to the financial system. Now he's trying to jump back out.
The Federal Reserve chairman hasn't returned to Capitol Hill after two days of congressional testimony earlier this week. ...
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Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008 by BH
Ryan Avent offers lots of wisdom and debunks some of the silliness of David Cay Johnson (the Bellows):
But what about things like credit cards and revolving business loans? Look, if we get to the point where banks are restricting basic credit lines on which nearly all Americans depend for use ...
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Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008 by BH
Russell Roberts and Menzie Chin discuss the Paulson's plan on Minnesotta Public Radio (MPR).
Here's Roberts on the role of Fannie and Freddie in our current crisis. Here's Menzie Chinn on how far housing market prices still have to fall (hint: they're going down for a long while yet.)
Posted in Economics, Politics | No Comments »
Monday, September 22nd, 2008 by BH
An interesting program evaluation. (HT)
Posted in Economics, National Security, Politics | No Comments »
Monday, September 22nd, 2008 by BH
I left work in a hurry today because I was running late for my regularly scheduled guitar lessons. As I ran up the creaky and aged stairs and smelled the musty mix of dust, guitars and old men, I heard a strange discussion. Instead of their normal jam session, these ...
Posted in Economics, Politics | No Comments »
Sunday, September 21st, 2008 by BH
Via Drudge:
The market was 500 trades away from Armageddon on Thursday, traders inside two large custodial banks tell The Post.
Had the Treasury and Fed not quickly stepped into the fray that morning with a quick $105 billion injection of liquidity, the Dow could have collapsed to the 8,300-level - ...
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Sunday, September 21st, 2008 by BH
Against Intellectual Property, by Stephen N. Kinsella (free online).
Against Intellectual Monopoly, by Michelle Boldrin and David K. Levine (free online).
Free Culture, by Lawrence Lessig (free online).
The Gridlock Economy: How Too Much Ownership Wrecks Markets, Stops Innovation, and Costs Lives, by Michael Heller (not free online).
Posted in Economics, Law | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 by BH
Michael Lewis must be experiencing deja vu. If you've never read Liar's Poker, now would be the time. From Bloomberg:
``If I knew more I could find someone to blame,'' said Linda Burke, a 57-year-old service consultant at AT&T in Atlanta, speaking, no doubt, for the American people.
She'll probably never get ...
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Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 by BH
Wow. Just wow. Yields for 1 month treasury bills dropped to 0.07% and for 3 month bills the yields fell even farther to 0.03%. Even compared to last week this is an amazing drop and it is even more stark compared to last year, let alone before all of the ...
Posted in Economics | No Comments »