Week of October 18, 2009 - October 24, 2009
October 24, 2009, 4:21AM
Brian Hoyt of the World Bank's Crisis Talk blog says increasing trade tensions between the emerging markets of the Global South may prove to be problematic: South-South Trade Tensions, by Brian Hoyt: John Authers argues that the newsworthy economic story...
October 24, 2009, 4:19AM
Why do some countries exhibit more social mobility than others?: Getting ahead of ourselves, by Peter Browne, Inside Story: Last month, after Barack Obama invoked the American Dream at Wakefield High School in Virginia, Inside Story looked at what the...
October 24, 2009, 4:17AM
Several days ago, Aaron Pacitti, an assistant professor at Siena College in NY, emailed this attempt to strengthen the case for providing more stimulus funds to state and local governments. A key part of the argument is the claim that...
October 24, 2009, 2:04AM
The Case for Mandating Health Insurance - Economix What pick-your-own-apple orchards teach about the economy - Daniel Gross America's public debt: Tomorrow's burden - The Economist The state and journalism - Christopher Caldwell Currencies: The diminishing dollar - The Economist...
October 23, 2009, 3:34PM
Ben Bernanke does not want to lose "the economic benefit of multi-function, international (financial) firms," so he is hesitant to break large banks into smaller sized institutions. I don't have much problem with the economics, if there are efficiencies that...
October 23, 2009, 2:03AM
Fed sets pay limits for banks - FT Alphaville Content of economic blogs - Antonio Fatas Oil prices in currencies other than the USD - Worthwhile Canadian Initiative Build-it-and-They-Will-Fret, Twitter shows the way out. - Virulent Word of Mouse Taking...
October 22, 2009, 11:38PM
"China is stealing other peoples’ jobs": The Chinese Disconnect, by Paul Krugman, Commentary, NY Times: Senior monetary officials usually talk in code. So when Ben Bernanke ... spoke recently about Asia, international imbalances and the financial crisis, he didn’t specifically...
October 22, 2009, 11:19PM
Barry Eichengreen says the dollar isn't dead yet: The death-defying dollar, by Barry Eichengreen, Commentary, Project Syndicate: The blogosphere is abuzz with reports of the dollar’s looming demise. The greenback has fallen against the euro by nearly 15% since the...
October 22, 2009, 4:06AM
Each year, Tim Duy organizes the Oregon Economic Forum, and this year he invited David Altig of the Atlanta Fed to talk about monetary policy. I'll be discussing fiscal policy, and one of the questions I'll address is whether more...
October 22, 2009, 3:57AM
Jeff Sachs says "America has acted irresponsibly since signing the climate treaty in 1992": King coal's climate policy: Will the US prove to be the world's last holdout?, by Jeffrey D. Sachs, Commentary, Project Syndicate: The United Nations Climate Change...
October 22, 2009, 2:05AM
The Supply-Side Pariah Returns - The Daily Beast Will lower health-care costs mean higher wages? - Ezra Klein The break up the banks delusion - How the World Works Could a Land Tax Support the Operations of Government? - Miller-McCune...
October 21, 2009, 3:33PM
A spokesman for Goldman Sachs defends their pay practices: ...[A]ccording to a Goldman adviser, Wall Street’s record pay is necessary “to achieve greater prosperity and opportunity for all”: A Goldman Sachs International adviser defended compensation in the finance industry as...
October 21, 2009, 3:24PM
I'm not sure why this caught my eye: I once heard from a Russian reporter about her early days on the job. “Whenever we read an article about the health dangers of butter, we would immediately run out and buy...
October 21, 2009, 5:21AM
Ben Bernanke recently expressed worries that continued large global imbalances could create the conditions for another crisis. Eswar Prasad has a proposal to reduce the danger. The idea is to have individual countries commit to particular objectives with regard to...
October 21, 2009, 4:38AM
Felix Salmon wonders what Hank Paulson was thinking. Me too: The secret Paulson-Goldman meeting, by Felix Salmon: Andrew Ross Sorkin’s new book is out today, and breaks some pretty stunning news, dating from the end of June, 2008. At this...
October 21, 2009, 3:15AM
More from Felix Salmon: How Paulson gave Goldman the Lehman heads-up, by Felix Salmon: The secret Paulson-Goldman meeting wasn’t the only time that Hank Paulson treated his buddies at Goldman Sachs especially well while at Treasury. In fact, it wasn’t...
October 21, 2009, 2:03AM
Volcker Has Obama’s Ear, but Not on Overhaul of Banks - NYTimes.com Unemployment and inflation - Econbrowser The Skyrocketing Costs of Attending College - Economix Senators Unveil New Bill to Audit the Fed - Real Time Economics American journalism needs...
October 20, 2009, 8:04PM
Bruce Judson with a description of a "chilling call" that occurred while he "was a guest on OnPoint which is distributed nationally by NPR." As he notes in an email, "the post raises an important issue. All of the discussion...
October 20, 2009, 3:36PM
We've known for some time that the degree of social mobility in the US is much less than people believe. But given how widespread the mobility myth is -- the false perception that there is equal (enough) opportunity allows us...
October 20, 2009, 4:42AM
Glenn Rudebusch of the SF Fed: Five key questions are often asked about current economic and financial conditions: Has the financial crisis ended? Is the recession over? Will the economy return to full employment and normal conditions anytime soon? Is...
October 20, 2009, 4:41AM
The administration must be aware of the impact that continuing weakness in labor markets will have on Democrat's political fortunes: Safety Nets for the Rich, by Bob Herbert, Commentary, NY Times: ...We’ve spent the last few decades shoveling money at...
October 20, 2009, 2:03AM
Holding Off Disaster - The Race to Save Lehman - NYTimes.com Canada's-housing-market-is-not-the-US-housing-market - Stephen Gordon Embrace the dollar's downfall - Dean Baker Economics as a Moral Science - SSRN - A. B. Atkinson Expertise, and "expertise" - Free exchange Paying...
October 19, 2009, 10:55PM
The recession is accelerating the movement away from employer based health insurance: How the Recession is Killing Private Social Insurance, by Noam Scheiber: The Wall Street Journal has a terrific piece today about how the recession is accelerating the fraying...
October 19, 2009, 2:43PM
Ben Bernanke: Fed Chief Cites Trade Imbalances’ Role in Crisis, by Edmund Andrews, NY Times: Ben S. Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, said on Monday that global trade imbalances played a central role in the global economic crisis...
October 19, 2009, 3:54AM
The failure to pursue the best strategy for cleaning up the financial system, temporary nationalization and a large injection of capital, is slowing down the recovery, particularly for "the part of banking that really matters — lending, which fuels investment...
October 19, 2009, 3:42AM
Robert Waldmann says "This McClatchy article by Kevin G Hall seems important to me." It does seem like there was "market failure in everything" when it comes to mortgage markets, from the incentives faced by the homeowner (non-recourse loans) and...
October 19, 2009, 2:05AM
How Moody's sold its ratings -- and sold out investors - McClatchy The free market is not up to the job of creating work - FT.com Freakonomics is freaking out! - Environmental Economics Is there a solution to the Pundit's...
October 18, 2009, 5:50PM
Stephen Dubner replies to critics. Paul Krugman replies briefly to Dubner in the process of a "broader analysis of what it all means."
October 18, 2009, 2:15PM
Mark Liberman at Language Log says the game theory can explain why pundits "best move always seems to be to take the low road": ...Overall, the promotion of interesting stories in preference to accurate ones is always in the immediate...
October 18, 2009, 2:05AM
Rules and Culture: Corruption in Hong Kong - Charter Cities Levitt and Dubner on the northern spotted owl - Felix Salmon Demystifying social knowledge - UnderstandingSociety Human capital and world income inequality - NEP-DGE If the Grass Looks Greener... -...
October 18, 2009, 1:17AM
Alan Blinder grades the administration's accomplishments on macroeconomic and banking issues: Comedy Aside, an Obama Report Card, by Alan Blinder, Commentary, NY Times: First, “Saturday Night Live” parodies President Obama’s “achievements.” Then Mr. Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize, bringing...
