Links 4/6/09

Clues to ancient invasion in DNA BBC

Torpedoes, Carrots, and Pythons: My Favourite Spam Subject Lines Bill Sweetman

Beat Sweeteners Matthew Yglesias

Larry Summers, Tim Geithner and Wall Street’s ownership of government Glenn Greenwald, Salon and A Rich Education for Summers (After Harvard) Louise Story, New York Times. The spins are night and day (and Dean Baker chides Story: Mr. Summers, who, before the crisis broke out, spoke and wrote about the need for less financial regulation)

The fiscal hole that must be filled Clive Crook, Financial Times

MBIA = AIG, Maybe Not Independent Accountant

Rule Change Lets Banks Reinvent the Past CFO

Wall Street on the Tundra Michael Lewis, Vanity Fair. Icelanders found it mean spirited, and Lewis does go out of his way to pander to stereotypes.

From Bubble to Depression? Stephen Gjerstad and Vernon Smith, Wall Street Journal. And how many times has the same thesis been advanced on blogs?

Estimated U.S. taxpayer cost for bailout jumps Reuters

Why this will not be a normal cyclical recovery Roger Altman, Financial Times

Bailing out the Bailout Roger Ehrenberg

We are 63 on the Wikio blog ranking. Apparently they have a magic algorithm (it claims to be based on links from other blogs, but Econbrowser appears way too far down on the list……it is very heavily linked). Thanks to readers and fellow bloggers!

Antidote du jour:

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8 comments

  1. Gu Si Fang

    In “From bubble to depression” Vernon Smith is right to criticize the Friedman / Bernanke version of the Great Depression.

    But by stating that “both the GD and the current crisis had their origins in excessive consumer debt” and pointing at the increase of the price-to-rent ratio begs the question : What causes such clusters of errors?

    The explanation mixes causes and symptons and misses the obvious point that monetary policy can cause clusters of errors because of the ubiquitous role of money.

  2. russell1200

    Tying in with what Gu said.

    The 1920s was the time period when mass manufacturing became deeply in-bedded within the world economies: particularly the US. It had similar effects to todays wage arbitration caused by the opining up of China and other countries to the world economy.

    This masked a lot of the inflation caused by World War 1 spending. The world war spending issue (in the form of bond debt and reparations) kept getting kicked down the road until it helped spark a bubble takeoff (arguably when the Fed lowered interest rates to help the British get back on the gold standard).

    All of this has shadow similarities to todays system. The 1920s also had the loss of Russia from the world economic system, war rebuilding, and the continued political growth of the “colonized” areas as well.

    IMO Bernanke has many important pieces of the puzzle on his side. But in the usual academic-infighting sort of way ignores all the issues brought up by the “other side”.

  3. fresno dan


    From Bubble to Depression? Stephen Gjerstad and Vernon Smith, Wall Street Journal. And how many times has the same thesis been advanced on blogs?”

    Many, many times – but I think your a little harsh. Its a nice comprehensive article with a plethora of facts. Better late than never. And although I think people would be better informed by more time in the econoblogoshpere, putting this info in the dead tree medium can’t hurt (well, the trees would disagree)

  4. fresno dan

    “We are 63 on the Wikio blog ranking. “

    Your NUMBER 1 in Fresno Dan’s blog rating!
    xxxooo

  5. dearieme

    “Lewis does go out of his way to pander to stereotypes.” Well, he was writing for New Yorkers.

  6. Harlem Dad

    Yves,

    I heard about this block on Planet Money back in early October. NC has been my daily “must read” ever since. This is a great blog. That goes for all of your guest posters as well!

    You’re number 1 with me!

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