The New York Times has a peculiar story on hedge fund manager John Devaney who managed to lose all his investors’ money. Not 80% or 90%. All. And it wasn’t as if the fund somehow blew up spectacularly over a short period. Devaney froze redemptions a year ago. That begs the question: had he started […]
Read more...Reader Juan provided a well-argued and provocatively-worded critique of so-called market fundamentalism yesterday that I thought would provide grist for thought and discussion. The main argument in favor of less regulated commerce, both domestically, in the form of deregulation, and internationally, via more liberal trade regimes, is that it generates higher growth. Juan argues that […]
Read more...Free Exchange, in Guts or PhD?, contends that that having a PhD in economics is crucial for modern central bankers: When Paul Volcker, Stan Fischer, Jacob Frenkel and Jean-Pierre Roth discussed what central bankers and academics learn from each other at a conference last month, the line that stayed with me was Mr Fischer’s comment […]
Read more...There is a useful, but in some ways disheartening article in today’s New York Times, “Deep Down, We Can’t Fool Even Ourselves” by John Tierney. It’s about how slippery our standards for fairness are. Some key sections: In voting against the Bush tax cut in 2001, Senator John McCain said he “cannot in good conscience […]
Read more...Uwe Reinhardt is a professor at Princeton whose son (the Marine mentioned below) served in Iraq. This piece first appeared in the Princetonian in April; I thank Willem Buiter for reproducing it on his blog. As the Fed and the Treasury once again staff the shovel brigade behind one of Wall Street’s periodic asset-bubble parades […]
Read more...It really is very hard to come up with decent proposals to contend with our highly integrated, international, essential, and not-so-well functioning financial system. While some have developed general guidelines that sound attractive, figuring out how to implement them is quite another matter. For instance, in a recent Financial Times comment, former Treasury secretary Larry […]
Read more...The UK’s Guardian is publishing three extracts from a new book by , Larry Elliott and Dan Atkinson, “The Gods That Failed: How Blind Faith in Markets Has Cost Us Our Future.” It seemed worthy of note because it illustrates the backlash against the Wall Street types caricatured by Tom Wolfe as “Masters of the […]
Read more...In his final speech as President, Dwight Eisenhower warned against a heretofore unrecognized danger to America, namely the growing influence of what the Commander in Chief called the “military/industrial complex”. This excerpt reminds us that despite our nostalgic view of the 1950s, the struggle against Communist was seen as an epic battle: Throughout America’s adventure […]
Read more...I’m intrigued when a commentator gives high praise to a work by someone who comes from a political vantage different from his own. I get even more interested when another take on the same piece seems straight out of Rashomon, a radically different account with only a few facts in common. The opus in question […]
Read more...I kid you not, the headline above is a faithful representation of the thrust of an article today in the New York Times, “The Scars of Losing a Home,” by Yale economist Robert Shiller. With friends like this, liberals have no need of enemies. Shiller’s argument is ludicrous: implement the legislation before Congress, which guarantes […]
Read more...As a resident of New York City, I am acutely aware of the perils of neuroticism. This town is full of it. I am as guilty as anyone, although I try to keep it under wraps. If I wasn’t concerned about looking like a control freak in front of clients and friends, I would grill […]
Read more...An odd set of voices is beginning to question the wisdom of America’s extraordinarily generous subsidies to homeowners. Paul Krugman once remarked that American like to consume houses, while the French prefer to consume vacations, but we shouldn’t overlook the role of incentives in those choices. At the Milken Institute Global Conference, a true disciple […]
Read more...The headline above may overstate the case a tad. I sincerely doubt the Milken Institute took much note of last Friday’s offering, Hubris, Denial, and the Financial Services Culture. They had plenty of coverage by the mainstream media and reportedly regard blogs with some skepticism (the person who was responsible for our panel on econobloggers […]
Read more...Today a brave filly died at Churchill Downs. Eight Belles was the only one of a huge field of twenty to break from the pack in the homestretch of the Kentucky Derby and attempt to run down the hard charging winner, Big Brown. She collapsed almost immediately after crossing the finish line, both ankles broken, […]
Read more...I am still recovering from the Milken Conference, and unlike my fellow blog panelists Paul Kedrosky, Felix Salmon and Mark Thoma, have not written any posts on particular sessions. In part, that was because in my other life as a consultant, I am well aware of the dangers of relying on memory even though mine […]
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