An article, “Better Deeds,” by Doug Smith at Slate tells us that, contrary to popular opinion, one group of subprime mortgage lenders has done well with the product and is experiencing default rates comparable to that of prime mortgages. And no, they aren’t seeing rising arrearages either (generally speaking, mortgage defaults and foreclosures track the […]
Read more...The blog Overcoming Bias pointed to an article in Reason Magazine, “More Information Confirms What You Already Know.“ The article cites a study by the Cultural Cognition Project at Yale Law School. “Affect, Values, and Nanotechnology Risk Perceptions: An Experimental Investigation,” which sought to assess attitudes towards new technology but has broader implications: [R]esearchers polled […]
Read more...A more accurate title might be “The Wall Street Journal Goes Out of Its Way to Demonize Chavez.” Narrowly speaking, Venezuela (except perhaps its actions as an OPEC member) are outside the beat of this blog. However, we do take a keen interest in the biases in the Wall Street Journal’s reporting, and this one […]
Read more...In a New York Times article, Daniel Gross sympathetically discusses a paper by MIT economists Peter Temin and Frank Levy on the role of institutional behavior and social attitudes in income inequality. As a preface to his comments about their work, he sets forth some of the conventional arguments for the inevitability of inequality, namely, […]
Read more...Since Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has increasingly shifted his focus from his technology enterprise to his charity, the William and Melinda Gates Foundation, he has also had time to clarify and refine his objectives. Unlike the super-wealthy of the past, whose giving typically has been motivated by a combination of enhancing their prestige (often revealed […]
Read more...We have only occasionally commented on the lively debate on the serious economics blogs on heterodoxy in economics (basically, the loyal opposition is a beleaguered minority). However, Mark Thoma on his blog, Economist’s View, picks up and elaborates on an insight by Steve Waldman that has much larger implications. Waldman argues that neoclassical economics has […]
Read more...Despite it’s “Don’t Be Evil” slogan, Google rates below the oft-demonized Microsoft on its privacy practices, according to the London group Privacy International. (For the record, Microsoft and Apple were in the next-to-the-bottom tier). Now in this era of a Federal government that has been footdragging on shutting down its illegal warrantless wiretap program, the […]
Read more...Readers doubtless know that I am very fond of the Financial Times. I therefore find it distressing when a writer, particularly a capable writer, puts out a story that is enough off base as to be misguided. Case in point: “Bulge-bracket banking model has spawned monsters” by Tony Jackson. He is unhappy about the way […]
Read more...As Paul Sonn of NYU Law School writes in “The Fight for the Minimum Wage” in the American Prospect, various state legislatures, responding to pressure by industries that employ low-wage workers, are exempting various groups such as “tipped” restaurants workers and home health aides from the new federal minimum wage requirements by exploiting ambiguities in […]
Read more...Can you tell who is who on this test? Now admittedly there is sample bias (I’m sure they had to cherry pick the Unabomber’s saner moments). But I scored only 25%!javascript:void(0)
Read more...More test fun. Dani Rodrik pointed to this test (which he found via Greg Mankiw). The test measures your views on the right/left and authoritarian/libertarian axes. The results section plots where you stand and you can see where you stand relative to contemporary and historical figures. The contemporary grid below:Full disclosure: I’m located pretty close […]
Read more...The Wall Street Journal reported on what appears to be a partial rebuttal by Wal-Mart of charges made by Julie Roehm, its deposed marketing executive. A quick recap: Roehm was ousted last December. She sued for breach of contract and unfair dismissal. Wal-Mart counterclaimed, asserting that she had had an affair with a subordinate, taken […]
Read more...A few days ago, Chris Hayes’ article in The Nation, “Hip Heterodoxy,” set off a huge chatter among economics blogs raising the question of heterodoxy in the profession (which by all counts is very much in retreat). The article below, “Life Among the Econ,” by Axel Leijonhufvud on the culture and ritual of the Econ, […]
Read more...The Journal’s front page story, “Homeowners Abroad Take Currency Gamble in Loans,” had numerous anecdotes about how Eastern Europeans are active in the carry trade, borrowing in cheaper currencies, gambling that the interest rate savings won’t be offset by currency appreciation. Some have compared the carry trade to picking up nickels in front of a […]
Read more...To clarify: this list of “censored,” meaning seriously underreported, articles is for 2007 and covers stories from roughly July 2005 through June 2006. I call you attention to it primarily because it’s important, but secondarily, because we actually discussed a few on this blog (they appear to continue to be underreported), despite the fact that […]
Read more...