Ambrose Evans-Pritchard has a good piece up at the Telegraph on an issue that appears not to have gotten the attention it merits, namely, the level of underutlization of capacity and the risk it poses to anything dimly resembling recovery. Evans-Pritchard brings up a related topic, that deflation is a bigger issue that most commentators […]
Read more...Reader Alex C sent a link to an article in the Guardian by Mark Weisbrot in which he surveys some recent findings aht disproved cherished myths about the US economy. Two are related to the widely-held fantasy that America is a land of dynamic entrepreneurship. In fact, a recent study found that the US ranks […]
Read more...By dint of good fortune, Satyajit Das’ new post at Wilmott (which he has graciously authorized us to reproduce) is on our occasional Sunday beat, and comments on some recent books, the theme being remakes. Enjoy! From Das: Remakes are rarely as good as the original but can sometimes add something, if only a nostalgic […]
Read more...Satyajit Das, of Traders, Guns & Money fame, is keeping tabs on what he calls GFC plot lines, or what one might also call The Search For The Guilty. The latest caught in the dragnet is…economists! But Das thinks some of the books still miss key issues. From Das: Just when I had finally worked […]
Read more...Submitted by Richard Alford, a former economist at the New York Fed. Since them, he has worked in the financial industry as a trading floor economist and strategist on both the sell side and the buy side. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our model, but in ourselves–apologies to W Shakespeare The economics profession […]
Read more...The Economist has its lead editorial and two articles (here and here) on the state of play in the economics discipline, given its failure to see the financial train wreck coming and its dismissal of those who raised early warning flags. I must confess I only got a few paragraphs into it before getting thoroughly […]
Read more...Submitted by Marshall Auerback, an investment manager who also writes at New Deal 2.0: Republicans and Democrats alike embraced legislation last week that would make California IOUs acceptable payment for all taxes, fees and other payments owed to the state – an action that effectively would mean that California is entering the currency business. Some […]
Read more...Submitted by Richard Alford, a former economist at the New York Fed. Since them, he has worked in the financial industry as a trading floor economist and strategist on both the sell side and the buy side. TARGET FIXATION AND THE FED AS THE SYSTEMIC REGULATOR Target fixation is a process by which the brain […]
Read more...From a newly minted PhD, via e-mail: I ran into another Harvard student who recently had a chat with a senior economics faculty member who is telling students the following anecdote. Apparently the professor is involved in some way with the American Economics Review. The AER has a backlog of two to three years between […]
Read more...The very fact an op-ed piece (more accurately, comment, as they call them in the Financial Times) by Paul Boyle against airbrushed accounting needed to be written at all is troubling. A move is afoot that appears further advanced than I realized is to fool with financial firm statements so as to reduce the procyclical […]
Read more...Nicholas Nassim Taleb and Mark Spitznagel have a provocative comment up at the Financial Time today, In some ways, it is isn’t surprising for those familiar with his work on risk and uncertainty. On the other hand, it is an eye opener to see what an internally consistent, reasonably comprehensive solution to our mess looks […]
Read more...There are some interesting things one learns in putting together a book. Blogging is a lot like working in watercolors, speed and confidence in execution are key, versus the oil-painting medium of a book. And you learn how many times you wind up scraping the canvas and reworking. I’m up to the sixth revision of […]
Read more...Submitted by Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns. During Alan Greenspan’s tenure at the helm of the Federal Reserve, he was often accused of using monetary policy to target asset markets so as to keep the party going. In short, Alan Greenspan was seen by many, including myself, as the bubble blower-in-chief. All of this came […]
Read more...Submitted by Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns. So, things are looking a lot brighter we are told by most economists and policy makers. The crisis is over and the banking system is on the mend. Now is the time for true reform and for bankers to get back to business as usual. While the foregoing […]
Read more...Submitted by DoctoRx, who comments on the economic and financial scenes at EconBlog Review: In thinking about Animal Spirits, I am reminded of Spencer Tracy’s comment about Katharine Hepburn in Pat and Mike: “Not much meat on her, but what’s there is cherce.” There’s not much meat on the bones of Animal Spirits, and what’s […]
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