Monthly Archives: June 2008

Why Wall Street Analysts Shouldn’t Own the Stocks They Cover

Posted on June 25, 2008 by Felix

The normally-astute Evan Newmark has gone a little crazy in his latest missive for Deal Journal: he’s decided that it would be an excellent idea if Wall Street stock analysts were to start trading for their personal accounts in the … Continue reading →

Posted in banking | 1 Comment

Illinois-Countrywide: Potentially Devastating

Posted on June 25, 2008 by Felix

I’m a huge fan of Tanta, but I think she’s either being far too dismissive of Illinois attorney general Lisa Madigan’s lawsuit against Countrywide, or else she’s being faux-naive. This case is a very big deal for Angelo Mozilo, for … Continue reading →

Posted in banking, bonds and loans, housing | Comments Off on Illinois-Countrywide: Potentially Devastating

The $11 Million Goncharova

Posted on June 25, 2008 by Felix

Christie’s had a blow-out sale last night, selling $284.5 million of art in its Impressionist and Modern sale in London. That’s an eye-popping figure, since Impressionist and Modern sales have been a little bit out of favor of late (the … Continue reading →

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The Opposite of a Bubble

Posted on June 25, 2008 by Felix

"In current markets," says John Kay, "what we need is a term for the opposite of a bubble." In the opposite of a bubble, prices become disconnected from values because sellers believe that, whatever the fundamentals, they will soon be … Continue reading →

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Extra Credit, Wednesday Edition

Posted on June 25, 2008 by Felix

What Exactly Concerns Us About Gas Prices? Justin Wolfers is sensible. Citigroup Considers Repealing a Pledge, and the Slogan With It: First, make a promise in order to duck new regulations. Then, break that promise in order to make more … Continue reading →

Posted in remainders | Comments Off on Extra Credit, Wednesday Edition

Why Female Academics Don’t Appear on Op-Ed Pages

Posted on June 25, 2008 by Felix

Tyler Cowen, in conversation with Wil Wilkinson, says that most people massively overestimate the probability that their beliefs are true. Robin Hanson provides a transcript: Take whatever your political beliefs happen to be. Obviously the view you hold you think … Continue reading →

Posted in Media | 2 Comments

Another Use for Lottery Tickets

Posted on June 25, 2008 by Felix

Buying lottery tickets can be rational, and it can be a means to the end of investing your money for the right reasons rather than the wrong reasons. But it’s still a great way of losing money, and most people … Continue reading →

Posted in economics | 3 Comments

City-Dwellers of the World, Unite!

Posted on June 25, 2008 by Felix

I have an essay in the June issue of Poder magazine, wondering whether city-dwellers "could be the defining political force of the 21st century": More than half the world’s population now lives in a city, and cities provide most the … Continue reading →

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The Quixotic Quest for Growth, Non-Profit Edition

Posted on June 24, 2008 by Felix

Carol Vogel reports on Philippe Vergne, the new director of Dia: Among Mr. Vergne’s biggest challenges will be to find a permanent exhibition space in New York City for Dia, a nonprofit institution devoted to contemporary art… Mr. Vergne, 42, … Continue reading →

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The Plight of the Wine Lover

Posted on June 24, 2008 by Felix

Keith Levenberg weighs in on the economics of wine with a very smart insight: If one aims to study “the welfare gains” to wine consumers, measured in those magic units of happiness that economists and philosophers call “utils,” then one … Continue reading →

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File Under “Honors You’d Really Rather Never Receive”

Posted on June 24, 2008 by Felix

Zubin Jelveh reports on the Congressional Medal of Honor: In all wars before World War I, less than 10 percent of honorees died in battle. After WWI through Vietnam, the probability of dying increased from 25 percent to between 60 … Continue reading →

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Extra Credit, Tuesday Edition

Posted on June 24, 2008 by Felix

Germany is the greenest country: With energy consumption down 5.6% in one year! Three Questions for McCain: From David Leonhardt. Getting this off my chest about the Olympics: James Fallows is worried. Met Opera — A New Act: How Peter … Continue reading →

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Anti-Protectionist One-Liner of the Day

Posted on June 24, 2008 by Felix

Joe Wiesethal, on the news that the NYSE is taking a 25% stake in the Doha stock exchange: With any luck, the Qatar government won’t bring up national security issues at the prospect of a foreign purchaser making such a … Continue reading →

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More on Technical Analysis

Posted on June 24, 2008 by Felix

It seems I hit a nerve yesterday: 26 comments and counting here, as well as 18 over at Seeking Alpha, and quite a few more chez Ritholtz both yesterday and today; Barry Ritholtz also has a more formal response here. … Continue reading →

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The Beijing Consensus

Posted on June 24, 2008 by Felix

Alex Tabarrok reports on Sino-Syrian relations: "What can we do," the Syrian finance minister asked, "to increase Chinese investment?" "Well," the Chinese minister replied, "before we invest in Syria you most open your markets, cut your subsidies, and reduce regulation…"

Posted in china, emerging markets | Comments Off on The Beijing Consensus

Are We Facing a New Wave of Sovereign Bond Defaults?

Posted on June 24, 2008 by Felix

Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff have a very peculiar op-ed in the WSJ today, warning of the risk that there will be another wave of emerging-market sovereign bond defaults. Now Rogoff, a former director of the IMF’s research department, is … Continue reading →

Posted in bonds and loans, emerging markets | Comments Off on Are We Facing a New Wave of Sovereign Bond Defaults?

No-Money-Down Mortgages: Still Not Dead

Posted on June 24, 2008 by Felix

Nick Timiraos has an important front-page WSJ article today on the reappearance of no-money-down mortgages. At 1,500 words, it’s far too long – Robert Thomson clearly has a ways yet to go before he achieves the Murdoch dream of short … Continue reading →

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Zimbabwe Datapoints of the Day

Posted on June 24, 2008 by Felix

Comparing Old Mutual’s share price in London and Harare, Josh Giersch concludes that there are now 35 billion Zimbabwean dollars to one US dollar – up from a mere 17 billion on Friday. Which would put annualized inflation, he says … Continue reading →

Posted in development, foreign exchange, stocks | Comments Off on Zimbabwe Datapoints of the Day

Annals of Crap Research, M&A Leaks Edition

Posted on June 23, 2008 by Felix

You might recall that about three weeks ago, there was a mini-spate of articles about how leaks imperil M&A deals. Here’s a typical one, from CFO.com (not to pick on them in particular, there were many others). Here’s how it … Continue reading →

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Extra Credit, Monday Edition

Posted on June 23, 2008 by Felix

Richard Bookstaber’s Senate testimony on risk management and its implications for systemic risk: Very sensible stuff. Calvo on commodities: Krugman disagrees with Guillermo Calvo on the role of "global liquidity" in driving oil prices. Thoma commentates. Microsoft to Internet: Drop … Continue reading →

Posted in remainders | Comments Off on Extra Credit, Monday Edition

Are Top Wine Prices Really Falling?

Posted on June 23, 2008 by Felix

Omer Gokcecus reports on the cost of Wine Spectator’s annual wine listing: The real price (in 1988 prices) for the basket of the entire Top 100 list was $4,313 in 1988; $3,132 in 1993; $2,533 in 1999; and $2,421 in … Continue reading →

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Wheat and Water Subsidy Datapoints of the Day

Posted on June 23, 2008 by Felix

Elie Elhadj reports on Saudi Arabia’s misadventures in agricultural subsidies: Between 1980 and 1992, wheat production grew 29-fold–from 142,000 tons in 1980 to 4.1 million tons in 1992–making the Saudi desert the world’s sixth-largest wheat exporting country… For the sixteen … Continue reading →

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Monoline Datapoint of the Day

Posted on June 23, 2008 by Felix

Gari finds a gem in an FSA presentation: Of its roughly $19 billion investment portfolio, $13.5 billion is parked in residential mortgage-backed securities, and of those RMBS holdings, almost $8 billion is first lien subprime. Bill Ackman, as we all … Continue reading →

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Why Newspapers Must Embrace RSS

Posted on June 23, 2008 by Felix

Last week, Research Recap featured a Forrester study entitled "The Fragmentation Of Yesterday’s Newspaper". A mention of RSS feeds piqued my interest, and Forrester was kind enough to send me a copy today. The conclusions of the report are, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Media, publishing | Comments Off on Why Newspapers Must Embrace RSS

The Richest Jew in the World?

Posted on June 23, 2008 by Felix

If you have the time, Connie Bruck has an enormous 12,500-word profile of Sheldon Adelson in the latest New Yorker – written, interestingly, without his cooperation. Let’s just say Adelson doesn’t come across as a very sympathetic individual: According to … Continue reading →

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