Category Archives: economics

In a move described by Dresdner Kleinwort as "even more predictable than the price surge that triggered it", Russia has decided to impose price controls on elected types of bread, cheese, milk, eggs and vegetable oil; the fourth word of … Continue reading →

I could play with this for hours: Aaron Schiff has developed the Economics ChatterMeter, to see how much chatter there is in the blogosphere about matters economic. Interestingly, right now everything seems to be at or near an all-time low, … Continue reading →

Deirdre McCloskey is in fine fighting form, at least by the standards of statisticians: Good fit is not the same thing as importance. In fact, usually it has nothing to do with importance. I think she’s absolutely right. People who … Continue reading →

What is an economics degree for? "Marshall Jevons" complains today that it doesn’t qualify people to get accepted into economics PhD programs: We have a system where the engineer or the physicist has greater chance of getting accepted to a … Continue reading →

Fans of "The Economic Naturalist" (see here for an explanation of the idea behind the book, and here for a fan’s notes) are always on the lookout for more everyday puzzles along those lines. So here’s one from Aaron Schiff: … Continue reading →

This Nobel prize is exactly the sort of thing that journalists have nightmares about. They wake up early, and read a citation from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences giving the Economics prize to three economists they’ve never heard of, … Continue reading →

Charlie Calomiris is a hawk and a bear – a combination which means that his latest paper makes for very interesting reading. It’s entitled "Not (Yet) a Minsky Moment" and the big-picture takeaway is that things are bad, but they’re … Continue reading →

The reaction to today’s strong payrolls report will say a lot about just how bullish the market really is. Both the stock and bond markets have been a little Alice-in-Wonderland of late, rising on bad news in the expectation, we’re … Continue reading →

Academics love to niggle over small differences. Willem Buiter is an academic, and today’s he’s writing on the difference between three very similar things, with respect to the currencies in the Baltic states and other small European countries: A currency … Continue reading →

Tyler Cowen: Mark Broski, a loyal MR reader, asks: If you woke up one morning and said to yourself, "You know what my problem is? My damn discount rate is too high." What would you do, if anything, to lower … Continue reading →

I have very few books in my office, which is quite small, but in pride of place on my reference shelf stands Angus Maddison’s masterful reference work "The World Economy". No one has spent more time or effort trying to … Continue reading →

Now here’s an interesting recipe for growth: how does utter financial collapse and skyrocketing inflation sound? Writes the Grouse today: When the Russian debt markets blew up, there was a massive devaluation of the ruble, which made it hard for … Continue reading →

Brad DeLong is clearly much more important than I am. When I say rude things about John Cassidy, nothing much happens. But when Brad says rude things about John Cassidy, he gets a stinging riposte from Cassidy in his comments … Continue reading →