14 Sep 2012

Remarks From Economics Bloggers That I Find Hilarious

Economics, Federal Reserve, Humor, Market Monetarism 25 Comments

==> “The day Garett [Jones] first visited GMU, I went home to my wife and told her, ‘I just met my new best friend.'”Bryan Caplan

==> “[I]t’s Scott Sumner Day.”Tyler Cowen

==> “Fed lowers its 2014 unemployment estimates by 0.3% or 0.4%.”Scott Sumner, explaining why the Efficient Market Hypothesis should now lead us to believe that the Fed’s policy announcement is a good thing.

==> “I can honestly say that he’s influenced my thought on public policy issues more than any other blogger.”Scott Sumner, hero of free-market economists, referring to Matt Yglesias.

==> “Perhaps the best analogy I could provide would be the Keynesian revolution. It had a small impact on 1930s policy-making, but not enough to promote a fast recovery.”Scott Sumner, hero of free-market economists, reflecting on Scott Sumner Day.

25 Responses to “Remarks From Economics Bloggers That I Find Hilarious”

  1. happyjuggler0 says:

    You’re just sore that he forgot to thank you in his Acceptance Speech.

    • Bob Murphy says:

      No, I’m quite glad that I have nothing to do with open-ended bond purchases.

  2. Blackadder says:

    You’ve got a strange sense of humor.

    • Bob Murphy says:

      Says the guy with a photo of Rowan Atkinson, and not even as Mr. Bean.

      • Blackadder says:

        Bob,

        It’s comments like that that make me wish this blog had a ‘like’ feature.

  3. John p says:

    I look forward to the day when a quote by Bob Murphy is followed by the words ‘Bob Murphy, hero of free-market economists, reflecting on Bob Murphy day

  4. Major_Freedom says:

    I cannot help but feel pity for those who are genuinely thrilled at the thought that they or someone they know had an intellectual hand in the Fed’s latest movement towards accelerating inflation, and truly believing that they are helping “the economy.”

    Their measure of success is such a low bar.

    • Gene Callahan says:

      I’m devising in my mind the excuse you will offer when the economy actually recovers after these measures. I’m sure it will be entertaining!

      • Richie says:

        No, you’ll just call him mentally retarded.

      • Bob Murphy says:

        Gene, did you mean to write if the economy actually recovers, or when? If you want to go on record with some qualitative predictions on your blog, I’ll link to them and do the same here.

        • Ken B says:

          See Bob, this is why I exempted ‘eviscerate Gene Callahan’ comments earlier.

        • Dyspeptic says:

          BOOM! BAM! POW!

      • Robert Fellner says:

        The implication that when the economy ever recovers it will be because of “these measures” strikes me as flawed.

  5. david nh says:

    I certainly don’t agree with everything Sumner says but I have definitely learned some things from (and because of) him. Though I tired of the relentless focus, I have to admire his single-mindedness.

    I’d always assumed that his generally approving treatment of Yglesias was strategic (“anything in the cause of NGDP targeting!”) and alliance-building. But that quote above from him about Yglesias suggests otherwise. Disturbing. Perhaps it’s simply wanting to be liked by the cool kids. God knows there’s a lot of that around.

    BTW, Bob, I liked your additions on the last two comments – devastating really.

  6. Yosef says:

    Bob,

    Tyler wrote “I haven’t seen anyone else say it yet, so I will. The Fed’s policy move today might not have happened — probably would not have happened — if not for the heroic blogging efforts of Scott Sumner.” Haven’t you said essentially the same thing in the past? That historians will mark the work of Sumner as a root cause of thins to come. Essentially you and Tyler just put different inflections on the word heroic.

    • Bob Murphy says:

      Yosef, right, if “heroic” means “demonic,” then yes, I agree wholeheartedly with Tyler.

      (What the heck is going on in the world today? I feel like I’m going crazy.)

  7. Yancey Ward says:

    I predict that 5-10 years hence, Sumner will hope no one remembers his input.

    • Dave says:

      You are probably correct on that. He may take the same route as Paul Krugman (when someone pointed out that he had written a New York Times article advocating the creation of a housing bubble to solve the .com bubble) and say he meant it as a joke.

  8. Daniel Kuehn says:

    I am just baffled at how it’s Scott Sumner Day when the Fed quite obviously DIDN’T decide to target NGDP levels!!!

    • Blackadder says:

      Dan,

      This is a good point. The Fed’s move was a big step in the right direction, but it was still only a step. Sumner himself has been clear about this on his blog.

    • Ken B says:

      Actually it’s “Blogosphere Hubris Day.”

    • Yancey Ward says:

      At this point, I don’t really see the difference any longer. Target unemployment, target NGDP.

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