31 Aug 2013

We’re #75! We’re #75!

DeLong, Krugman, Shameless Self-Promotion 12 Comments

According to a new ranking of the “most influential economics blog,” Free Advice weighs in at #75. I couldn’t have done it without both of you.

I have to say, though, that I wonder about the method used here to calculate “influence.” According to the site, they use an “input output model” to generate the influence number. Yet in some cases, it’s not even close to the raw traffic ranking.

For example, LewRockwell.com is only #32 on this ranking, while Brad DeLong is #6. I’m guessing that’s because Krugman–who’s #1 in this ranking–links to DeLong all the time. If you check Alexa, LRC has a traffic ranking of 9,241, compared to DeLong’s 101,016. So that means they’re not even in the same galaxy as far as how many people actually read the sites. (I can’t figure out how to assess Krugman’s overall traffic, because Alexa is just giving me the stats for the New York Times overall. Any smart people out there who can help me out?)

Similarly, this ranking has me ahead of EconomicPolicyJournal.com, when I know full well that Wenzel gets more traffic than me. And yes, Alexa says he is ranked 66,596, compared to my 226,951.

In any event, it seems the best strategy for someone to boost himself in these “influence” rankings is to provoke links from Krugman, DeLong, and Tyler Cowen. Looks like I’ve intuited the right thing to do.

UPDATE: And oh man, ZeroHedge.com‘s Alexa ranking is 1,864. In case you don’t realize it, these things are not linear; as you move up the rankings, the amount of traffic you are getting starts rising very rapidly. So to say ZeroHedge has less influence–with an overall traffic ranking of 1,864–than DeLong with his traffic ranking of 101,016, cries out for an asterisk.

12 Responses to “We’re #75! We’re #75!”

  1. random guy says:

    But where was MIKE NORMAN???

    • Bob Roddis says:

      Mike Norman is 4 slots ahead of J-Cat and 30 behind DK.

      As I said, these rankings are unassailable.

  2. Bob Roddis says:

    There’s no way to challenge these rankings. Who could question that Lord “Fixprice” Keynes is clearly the 178th most influential person in the galaxy? And, like DeLong and Krugman, he’s coming after Bob Murphy.

    http://socialdemocracy21stcentury.blogspot.com/2013/08/bob-murphy-all-at-sea-on-geometry-and.html

    Any day now, he’s going to publish an empirical study which proves that people do not act.

    • Lord Keynes says:

      “Who could question that Lord “Fixprice” Keynes is clearly the 178th most influential person in the galaxy? “

      But still, interestingly, above Robert Skidelsky, and he’s pretty influential.

      Also, the human action axiom needs no refutation, as it can be asserted as true by any economist you care to name.

      • Bob Roddis says:

        1. But where are the tests and data proving that humans act?

        2. above Robert Skidelsky, and he’s pretty influential

        As I said, the rankings are unassailable.

        • Lord Keynes says:

          “But where are the tests and data proving that humans act?”

          Wow. You’re unaware of the vast specialist literature delineating the difference between conscious versus unconscious human action, and what must be an even vaster literature on conscious human action in all its various facets.

          Pretty impressive ignorance, bob.

          But then you already admit being ignorant of a lot of things.

          • Bob Roddis says:

            Wow. During their testing, did they find any healthy humans who do not act?

  3. Z says:

    The real question is, how influential is Onalytica Indexes?

  4. Sam says:

    It’s whoever gets the most links. So every time you critique & link to a post by DeLong, Krugman, etc, you are actually boosting their “influence.”

    • Bob Murphy says:

      Right Sam, but that’s only a link from a #75 blog. If once every 10 time DeLong links back, and once every 100 times Krugman does, I think that puts me ahead. By definition, Krugman can’t go higher.

      • guest says:

        Both you and EPJ are new entries and are relatively close in rank.

        Do you think there might be something to what Sam is saying, given that Krugman has referenced you, and you have referenced EPJ, recently?

  5. Jonathan Finegold says:

    I’m ranked #133, and I’m sure that in any traffic ranking I wouldn’t even come close to the top 200.

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