Economics

Archive for Economics

Tyler Cowen on Treasury Default

This is my favorite Tyler post of all time, with the only possible exception being his unwitting out-of-sample defense of Austrian business cycle theory. First, Tyler uses his extraordinarily powerful mind to concoct a scenario in which the economy collapses from the debt standoff: As the evening of October 16th approaches, John Boehner is preparing […]

Resolving (Sort of) Krugman on Bond Vigilantes and Debt Default

OK so for the last month or so I’ve been asking: How can Paul Krugman have been arguing repeatedly that an attack by the “bond vigilantes” (because they’re worried about high levels of a government’s debt) be “expansionary” and hence good for an economy currently stuck in a liquidity trap, while at the same time […]

US Government Starting to Face a Cash Crunch

This Neil Irwin post is pretty good (I think I got this from Alex Tabarrok on Twitter): [I]n the…market for Treasury bills, things are starting to get scary. These are short-term IOU’s of the U.S. government, bills issued for 30, 60 or 90 days. They enable Uncle Sam to manage cash flow much the way […]

Niall Ferguson vs. Krugtron the Vincible (sic), Part I

Niall Ferguson has apparently started a series at HuffPo, documenting Paul Krugman’s botched predictions over the last several years. (In case you don’t know, Krugman has been absolutely vicious against NF for years now.) Obviously I am predisposed to love such an endeavor, and what’s really great is that Ferguson catches some things that I […]

Economics Basics: Action and Exchange

At the Mises Academy I’m starting a new class on October 17 on “Action and Exchange.” Full details here.

SHOCKER: Price Controls Lead to Shortages in Venezuela

The news is rife with stories of the awful shortages of basic essentials in Venezuela. For example, the BBC World Service did an extended report, and the following comes from a Guardian article: It’s the rainy season in Venezuela and Pedro Rodríguez has had to battle upturned manhole lids, flooded avenues and infernal traffic jams […]

My Response to Mike Norman

This should settle things once and for all.

Nick Rowe: It’s the End of NK Models as We Know Them, and I Feel Fine

[UPDATE: See Nick Rowe’s comments in the post for further clarification, plus I tweaked a few things in the post itself in response to his comments.–RPM] In a previous post, I explained that the academically respectable, formal New Keynesian model of the economy was collapsing before our very eyes. I mentioned that Nick Rowe was […]