Economics

Archive for Economics

Mediating a Couple Arguing About Money

My friend and his wife are having a major disagreement over their household finances. He is self-employed (I don’t want to be more specific and tip some readers off as to his identity) and does one-off projects for clients. He relies on advertising and word of mouth to generate new leads. Anyway, he asked me […]

Sumner Responds

[UPDATE below.] It’s getting late and I’m working on a deadline, so perhaps this is foolish of me. I feel like when I’m playing the computer in chess and it makes what seems to be a really dumb move. Do I pounce, or should I be cautious and assume I’m missing something subtle? Anyway, here’s […]

More Journalists Schooling Austrian Economists on Monetary Theory

I have asked George Selgin to please destroy this properly, but for now, behold: Goodhart points out, however, that Menger is just wrong about the actual history of physical money, especially metal coins. Goodhart writes that coins don’t follow Menger’s account at all. Normal people, after all, can’t judge the quality of hunks of metal […]

A Nuanced Point in the Outrage Over Cyprus

I meant to remark on this a few days ago, but I’m a busy guy… When the Cyprus bailout-plus-tax-on-depositors was first announced, most people flipped out, saying it was stealing money from the average Joe in order to rectify the bad investment decisions of the fat cats. I myself took this tack in the March […]

Stockman-Bashing Is Seriously Getting Out of Hand

This is really amazing. I had coffee with a young finance guy (just graduating) today and I remarked, “I can’t believe the treatment David Stockman is getting, the proportion of ridicule to actual examination of his arguments. The only analogous thing I can remember is how people treated Ron Paul.” Seriously, this is insane. Look […]

Lara and Murphy Presentation in Nashville

Tonight, April 2, 2013, my co-author Carlos Lara and I will be giving a talk in the Brentwood Public Library on our view of the US economy (it’s bleak) and what households can do. Much of what we will discuss comes from our book, if you are curious but want to get a sense of […]

Potpourri

==> Jack Hunter argues that even though he’s in favor of gay marriage personally (thinking it should be decided legally at the state level), he strongly objects to the rhetoric of saying it is akin to the Civil Rights movement for blacks. I still think Gene Callahan has the best observation on this whole issue […]

More on Keynesians Loving the Boom

A few posts ago, I pointed out that Krugman unintentionally let slip the fact that he wants policies that reignite a boom. Naturally, a Krugman defender said I was nuts in the comments. Perhaps this quote from Brad DeLong will be more convincing: In the 12 years of the Great Depression – between the stock-market […]