Economics

Archive for Economics

Don’t Let Scott Sumner Write the History Books

Despite my title, this is actually a post about Brad DeLong, where I’ve noticed this trend the most. Now despite the recent unpleasantness, I’m not even criticizing DeLong in this post. I’m simply pointing out a rewriting of history that I am watching unfold before my very eyes, and I want to point this out […]

Interest Does NOT Equal the Marginal Product of Capital, Even in Equilibrium

Oh man, here I’m trying to really be productive. I have even come up with strict limits on my Facebook time. And then Nick Rowe goes and starts posting on capital & interest theory! Here’s the situation in a nutshell. In mainstream economics, it is commonplace for people to say that in a competitive equilibrium, […]

America’s Platinum Express

I have a question and a comment: ==> The “trillion dollar coin” thing is just because a billion is too little, and a quadrillion is too much, right? For example, there’s nothing to stop them from using this “option” but doing so by minting, say, 10 coins each with a face value of $100 billion? […]

Two Visions

==> On the one hand, you can listen to Danny Glover and write-in Paul Krugman for Treasury Secretary. ==> On the other hand, you can sign up for Joe Salerno’s 6-week Mises Academy class on Austrian macroeconomics.

Thoughts on the New Budget Deal

==> Scott Sumner and Steve Landsburg are none too happy. ==> David R. Henderson takes a different perspective. ==> I come down on the side of the whiners in this IER post, though I understand what David is saying. (I think we’re mostly just disagreeing about what the relevant baseline should be. Compared to 2012, […]

Inside a Mob Family

I was listening to this Fresh Air interview with the son of mobster Frank Calabrese. The interview was from 2011 but Frank Sr. apparently just died on Christmas, so they re-broadcast it. It’s pretty good stuff; there are details about loan sharking and killing a guy who is wily, etc. The mob movies are always […]

“Token Libertarian Girl” on Fiscal Cliff

Julie Borowski put this video up in mid-December, but I just saw it. I was perusing her videos after Steve Horwitz (and Sarah Skwire) sent her to the time-out corner for her most recent video (not the below one). Julie’s big-picture objective is to make libertarian ideas more appealing in the popular culture. I think […]

Learning From Brad DeLong and Paul Krugman

[UPDATE below.] Rather than have a long series of posts discussing the fallout from my (price) inflation bet with David R. Henderson, I decided to do one comprehensive reply to Brad DeLong and Paul Krugman. I had toyed with not even responding, but two things ruled that out: (1) This isn’t a case of two […]