Economics

Archive for Economics

When You Think a Lot About Liberty, Your Hair Falls Out

This is Stefan Molyneux, who for some inexplicable reason is a bigger star in the libertarian community than me…so far. In all seriousness, this was a very pleasant interview. At the end we even dabble in religion, and no one is smited (though perhaps smitten).

Update on Scott Sumner Debate

A few people lately have been asking me about this. Well, I am still not yet ready to face Vader. I don’t want to lose a hand. However, it occurs to me that I could win the debate just by saying, “Scott Sumner published this on his blog. And fans of the free market are […]

Mises on “We Owe the Debt to Ourselves”

Wow, did I blog about this back when we had the fall of Western civilization? Anyway Mises–in a footnote of course–could have saved all of us a month of hassle: The most popular of these doctrines is crystallized in the phrase: A public debt is no burden because we owe it to ourselves. If this […]

Bursting Sumner’s Bubble, the Climax

I added the below in an update to my original post, but I want to make sure y’all see this one: Thanks to the sleuthing of Dan, we are able to produce the following work of beauty: (A) “I’m a believer in the EMH and hence skeptical of the idea of bubbles, a least as […]

Popping Sumner’s Bubble

[UPDATE below.] I’m telling you guys, “Scott Sumner” is a computer program from another planet, sent to destroy the dollar and soften up Earth for the invasion. Today he writes: I am constantly amazed that so many highly intelligent economists and finance-types seem incapable of understanding something as simple as an asset price bubble. There […]

Tom Woods Gives Friendly Advice to Paul Krugman

Remember kids, it’s KrugmanDebate.com. From there you can go directly to the pledge page. I have plenty of fun ideas to promote this in the coming months, but I can’t do too much if the pledge total peaks. But if it keeps rising, then it’s still a “story” and I can work with it.

How Does Brad DeLong Define Success?

[UPDATE below.] I’m not sure, but it must be a low bar. In a recent, exhaustive critique of Hassett, Hubbard, Mankiw, and Taylor (HHMT)–who have written a “white paper” on the Romney economic program–DeLong is upset that these critics of Obama have pointed to a certain research paper to bolster their objection to the “cash […]

“What Model Is Ben Bernanke Using?!”

The bitter von Pepe sends this John Taylor blog post from early July: In a recent speech at Stanford (video here) former Wells Fargo Chairman and CEO Dick Kovacevich told the full story of how he was forced to take TARP funds even though Wells Fargo did not need or want the funds. The forcing event […]