Economics

Archive for Economics

Scott Sumner Sees Sumnerites Everywhere

Wow. Scott Sumner’s success has gone to his head so much that he thinks we’re all market monetarists now. In this post, Sumner first quotes from a news article about Bernanke: The Fed, he said, believes inflation will remain near the central bank’s target of 2% or a little less. The economy can support an […]

Follow-Up on Krugman and Italy

Not surprisingly, Daniel Kuehn (and others) was not impressed by my highlighting of an apparent Krugman Kontradiction regarding Italy. To refresh your memory, in November 2009 (to take just one example) Krugman was (typically) making fun of people who were warning that the US had better get its deficit under control, lest interest rates quickly […]

Krugman Promises to Reconcile Himself at a Date TBD

Ah, I’m glad to see some people are apparently busting Krugman in the comments of his blog about an apparent inconsistent (dare I say Kontradiction?). For a while Krugman has been ripping on the people worrying about deficits, by pointing to other countries that have higher debt-to-GDP ratios than the US does. Here’s a good […]

Murphy in Michigan

I am going to hook up with the Energy for America bus tour, as it hits the cities of Midland, Mt. Pleasant, Traverse, and Portage. (Consult the schedule for more specific times.) BY NO MEANS am I suggesting that people drive a long ways to this thing. My understanding is that a few of us […]

A Minor Quibble With the Whole NGDP Discussion

I generally like what Noahpinion says on the GDP debate, but even he is conceding too much to Sumner et al. Before I was letting it go, because I figured it was a harmless simplification, but thus far I’ve only seen one random guy in the comments mention the problem. (Firefox ate my tabs when […]

Reality Has a Well-Known Market Monetarist Bias

I am of course studying Scott Sumner’s every eye-twitch in this video. Kelly Evans catches him pretty well in the beginning, asking at one point if his policies would have prevented the housing boom. He admits that no, NGDP growth hadn’t been too high, but says that every time there is a crisis like this, […]

Fractional Reserve Banking and Casinos

Long story, but my six-year-old son was asking me to explain gambling. I told him about how you go into a casino and give them money for chips. Then I was explaining Blackjack, and told him about betting $10 etc. on a hand. He stopped me and asked me to clarify. Was the person betting […]

Dan Klein and IUC: May I Have Another, Sir?

OK I am supposed to be balancing my checkbook tonight, so that’s why I continue to harp on this issue of Dan Klein and interpersonal utility comparisons. Gene Callahan and Daniel Kuehn have chimed in. I have just two more clarifications, and then it’s double entry bookkeeping time, baby. Goethe, eat your heart out. (1) […]