Economics

Archive for Economics

Superlative Sentences of the Day

The funniest thing I read today, from Kevin Williamson (HT2 Jim Manzi): Scientific disputes are highly specialized, and meaningful participation in them requires a great deal of non-generalist knowledge. I’m generally skeptical of argument from credential, but there’s a time for it. For instance, a great number of scientists have a particular view of global […]

Inventories and GDP Accounting–A Blast From the Past

With all the talk about the pitfalls of GDP accounting (when it comes to natural disasters), I thought it might be good to dig up my article on the absurdity of the mainstream approach when it comes to inventories. It might be hard for it to “click” at first with some of you, but if […]

The Fight of the Quarter!

Next Friday, September 2, I’m having a one-hour debate on Keynesian policies with Modeled Behavior Karl Smith. Details here. Insert Krugman references in comments.

Is This the Inflationary Big One?

I elaborate on the trends in excess reserves and money stock that Wenzel first noted. If for no other reason, you should click the link to see the graphic they put with the article.

Krugman Narrowly Escapes My Klutches

Aww, I thought I had him. The thing that’s been bothering me about Krugman’s post-9/11 remarks (which may or may not violate Bastiat’s Broken Window Fallacy, depending on whether or not you liked Paul Krugman going into the column), is that I thought they were evidence of “vulgar Keynesianism” as defined by Krugman himself around […]

Krugman Punk’d, Yet I Don’t See the Problem

[UPDATE below.] So Krugman doesn’t have a Google+ account, and therefore did NOT post this: “People on twitter might be joking, but in all seriousness, we would see a bigger boost in spending and hence economic growth if the earthquake had done more damage.” Krugman (naturally) is outraged that gullible right-wing pundits could have believed […]

Correcting the Keynesians on the Broken Window Fallacy

Lately our good friend Daniel Kuehn has been beside himself over the anti-Keynesians’ allegedly improper use of Bastiat’s broken window parable. The classic statement comes from this post, where Daniel declared, “Nothing convinces me you don’t understand what Bastiat wrote more thoroughly than accusing Paul Krugman of having committed a Broken Window Fallacy.” Anyway, I […]

Lee Ohanian Explains Why Hoover Did More Than “Jawbone” Businesses

Mark Priddy (a student in my Keynes class) reminded me of this great paper by Lee Ohanian of UCLA. Some of you (Blackadder, in particular) never liked the currently fashionable Austrian move of blaming Herbert Hoover for propping up wage rates and thus exacerbating unemployment in the early 1930s. Ohanian gives the rest of the […]