Financial Economics

Archive for Financial Economics

“Indymac Boys Get Sweetheart Deal”

Bill Butler passes along this interesting video. I am not endorsing the claims but it sounds plausible: Let me make one observation: Generally speaking, it’s appropriate financially to count it as a “loss” if someone defaults on a note, even if the person had paid less for it. For example, if someone sells me a […]

See Mishkin Squirm

I actually had a tough time watching this, I got so embarrassed for Frederic Mishkin. (HT2 von Pepe for the tip.) Lately I’ve begun to think the guys at ZeroHedge aren’t as clever and informed as they believe, but their scorn is definitely justified on this one.

The Murphy Check-Deposit Index of the Economy

You know what I’ve noticed in the last month or so? Individuals and businesses are depositing my checks far more rapidly than they used to. For example, I pay my AmEx bill online, and in the past it typically took 2 full business days before the payment would actually hit my checking account. But the […]

Tom Taylor on Austrian Accounting

Tom Taylor, author of an underappreciated primer on Austrian economics, just so happened to email me (about one of my Mises Daily articles) when a Free Advice reader had asked me about accounting books that were Austrian-friendly. Since Taylor is an accounting guy at Wake Forest, I asked him. Here’s his answer (reprinted with permission): […]

Does a Bad Bet Become Good, When the Stakes Are Raised?

Suppose you were at the casino and you were playing the minimum $10 bet at a Blackjack table. You get a 6 and your heart sinks. The dealer gives himself an Queen and you feel particularly devastated. But then your next card is a 4. You are so giddy you’re about to double down. The […]

Has Bernanke Been Reading the Free Bankers?!

I am working on a Mises Daily article discussing the recent Fed announcement. I was going through old FOMC statements to see if they had hinted at this. In the midst of this research I came across the following line, from Ben Bernanke’s February 2010 testimony to the Committee on Financial Services. It is the […]

Ron Paul and Lew Rockwell Get Pretty Radical on Fox!

It’s Judge Napolitano’s show, of course, but still: BTW, I was pleased to hear that Ron Paul also favors a transition period, rather than a one-shot “End the Fed on Tuesday.” This is the approach Carlos and I take in our new book. I think we accommodated the twin goals of ending injustice immediately, and […]

More People in the Financial Sector Using the A-word in Public

Caitlin Long, of Morgan Stanley, was actually going back and forth with the FT editor at Mises University about this piece. (To be clear, Caitlin was at Mises U telling me about it. The editor of FT was not there.) An excerpt: If Hayek were alive he would caution businesses to be alert for the […]