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Tag Archives: Economics
BOHICA
There’s a lot that can be said about the “stimulus bill” winding it’s way through our legislative process, but nothing compares with just seeing what’s in the bill. McQ over at QandO does a good job of breaking it down … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web
Tagged crap sandwich, Domestic Politics, Economics, stimulus bill
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Athens into Persepolis
Rasmussen has polled the public on whether they agreed with President Bush’s characterization of capitalism as the “highway to the American Dream.” Only 44% voiced support for capitalism, 33% were undecided and 22% expressed opposition. A grim finding. Only Republicans … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, History
Tagged American Dream, Athens, Bush, capitalism, Carthage, Democrats, Economics, enemy, free market, History, Persepolis, poll, Rasmussen, Republicans, Rome
1 Comment
A Solution to the Financial Crisis? Sharia!
Italian economist Loretta Napoleoni (of Rogue Economics fame), blames the lingering financial crisis in part on the American War on Terrorism, which inaugurated an allegedly “suspicious attitude…toward Muslim investors.” She goes further though, and argues that the only solution to … Continue reading
Posted in Economics
Tagged academia, academics, bankers, banking, case studies, clients, despotism, dictatorship, Economics, finance, financial crisis, gendr, home loans, islam, Islamic finance, Italian, Loretta Napoleoni, married women, marxism, Marxist, medieval, militarims, Muslim, North Korea, property rights, rogue economics, scholars, sharia, social responsibility, Somalia, Soviet Union, UNM, Vermont, War on Terrorism, women
2 Comments
Bits and Pieces: 11-18-08
Russ Roberts:”Oh Please-President Bush has lost the right to say this.” Also, he has a great Mea Culpa on why he missed this, and a discussion that fits right into my theme about how many missed this meltdown, and advice … Continue reading
Posted in Lance's Page
Tagged Economics, Investing, Playboy, spam, trade, Wall Street
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Peter Schiff’s Payback
The insufferable Peter Schiff has a video going around, which frankly, is just brilliant. He may be unpleasant at times, but he nailed this thing, and took mounds of abuse while doing so. More importantly, I KNOW HOW HE FEELS! … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Investing, Lance's Page
Tagged credit crisis, debt, Economics, finance, Investing, Peter Schiff, risk
3 Comments
De-leveraging
Given the topic of tonight’s podcast I thought a little visual data might help. First, the explosion in US debt: Henry Blodget explains: From the early 1920s through 1985, the average level of debt-to-GDP in this country was 155%. The … Continue reading
Playmates during crisis
Does the object of our desire tend to change during tough times? Yes, according to this paper on men’s preferences when it comes to Playboy’s models: Consistent with Environmental Security Hypothesis predictions, when social and economic conditions were difficult, older, … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Lance's Page, social science
Tagged 2008, beauty, body mass, breasts, bust-to-waist ratio, conditional economics, credit crisis, Economics, Environmental Security Hypothesis, facial features, gender, index values, Jayde Nicole, Playboy, playmates, pornography, reproduction, sex, social dynamics, Tyler Cowen, women
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Scamming
Dear American: I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude. I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had a crisis that … Continue reading
Consumers get credit for their part in the debacle
Washington PostThis is not good news for consumers. Reminds me of Phil Gramm’s “whiners” comment. “Wall Street has lived beyond its means, but so has Washington. Both did so, in part, because consumers and voters on Main Street wanted it … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web, MikeR's Page
Tagged bailaout, budget deficit, Economics, intervention
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George Reisman vs. Barack Obama
George Reisman’s Blog“The loot?and?plunder theory is the theory of Obama, of the Democratic Party, and of much of the Republican Party. It is time to supplant it with the sound economic theory developed by generations of intellectual giants ranging from … Continue reading
Free Riding?
Alex Taborrak has a story: How an Economist Thinks Over the weekend a crew came round my neighborhood offering to paint house numbers on the curb. Large bold curb numbers, they pointed out, make it easier for emergency service workers … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Lance's Page, Philosophy
Tagged Alex Taborrak, curb numbers, Economics, economist, emergency service workers, neighbors, Philosophy, story, weekend
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Creative Capitalism
I think this is a fascinating blog, Creative Capitalism. Of Course, I am a geek. Creative Capitalism: A Conversation is a web experiment designed to produce a book — a collection of essays and commentary on capitalism, philanthropy and global … Continue reading
Posted in Developmental economics, Economics, Lance's Page
Tagged Developmental economics, Economics
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Happy Birthday Milton: Video Link Fixed
It is Milton Friedman’s birthday! For all kinds of coverage, go to my Milton Friedman Memorial page. Scroll to the bottom and there is a huge collection of thoughts on his passing. Here is one of my favorite bits:
Posted in Lance's Page, Milton Friedman Memorial Page
Tagged Economics, Milton Friedman
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How Supermarkets Can End Poverty
Namibian supermarket selection (photo: Olivier Peyre) One of great inequities in the modern world is that in relative terms, food in poor and starving countries often costs far more than in the wealthy developed world. That’s because industrial countries tend … Continue reading
Posted in Developmental economics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Lee's Page
Tagged Africa, agriculture, Ashok Gulati, Asia, chains, consumers, developing, Economics, fdi, food, food prices, foreign direct investment, household, Hugo Chavez, India, inequity, International Food Policy Research Institute, Latin America, liberalization, nepal, poverty, revolution, scale, spending, supermarket, Thomas Reardon, United States, vegetables, Wal-Mart, world
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Select Rants
For those of you who love New York Times bashing, I am in rant mode at Risk and Return. What a bunch of balderdash. Also, if you want a good idea of where housing prices may go, I also have … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Lance's Page, Media
Tagged Domestic Politics, Economics, housing, Media, New York Times
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Greg Mankiw for President
Is it really too late for him to be a candidate? Too bad. Mankiw’s platform surely would be our nation’s best. Mankiw coyly calls it “pandering.” I call it a breath of fresh air – along with refreshing rationality. No wonder … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Peg's Page
Tagged Domestic Politics, Economics
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I love this map
The one right here. Here is a picture, but the real one is cool, cool cool. You can find other maps like this here.
This is well timed
Two straight weeks of 400k+ jobless claims (the level we have been told signals a recession) and the minimum wage goes up making it more expensive to hire low skilled employees by 12%. How about that for well thought out … Continue reading
Elect Phil Gramm!
From an interview by Stephen Moore (HT: GR): So what if a President Barack Obama were to impose 50% or 60% tax rates on these CEOs and other big earners? Mr. Gramm pounces: “When you help a company raise capital, … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Election 2008, MichaelW's Page
Tagged capitalism, Domestic Politics, Economics, economy, Election 2008, John McCain, Phil Gramm
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Is The Evidence In On Minimum Wage?
When the most recent unemployment numbers were released, the media bleated about the highest percentage increase in the jobless rate since 1986. For example, The New York Times lamented: The unemployment rate surged to 5.5 percent in May from 5 … Continue reading
Fashion Is Cheap
How remarkable: As luxury fashion has become more expensive, mainstream apparel has become markedly less so. Today, shoppers pay the same price for a basic Brooks Brothers men’s suit, $598, as they did in 1998. The suggested retail price of … Continue reading
Silent Tsunami
As an update to this previous post, be sure to read this from The Economist. Governments ought to liberalise markets, not intervene in them further. Food is riddled with state intervention at every turn, from subsidies to millers for cheap … Continue reading
Posted in Developmental economics, Economics, Peg's Page
Tagged agriculture, Developmental economics, Economics, Europe, free trade
4 Comments
Consumer Spending is Ugly
While spending increased in March by 1.8% over a year ago, adjusted for inflation it was way down. The only reason sales were positive was gasoline, though food sales were positive. Even there, that is mostly due to inflation and … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Lance's Page
Tagged consumer spending, Economics, gasoline, inflation, the economy
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Ripple Effects in the Food Trade
Posted first at Registan.net When last I touched on the global food crisis and how it is impacting Afghanistan and the rest of Central Asia, I noted that countries continuing to ban wheat exports would make the problem worse by … Continue reading
Posted in Developmental economics, Economics, Foreign affairs, regulation
Tagged Economics, food crisis, international finance, kazakhstan, monetary policy
1 Comment
Martin Feldstein on the Economy, Credit Markets and Economic Risk
Departing director of the National Bureau of Economic Research, Martin Feldstein, on the economy, credit markets and a lot more in his latest opinion piece and discussion on the Charlie Rose show.
Posted in Around the Web
Tagged Charlie Rose, credit markets, Economics, fiscal policy, Martin Feldstein, monetary policy, NBER, risk, the economy
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Blood For Oil
Joseph Kennedy II supports blood for oil. In recent months, my TV has been bombarded with ads from Joe Kennedy promoting his Citizens Energy program, such as the following: The heating oil distributed by Citizens Energy comes from Venezuela on … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, energy, Foreign affairs, Hugo Chavez, MichaelW's Page
Tagged Chavez, Citizens Energy, command economy, Economics, Exxon, food shortages, heating oil, heavy crude, Joseph Kennedy II, nationalization, oil, oil market, oil production, OPEC, PDVSA, price ceiling, price fixing, price floor, socialism, starvation, Venezuela
2 Comments
A Chicken in Every Pot
Have you ever met a politician who didn’t make promises that could not be delivered? I haven’t, either. Of course, there are promises… and then there are promises. If you are someone with an adjustable rate mortgage who has run … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Election 2008, Peg's Page
Tagged Economics, Hillary Clinton, housing, mortgage crisis
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Sociology of Love
Yes, from the bird’s eye view, there is a “love market” and you are just a love widget. But let’s take the symbolic interactionist perspective. Relationships are highly customizable. Once you bond with a person, you can make the relationship … Continue reading
The Grinding Gears of the Economy
The Fourth quarter GDP numbers came in this week, and then the Fed went ahead and cut rates further. That is 125 basis points in about a week.! I have a roundup of news, related opinion and other reactions at … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Investing, Lance's Page
Tagged Economics, economy, Federal Reserve, GDP, Investing
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Look Who Pays For Mitt-Care
As governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney oversaw the implementation of state-wide universal health care, something that he touts as a major accomplishment on his campaign website. In fact, after signing the legislation into law, Romney penned a an Op-Ed for … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Health Care, MichaelW's Page
Tagged Economics, Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, taxation, universal health care, Wisconsin
4 Comments
The Harley Report
As I noted earlier, Dale Franks was curious about how Harley Davidson (HOG) would do on its latest earnings release: One earnings report to watch this week, though, is Harley-Davidson (HOG). It’s a solid company with a loyal customer base—I’m … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Investing
Tagged earnings, Economics, economy, Harley Davidson, HOG, Investing, luxury goods, motorcycles, recession
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Irrational Actors
Michael Shermer examines the bizarre behavior of people in situations where they are forced to choose between relative money awards in social contexts. Remarkably, people will consistently choose less money, if more money would negatively affect their perception of their … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web
Tagged behavioral economics, Economics, evolutionary economics, Michael Shermer, money, neuroeconomics, sociality
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Indexing Capital Gains
Richard Rahn pushes for the indexing of capital gains due to inflation as part of the stimulus. Accounting for inflation in this way has the advantages of producing more short-term revenue to the Treasury as long-term gains are “unlocked.” Furthermore, … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Election 2008, Investing, Lance's Page
Tagged capital gains, Economics, fiscal stimulus, inflation, IRS, taxes
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Free Trade Distilled
Megan McCardle looks at some silly arguments at Max Sawickey’s old place on trade. Read the whole thing, but she hits the nail on the head here: There are three possibilities for what will happen if we liberalize trade: 1) … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Lance's Page
Tagged Economics, free trade, trade
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Price Controls in Iraq
Remember the snow in Baghdad? It’s an unusually cold winter there this year. Yet kerosene is hard to come by. Gee, I wonder why: “Little kerosene is available on the state-run market at the subsidized price of $0.52 a gallon. … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web
Tagged Baghdad, black market, Economics, Iraq, kerosene, price controls, winter
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Privatization Under Thatcher
Short video clip on Maggie’s privatization efforts in the 1980s, and the intellectual rationale behind expanding the investor class. It’s not about creating prosperity, it’s about educating a nation in what makes prosperity possible.
Posted in Around the Web
Tagged 1980s, Britain, capitalism, Economics, Education, privatization, prosperity, Thatcher, UK
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The Scale of the American Economy
Click to enlarge I thought the map Lance posted from the other day (originally from Strange Maps), which expressed the GDP of foreign countries as US states, based on their approximate equivalent GSP, was a pretty interesting visualization. However, I … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Lee's Page
Tagged , American, business, chart, China, Economics, economy, GDP, Germany, GSP, image, map, regions, scale, states, strange maps, UK, United Kingdom, US, visualization
7 Comments
Labour regulations in China and India: Economic Freedom in Relief
This is a stunning statistic: …the annual expansion in China’s trade has been larger than India’s total annual trade during last several years. Tyler Cowen hones in on this point, amongst a bounty of good points: The most important factor … Continue reading
ChrisB and the Federal Reserve
Chris asked what he thought the Federal Reserve could have done differently. I gave him an answer, but there was more to be said. My full answer is here. Scroll around, there is a lot more on the what could … Continue reading
The Mildest Recession?
Morgan Stanley expects a “mild and short” recession in 2008, with peak unemployment of 5.6% or 5.7% in early 2009. Mark Perry points out that would make it the mildest and shallowest recession since the second world war.
Posted in Around the Web
Tagged 2009, Economics, economy, Mark Perry, Morgan Stanley, recession, unemployment
2 Comments
Scary graphic of the day
From a post at the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s buzz.com describing the impact on neighborhoods in Minneapolis of the spiraling number of foreclosures. Each pin is a foreclosure. 725 total in North Side. (HT: Instapundit)
Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Lance's Page
Tagged Economics, foreclosures, housing, Minneapolis, mortgages
10 Comments
Today’s links: The Housing Market
(cross posted at Risk and Return) Paper Economy has taken a close look at what it will take to get inflation adjusted housing prices in Massachusetts back to trend over a five year period. It should be noted that for … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Investing, Lance's Page
Tagged Citigroup, Claifornia, Economics, housing, Lennar, Massachusetts, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, mortgages, OFHEO, real estate, recession, Shiller, William Lyon Homes
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Capitalism Primer
Courtesy of Bookwork Room comes this 1948 classic “Fun and Facts about American Business.” It’s a cartoon short that portrays the birth of an entrepreneur, and how bringing his idea to fruition through hard work pays off not just for … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, History, MichaelW's Page
Tagged capitalism, Economics, entrepreneur, job creation, Searcy College, wealth
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Globalization: By Don Boudreaux
(Cross posted at Risk and Return) Cafe Hayek fans take note, it is finally out. Short review from Tyler Cowen: This is the best popular book explaining the benefits of international trade. Imagine Bastiat for 2008, or a Cajun updating … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Developmental economics, Economics, History, Lance's Page
Tagged Bastiat, Books, Don Boudreaux, Economics, globalization, trade, Tyler Cowen
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