Animistic Spirits

Behavioral Economics and Finance academics still have a difficult time getting respect even though J.M. Keynes introduced the idea of “animal spirits” back in 1936. Pure, rational models of finance and economics don’t always do well explaining things like momentum in stock prices or another phenomenon we call the equity home bias puzzle.  I always [...]

Big Mistakes … even bigger Consequences

I just can’t help being smug when it comes to watching recent poll numbers or reading headlines. Economics is at the heart of every problem.  If folks aren’t getting their basic needs met, nothing else matters.  The Ragin’ Cajun and Big Dawg got it right when taking the White House back from a Bush.  You [...]

Aren’t there supposed to be briefings on these kinds of things?

The level of mishap and perhaps malfeasance on economic policy these days has me polishing off my French, Spanish, and reconnecting with my mother-in-law to see how much Japanese I remember. I’m  even considering putting my CV into Farsi. Perhaps, I should be learning Mandarin.  Anyway, Professor Mark Thoma, University of Oregon points to how [...]

Why not just call it Wall Street’s Petty Cash fund?

Ever worked for one of those places that has a petty cash fund that management just can’t seem to keep it’s fingers out of?  You know, the one that’s supposed to buy a few various sundries like postage stamps and turns into a sushi and martini account?  Well, check this out out the Financial Times.  [...]

Enforce the Sherman Anti-trust Act and Regulate the Shadow Banks

I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating.  Monopoly power and rent-seeking behavior are anathema to market systems. Politics should stay out of economic decisions and government should provide the framework that makes the market honest, transparent, and open to all interests.  Republican and Democratic pols need to go back to Principles of Microeconomics classes [...]

On the other hand … or is it Hoof?

In what is undoubtedly good news, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (Dept. of Commerce) has announced that  REAL GDP grew by approximately 3.5% in the third quarter of 2009.  That is up from the second quarter growth of .7%.  It appears that the economy may be rebounding from the so-called “Great Recession”.  However, as [...]

Did he come to bury or praise Suppy-Side Economics?

Bruce Bartlett has just released  a new book–and a mea culpa of sorts– for supply side economics (SSE). As an ex-aide to the late Jack Kemp and author of a book on Reaganomics, Bartlett’s got an interesting perspective from having a seat near the table.   He also takes a few undeserved potshots at some Keynesians [...]

Death by Bubble

Economist Andy Xie says Lehman Brothers died in vain and that it’s just a matter of time before we get hit by another deadly bubble.  His guest post at  Caijing Magazine is just so dead on that you must go read it.
There has been plenty to learn from last year’s miserable economy and near [...]

Some times being Right doesn’t always make you Feel Good

You may remember back in January that I was not happy and very outspoken about the size of the Obama Stimulus plan.  I was not impressed by the content or with the mix between tax cuts and direct government spending. You may recall that the Blue Dogs interminable resistance to do anything that might wake [...]

Feel the Bern!

While I stuck the announcement into the morning links, you had to know that I’d front page this announcement some time today.  So you also probably knew that I  breathed a quiet sigh of relief last night when I found out we were not getting La La Summers for Fed Chief.  President Obama has decided [...]