Maxine's Links for September 26 2009

Notable Quotes

Joan Robinson, Contributions to Modern Economics, 1978, Chapter 7, Marx, Marshall and Keynes, p. 75
"The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists."
Joan Robinson (girl economist): Richard T. Ely Lecture to the American Economics Association, 1972 (published in AER, 1972, 62(1/2): 1-10)
"A sure sign of a crisis is the prevalence of cranks. It is characteristic of a crisis in theory that cranks get a hearing from the public which orthodoxy is failing to satisfy. ... The cranks are to be preferred because they see that there is a problem."

Must Reads

Rediscovering Adam Smith: 5 Questions for Biographer Nicholas Phillipson | Britannica Blog
Adam Smith is revered as the father of modern economics and admired as one of the principal figures of the Scottish Enlightenment. That said, he is more admired than read these days; snippets from his Wealth of Nations are the fare of undergraduate economics and political science courses, but his other works are scarcely mentioned. Britannica contributing editor Gregory McNamee sat down with biographer Nicholas Phillipson, author of the recently published Adam Smith: An Enlightened Life, to find out why.
Morals Without God? - NYTimes.com
Frans de Waal's very thoughtful essay on scientific evidence of moral sentiments and moral behaviors in humans and other animals.
UnderstandingSociety: A property-owning democracy
Daniel Little examines Rawlsian justice in a property-owning democracy
John Quiggin on Zombie Economics
Just read it. Don't skip anything.

February 2011

Maxine's Essays

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21st Century Regress
Sometimes it seems like the world is going to hell and there's absolutely nothing a girl economist can do about it.
What Exactly Are We Crowding Out?
The current economic downturn isn't a random draw of a black ball from an urn containing white balls and black balls. There's no sampling distribution. Very specific policies and actions landed us here. Now we must decide not only what policies need to be put in place to prevent it happening again, but also what policies would best drive us out of the ditch faster and sustainably.
I Wish It Were Only Butter
We should be giving up some butter if we must. We should not give up education or health investment (or infrastructure or the environment (hello, BP). They may be the only legacies of any value that we pass on to our children and grandchildren.
Rational Health Investment?
The obvious "market solution" is to improve the long run return on investments in health among the disadvantaged through meaningful and effective publicly funded education. The obvious short run "market solution" is to reduce the costs of investment and the shadow price of health for the disadvantaged by providing health insurance cover and reduced out-of-pocket costs.
The Socrates Parameter
To the extent that our limbic systems respond to such engineering by over-riding the judgment of our frontal lobe and to the extent that our frontal lobe is deprived of the information it requires to make a rationally self-interested judgment, we are not only pigs and fools, we are slaves.
The Economic Rewards of Virtue
If individual virtue tempers our "piggy" desires and conditions our choices to something that is both individually and socially better, then the economic rewards of virtue as embodied in and promoted by societal norms and institutions are far greater than we have ever suspected. As economists, we would do well to recognize this when we teach U max.
The Market for Morals
Markets then are places where more is exchanged than goods and services, labor and product, credit, and interest. They are places where we also develop the personal virtues of temperance and prudence and the social virtues of benevolence and justice. When they function well, they produce trust, loyalty, and sympathy among those who trade there.
Post-Modern Applied Economics: It’s the Error Term, Stupid
Maxine believes it’s time to refocus attention and discussion on the error term. It is often where much of the action is in our models. It is where unexpectedly catastrophic events dwell resulting in fat tails. It is where our animal spirits manifest and cause us to do the right thing or the wrong thing or the thing everyone else is doing rather than the self-interested, fully-informed rational thing. It is where God and miracles and chance dwell.
Intergenerational Win-Win: Health Insurance, Education, Environment, Infrastructure
So when we’re talking about fiscal stimulus packages and we’re borrowing from our grandchildren to finance them, we should be thinking about how to use stimulus monies to create value for those grandchildren AND stimulate our economy.
Short-term Private Payoffs, Long-term Social Costs
The real health reform discussion, the one we should be having, is “What must we do to create a health system that is both efficient and fair?” The answer will almost certainly include relegating the private sector to markets where market forces or regulation are effective at aligning short-term private incentives and goals with long-term societal interests. If such markets are scarce or non-existent in health, then the private health sector will be of limited value.

The Economist's Schumpeter Column on how B-Schools Need to Change

You think?

The Economist: Financial Innovation in Service to the World's Poor

An idea whose time has come and of which Adam Smith would almost certainly approve.

Ken Rogoff on the G-20 (American Prospect)

Financial Times on the Continuing Threat of Credit Default Swaps

Oh, dear.

WSJ_Caution about Fed Policy from a Fed Governor

NYT: Recent poll indicates that 65% of US public favor public Medicare-like health insurance option

Of course, the headline indicates that the public is “wary of Obama” on health care. Is it possible they are “wary” because they elected him to change things, but he seems to roll over without a fight on the stuff that would actually improve their lives?

FT_Equities are overpriced

You think?

Financial Times: Economist, Paul De Glauwe, adds his voice to those wishing for a change in macro theory

How many will it take?

(Note, if you don’t subscribe, you get only 2 free views (per day, I think) at FT. I would read Paul De Glauwe and the one on CDS if I had to choose.)

That’s all for now. It’s Saturday and Maxine has a life...

Economics Blogs

Nancy Folbre - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com
EconomistMom.com
Excellent blog "…where analytical rigor meets a mother’s intuition."
interfluidity
Steve Randy Waldman provides critical insight into and critique of economics, finance, and economists
Environmental Economics
Economists on Environmental and Natural Resources News, Opinion, Analysis (and Other Stuff)
Angry Bear Blog
Slightly left of center economic commentary on news, politics, and the economy
Front Page | Institute for New Economic Thinking
Credible attempts to improve economics will be found here.
global glass onion
Everything macro: the Fed, QE, debt & deficits, FX & and macro issues; banks, banksters & congress critters; the main street economy, including CRE, foreclosures, unemployment, state budgets and health care issues; &global issues, including the Chinese economy, world trade, energy and the environment, and peak oil.
Rajiv Sethi
Barnard College, Columbia U, and Santa Fe Institute economist Rajiv Sethi's thoughts on economics, finance, crime and identity...
VOXEU
Research-based policy analysis and commentary from leading economists
The Baseline Scenario

Health Reform, Health Economics, & Health Policy

CommonHealth | Where Reform Meets Reality
Carey Goldberg blogs on health and health reform
Law Professor Rob Field's Health Reform Blog
Excellent blogs written for non-academics about PPACA, the health reform legislation passed by Congress in 2010
OMB Blog
Director of OMB, Peter Orszag, blogs on health reform and health costs with more credibility than almost anyone else.
Health Impact Assessment Blog
Interesting because it attempts to conceptualize health production as an expanded process with many causal factors, not all of them the obvious ones like medical care, nutrition, exercise, etc.
Mike Lawlor's Economics & Health Reform Blog
Maxine thinks that Mike is a near-perfect boy economist because of his background in both economics and philosophy. He is always thoughtful, balanced, and theoretically sound.
Congressional Budget Office Director’s Blog » Health
Kevin Frick - Public Health & Health Policy through an Economist's Lens
Kevin Frick (boy economist) does a great job of explaining the economics of various health reform and health care delivery issues so that non-economists can understand them.

History, Philosophy, Ethics, and Political Economy

Salvaged Liberty
Provocative, thoughtful and well worth a visit.
UnderstandingSociety
A web-based, dynamic monograph on the philosophy of social science and some foundational issues about the nature of the social world.
The Barefoot Bum
Excellent, thoughtful blog grounded in philosophy and not afraid to take an honest girl economist to task.
Eyes On the Prize
Peter Kurze provides thoughtful, imaginative insight and perspective on contemporary issues and dilemmas.
How Do You Know?
I was tempted to place this under aesthetics. A thoughtful blog by Ecrive that roams across a broad intellectual landscape, always with a new perspective.
Advice Unasked
Nice thoughtful blog with political, economic, ethical, and philosophical insights worth reading.
Adam Smith's Lost Legacy
A much-needed website devoted to restoring Smith's legacy as one of our finest moral philosophers.
David Coates: Answering Back
David Coates has created a "living book" that will be of interest to all progressives.
History of Economic Thought Website
Includes links to electronic versions of some HET texts
Suburban Guerrilla
Keeping an eye on the corporate media

Finance

Perry Mehrling's blog | Institute for New Economic Thinking
Interesting insights from an economist whose research lies at the intersection of monetary and financial economics, with special emphasis on historical and institutional methodological approaches.
the research puzzle : a blog by tom brakke
Well-written thoughtful prose about investment and investment research(!)
ataxingmatter
Linda Beale's most excellent blog on taxes and tax policy
Some Assembly Required
A blog that appears even more cynical (in a thoughtful way) than I about financial markets.
naked capitalism
Yves Smith's excellent blog that critically examines the heart of capitalism
Winner of Inaugural ICFR/FT Essay Contest on Banking Regulation
Nana Esi Atsem won for the best essay, which sought to answer the question: “What works best for banking regulation: market discipline or hard-wired rules?”
Bank search | BankTracker | Investigative Reporting Workshop
Handy-dandy link from AMU School of Communication provides bank-specific troubled asset ratios.
Calculated Risk: Doris "Tanta" Dungey
An amazing woman who got it "right" when everyone else was still denying the bubble, the froth, and the impending disaster. Requiescat in pace, Tanta.
Calculated Risk
Includes frequently updated list of FDIC problem banks

The Best of the Rest

Hyperbole and a Half
Maybe the funniest, most creative blog ever
Getting Healthy at Home in Rockingham County
Great blog for foodies and aging people who need inspiration to get healthy
Sherry Moss on Women's Work-Related Issues
Patience-Please
Good blog for dog and horse lovers, creative writing lovers, music lovers, art lovers, and people who just want a quiet corner of the web where they can curl up for a good story, a good laugh, or a good cry.

Maxine Udall (girl economist)

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09/26/2009

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