Are markets like the honey badger?

Jerry Evensky says yes:

In my introductory economics class I explain that markets are amoral – not moral, not immoral ... amoral. In that sense they are like computers ... incredibly powerful at processing immense amounts of information in useful ways, but totally agnostic as to the use. Computers can be used to educate, to elucidate, to heal ... or to develop weapons of mass destruction. They don’t give a damn, nor do markets ... nor does homo economicus.

(that's the full quote, the "... " parts are in the original. I have enlarged the money part)

Got My Hands on Everything, Like Dominique Strauss-Kahn

Pretty funny, some good lines.



There is even a Congressional hearing....hey, didn't Russ patent that?

Hey, yo, we straight out of twenties!

A big nod to my PiKA brother, John Donato!

Darwin and the current account?

Sexual competition is a wonderful thing. Just ask any bird of paradise you happen to meet.

Now, in a new NBER working paper (gated version here), Du and Wei argue that it can have aggregate macro consequences as well:

"Large savings and current account surpluses by China and other countries are said to be a contributor to the global current account imbalances and possibly to the recent global financial crisis. This paper proposes a theory of excess savings based on a major, albeit insufficiently recognized by macroeconomists, transformation in many of these societies, namely, a steady increase in the surplus of men relative to women. We construct an OLG model with two sexes and a desire to marry. We show conditions under which an intensified competition in the marriage market can induce men to raise their savings rate, and produce a rise in the aggregate savings and current account surplus. This effect is economically significant if the biological desire to have a partner of the opposite sex is strong. A calibration of the model suggests that this factor could generate economically significant current account responses, or more than 1/2 of the actual current account imbalances observed in the data"

So there you have it people, rampant heterosexuality helped cause the crisis.

Yikes!

This paper certainly has some interesting policy implications, no?

Podcastrians! Love, Money, Profits, and Gifts

Russ Roberts and I wonder about a bunch of stuff. Youknowhowwedo.

This Could Be True....But What About Joe Morgan?

Sports Commentators and Source Credibility: Do Those Who Can’t Play...Commentate?

Justin Robert Keene & Glenn Cummins
Journal of Sports Media, Fall 2009, Pages 57-83

Abstract:
Although research has examined how commentators shape perceptions of mediated sports, the area of commentator credibility remains unexplored. Using an experimental design, this study examined the effects of commentators’ previous athletic experience on the perceived credibility of sports broadcasters and viewers’ evaluations of game play. Results showed that experience impacts viewers’ perceptions of credibility such that commentators without experience were viewed as least credible and their games were rated as less exciting and enjoyable.

An Obvious Auction Possibility?

Yeon-Koo Che & Terrence Hendershott
Economists’ Voice, October 2009
The NFL Should Auction Possession in Overtime Games

"[NFL] overtimes can ruin great games, because, with all too high probability, whichever team gets the ball first wins. Instead of one of the best, the game might have been remembered as dubious, maybe even ignominious, with many ‘what ifs.’ We propose an auction method to eliminate the coin flip’s randomness by letting the teams bid to determine the initial possession...To minimize the impact of luck, it must be the case that the team that receives the opening possession has no real advantage. To accomplish this: Why not let the teams trade on who receives the opening possession with the starting position used as currency?"

(Nod to Kevin L)

T. Hobbes: Marginalist?

Der Geist writes with this question:

Did Thomas Hobbes have at least some glimmerings of the origins of subjective marginalist thinkings in economics?

Justice of Actions, is by writers divided into commutative, Distributive; ...Commutative they place in the equality of value of the things contracted for; and distributive, in the distribution of equall benefit, to men of equall merit. As if it were Injustice to sell dearer than we buy; or to give more to a man than he merits. The value of all things contracted for, is measured by the Appetite of the Contractors: and therefore the just value, is that which they be contented to give (Leviathan, chapter 15, paragraph 15)

Krugman cashes in

Perhaps taking his cue from Michael Phelps, Paul K has started turning his medal into endorsement cash. Kudos to you sir!

I feel sorry for Paul Krugman....

because his well deserved Nobel Prize is always going to be tainted by the idea that the Scando committee wanted to send an anti-Bush message. Just look at this article on Yahoo news:

"Bush critic wins 2008 Nobel for economics"

"STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - U.S. economist Paul Krugman, a fierce critic of the Bush administration for policies that he argues led to the current financial crisis, won the 2008 Nobel prize for economics on Monday."

While I think that Krugger has the right opinion about Bush but for all the wrong reasons, he (Krugman) is/was an excellent trade theorist and is, in my opinion, above the median quality level of all the Econ Nobelists. It's too bad that his receipt of the prize at this point in time will put focus on his political views rather than his economics skills which are/were mad!

I've been working on the railroad...

but I wouldn't be if I worked for the Long Island Railroad, where you can retire with a pension at age 50, and then file a disability claim for the job you just quit, secure in the knowledge that your claim will then be considered by the Railroad Retirement Board which "almost never says no to a disability claim". They even get free golf somehow! Perhaps not surprisingly given this strange convolution of perverse incentives, last year 94% of LIRR employees that retired after age 50 received disability benefits (again, on TOP of their retirement benefits).

As the NY Times puts it "The L.I.R.R.’s disability rate suggests it is one of the nation’s most dangerous places to work. Yet in four of the last five years, the railroad has won national awards for improving worker safety."

HA!

This truly is a great country