October 10, 2011

A Political Economy Model for Occupy Wall Street

Lynne Kiesling What’s a political economy-oriented economist to make of Occupy Wall Street? So far I’ve found two complementary commentaries that reflect my analysis of the deeply flawed policies of the past couple of decades that have enabled the crony corporatism that seems to be at the core of the protest (just in my phrasing …

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Sargent-sims Nobel 2011

Lynne Kiesling Congratulations to Thomas Sargent and Christopher Sims for the 2011 economics Nobel. Marginal Revolution has developed a well-deserved reputation for go-to commentary on the Nobel; see Alex’s overview, Tyler’s comments on Sargent, and Tyler’s comments on Sims. Note also the Tyler points out Sargent’s work in economic history (his “small change” book with …

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Markets Make You More Trusting, but Not Necessarily More Trustworthy

Michael Giberson In a randomized control experiment, subjects unconsciously primed to think about markets were more trusting in a subsequent anonymous economic exchange. The authors note that the positive effect of trust on economic growth is well documented — in particular, widespread market activity requires people to trust anonymous strangers — but scholars have been …

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