Lynne Kiesling I have the first really bad cold, complete with ear infection, that I’ve had in almost two years. Other than the throat and ear pain, the coughing, and the congestion, I can tell it’s bad because I’ve stayed home from work for two days, and rather than being my usual Energizer bunny self …
Michael Giberson Two multi-billion dollar deals in the news this weekend provide additional evidence of how advances in drilling technology have unlocked vast new energy resources and are reshaping the energy industry. Norwegian oil company Statoil is paying about $4.4 billion for Brigham Exploration, getting “a stronger foothold in unconventional resources” according to the Wall …
Lynne Kiesling I first saw this outstanding short video a few weeks ago at the Students for Liberty Chicago conference. It does an excellent job of capturing recent data on economic performance and on economic freedom from the recently-released Economic Freedom of the World report that I discussed in late September. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4fWQnguR1E] In particular, the …
Video: Recent Data on Economic Freedom and Economic Growth Read More »
Lynne Kiesling Steve Horwitz continues to provide excellent focal point arguments about political protests and crony corporatism. In his Freeman column yesterday, he elaborated on the arguments that I developed here earlier in the week and that others have made elsewhere, that the core problem underlying corporate power is its connection to government power: The …
Michael Giberson Michael Levi, at his CFR blog, explains “What The Nobel Prize Tells Us About Oil“: Do you think that it’s straightforward to figure out whether high oil prices cause recessions? Many people apparently do. The 2011 Nobel Prize in Economics, awarded today to Thomas Sargent and Christopher Sims for “empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy”, should make …
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 …
A Political Economy Model for Occupy Wall Street Read More »
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 …
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 …
Markets Make You More Trusting, but Not Necessarily More Trustworthy Read More »
Lynne Kiesling While I’m delving into history, consider this week’s revelation that a secret panel drawn from the White House National Security Council can put the names of any American on a watch list and “kill list” — and that action is entirely secret. American militants like Anwar al-Awlaki are placed on a kill or …
A Disturbing Historical Parallel: The Patriot Act and the Star Chamber Read More »
Lynne Kiesling Industrial revolutionaries, rejoice! The Bank of England is honoring one of the most fruitful and enterprising inventor-entrepreneur partnerships in economic history, Matthew Boulton and James Watt, by putting their images on the new £50 note. You are probably familiar with James Watt as the inventor of the double-acting steam engine and other accompanying …
Copyright © 2022 Knowledge Problem Archive