Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

21st century economics just starting

Mark Thoma carried a post on a piece The sting of poverty, by Drake Bennett, Boston Globe on a fresher look at the reasons poor people are ‘irrational’ in neo-liberal economic terms regarding diminishing returns of marginal utility. Many familiar names are in the comments. It is a great start to bringing economic theory out […]

More unilateral executive

The NYTreports: The proposal is part of a sweeping blueprint to overhaul the nation’s hodgepodge of financial regulatory agencies, which many experts say failed to recognize rampant excesses in mortgage lending until after they set off what is now the worst financial calamity in decades. Which experts? If an agency is not looking, or actively […]

Climate control issues

Alternet, a leftist blog, carries this interview with Dr. Jansen, head of Goddard Institute for Space Studies, NASA’s premiere climate research center. So might that make it slightly left of center? DR. JAMES HANSEN: Well, my concern is general with both Republican and Democratic administrations. They both feel that they can control what scientists say […]

Call my people…

Dani Rodrik writes: How bad things get at Harvard An e-mail from the assistant to an incredibly distinguished Harvard colleague (names deleted to protect the innocent):X [very distinguished Harvard professor] asked me to see if he can get on your calendar to have a lunch with him and Y [another distinguished professor] in the near […]

WTO and Antigua follow up

Arstechnica had thoughts on WTO mediation and US indignation about IP rights. The second case concerns Antigua and Barbuda, a small Caribbean country home to all sorts of online vices, including gambling and DRM circumvention. Antigua took the US to the WTO years ago over charges that the US was unfairly criminalizing access to Antiguan […]

Solving problems is an attitude hard to find

The NYT carries a story about forclosures in a Baltimore neighborhood, and an outreach program to help people save their homes. I have quoted the part that interests me. Statistics on foreclosure are snapshots of a moving phenomenon, and data from the state labor department show 174 foreclosures in Belair-Edison last year, while the Community […]

OCC and Model Validation Part 2

FIRE reports: “The securities industry is an economic powerhouse that continues to strengthen the U.S. economy,” said Securities Industry Association President Marc Lackritz. “SIA data shows that last year alone, we raised a record $3.2 trillion of capital for American business and nearly $14 trillion over the past five, underscoring our substantial contribution to overall […]

$158 billion for services/2007 (rounding down)

GAO reviews a case study of using contractors side by side with government employees at CCE. CCE (Contracting Center of Exellence) has relied on contractor contract specialists since it began hiring them in 2003. In August 2007, contractors—who work side by side and perform the same functions as their government counterparts—comprised 42 percent of CCE’s […]