Robert Waldmann Harry Reid is sending a health care reform bill with a public option and an opt out clause to the floor of the Senate. . Josh Marshall explains why it is good policy and notes “the importance that an outside-the-box idea can have in significantly changing the terms of a major policy debate.” […]
Robert Waldmann The average person thinks he has higher than average intelligence. This is an empirical fact [citation needed]. It is not incorporated into standard finance theory, but it matters a lot. It has been argued that the high volume of transactions on financial markets can be understood easily. If two people with equal quality […]
Robert Waldmann I think that a popular approach to welfare economics requires simultaneously holding two contradictory beliefs. 1) Utility is not comparable across individuals so we can only say whether an outcome is Pareto efficient or not.2) Models which are not reality but which approximate reality are useful. Both are really central to many policy […]
Robert Waldmann This McClatchy article by Kevin G Hall seems important to me. It does rely a lot on accusations by disgruntled ex employees, but I guess that is unavoidable. The lede WASHINGTON — As the housing market collapsed in late 2007, Moody’s Investors Service, whose investment ratings were widely trusted, responded by purging analysts […]
Robert Waldmann Not the intertubes, 18 mile long tubes held up by helium baloons releasing S02 into the stratosphere. Daniel Davies writes if you find yourself writing, in all seriousness, as a practical proposal, the phrase “pumping large quantities of sulphur dioxide into the Earth’s stratosphere through an 18-mile-long hose, held up by helium balloons”, […]
Robert Waldmann I think that something has changed at www.washingtonpost.com, because I am infuriated by many headlines and abstracts of articles. I don’t know if the same headlines appear in the dead trees version. Today we get Record-High U.S. Deficit May Dash Obama Goals Budget gap of $1.4T, while an improvement over worst projections, means […]
Robert Waldmann The Rasmussen polling agency has two reputations. They have a good record predicting the vote in elections (which means especially primary elections give schduling and attention and stuff). On general public opinion, they ask questions which sure sound like Republican push polls. The theories are that they want to become Republican’s favorite pollster […]
Robert Waldmann Don’t kill the guy who writes headlines for www.washingtonpost.com. Nonviolence. First amendment. Free press. Don’t do it. I have already complained about another headline today, but I must admit that “Stagnant Prices Prevent Social Security Increase” totally leaves “Cap-and-Trade Would Slow Economy, CBO Chief Says” in the dust. OK so now the inflation […]
Robert Waldmann has definitely not been spending enough time in bars. Nation food correspondent Calvin Trillin met a guy in a bar who explained why the financial system collapsed.I nominate some guy in a bar for the Nobel memorial prize in economics. The explanation ? “The financial system nearly collapsed,” he said, “because smart guys […]
Robert Waldmann Doug Elmendorf says that the costs of cap and trade will be miniscule and does not try to estimate the benefits. Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post demonstrates that she is the second most innumerate person on the planat, the most innumerate is the** guy who wrote the headline “Cap-and-Trade Would Slow Economy, […]