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, […]
Robert Waldmann AHIP The health insurance lobby just declared war on the Baucus plan. This is new, since they previously supported health care reform. It is not, however, surprising. AHIP made its condition clear, they would support health care reform provided that all were insured. Basically the individual mandate was the price for their support. […]
Robert Waldmann Kevin Drum writes Nicholas Tabarrok (brother of Alex) is a producer of small indie films. But he’s frustrated because there’s no way for him to increase his audience by lowering the price to see his pictures: When I make, say, an $8M film it has to compete at the same price level as […]
Robert Waldmann Does anyone hate the limit on comment length as much as I do ?Kharris had a very interesting comment on a post of mine below. I wrote a long reply.I can’t post that reply in the comment thread so Kharris’s comment and my reply are is after the jump. Warning amateur philosophy of […]
Robert Waldmann There is a surprising consensus for having a public option but allowing states to opt out. Paul Krugman likes the idea Josh Marshall likes the idea (and notes that Sen Schumer likes the idea) DailyKos frontpager McJoan likes the idea In that post Mcjoan also notes that Max Baucus and Howard Dean support […]
Robert Waldmann Look everyone is bored with this but I promised an e-mail correspondent that I would write about it. I can’t force myself to read Cochrane, but I obviously just read Fox’s quotes of Cochrane. I think I have something new to add to the pointless discussion of professor Cochrane. Warning: I go too […]
Robert Waldmann Justin Fox writes That in itself is an interesting switch, and I wish Krugman had more directly confronted his transformation from guy who extolled “the scientific-mathematical outlook that is arguably the true glory of our civilization” to guy who writes that “the economics profession went astray because economists, as a group, mistook beauty, […]
Robert Waldmann I’m not sure whether (more likely wherE) this has been noted in the literature, but wage differentials not due to differences in workers’ skill are enough to generate a business cycle. A verbal “model” after the jump. update: additional model with fixed capital added. The key reference from which this is not quite […]
Robert Waldmann One strange thing about the health care reform debate is that insurance companies claim to support reform. I have tended to suspect that they are just playing possum. Now I find positive proof that WellPoint is willing to do what it takes to make sure health care reform passes — they sued the […]