By Spencer In today’s New York Times business section I read this headline: Weak Dollar Helps Send Profit Down at Oracle As I read the article I found this statement: The company attributed the declines to the effects of a stronger dollar, which makes deals done in other currencies worth less. I wonder which statement […]

rdan UNU Conversation Series As the think-tank for the United Nations and its member states, the United Nations University brings some of the most important intellectual and policy voices from around the globe, including Olivier Blanchard, Janos Bogardi, Francois Bourguignon, Noam Chomsky, Richard Cooper, Evsey Gurvich, Thomas Hoenig, Robert Johnson, Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Wim Naude, […]

by cactus Inflation or Deflation, That is the Question These days some smart people are expecting inflation, other smart people are expecting deflation, and there’s another big batch of smart people who are either expecting both or don’t know. I figured – why should smart people have all the fun? So I came up with […]

by Linda Beale There is an interesting book that I am just beginning, by George A. Akerlof & Robert J. Shiller. It’s called “Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism”. The jacket says that the authors “challenge the economic wisdom that got us into this mess, and […]

rdan I have been chasing information on the budget deficits and potential impacts, the US trade deficit, and the cap and trade arguments linked to HR 2454 Waxman-Markey bill of hundreds of pages. Mostly it was figuring out how assumptions in data and baselines (such as the CBO reports) made a difference in the shrillness […]

by reader ilsm The good and the bad (not ugly) analysis of the radically restructured US Army Future Combat System (FCS) if offered by GAO 09-793T: The testimony covers the lessons from the “restructure” of the US Army’s Boeing (Lead System Integrator, LSI, Bush administration non-ovation) FCS. The report lists “Good” things to do again, […]

by Cactus Iran and American Conservatives In Iran, protesters – a mostly young, college educated intellectual urban crowd – are getting their heads bashed in by the regime. Conservatives in the US are championing them and criticizing the administration for doing nothing. I’m curious – over the past few decades, how have conservatives in the […]

by cactus I was going through some old posts of mine looking for something I had written when I stumbled on a gem I had completely forgotten. A few years ago, I had a post that quoted a piece in the American Spectator. Sadly, it seems for some reason they’ve seen fit to take it […]

by reader Sammy Waxman-Markey: Intense Pain, No Environmental Gain I know you guys won’t like the source…. but try to deal with the issue. From this Editorial: If the pending Waxman-Markey energy and climate bill (HR 2454) becomes law, utility bills will soar. Farm and business energy costs will skyrocket — and be passed on […]

Robert Waldmann The unexpected increase in US productivity growth in the 90’s and naughties is an economic puzzle. At the time it was widely argued that investments in information and communications technology had finally finally paid off, that computers and the internet allowed vastly improved corporation wide inventory control and the increased output given inputs […]