I had an informal discussion with a manager in an MBS IT area last month. Just a general conversation about the field and the data people check.  He mentioned FICO scores and I noted that I’m not fond of using them to evaluate a mortgage, especially for first-time homebuyers. Part of this is simple: it’s […]

Brad DeLong’s famous rule (Originally: “If you think Paul Krugman must be wrong, you severely overestimated Niall Ferguson“) needs a corollary. If Olivier Blanchard says your macroeconomic policy doesn’t work, and that you should double your inflation target to make it reasonable, it’s worth trying: The International Monetary Fund’s top economist, Olivier Blanchard, says central […]

UPDATE III: The Daniel Kaufmann of the Kaufmann Governance Institute lays out the details: This misses another huge challenge altogether, totally absent in the reporting by the New York Times and other main outlets: Amy Bishop had walked into the Faculty meeting, and sat quietly for a long while during its proceedings, with a fully […]

Michael Swanwick explains how a monopoly can destroy itself: Nowadays, times are much easier but a lot scammier. Last week I had to buy a new palmbook/laptop. Which, I discovered on my first and only day of possession, was preloaded with Windows 7 Starter, a not-fully-functional OS. When I tried to change the image on […]

by Linda Beale (Rdan here…I thought this case represents another aspect of the complexities of insurance coverage, approved procedures versus experimental, proper diagnosis, and how our medical and societal expectations interact. Many are aware of the topic but many probably have little personal experience with a transgender person. I believe it is jarring enough for […]

by Rebecca Wilder Thoughts on soveriegn debt Today the European Union released a statement about Greece. Absolutely no specifics are given regarding the terms of any Greek bailout, but there was a (slight) surprise: Euro area Member states will take determined and coordinated action, if needed, to safeguard financial stability in the euro area as […]

Chris Christie moves New Jersey into the 17th century: Christie is cutting $475 million in aid to school districts, $62 million in aid to colleges and $12 million to hospital charity care. He is pulling all funding from the department of Public Advocate….He is cutting state subsidies for NJ Transit, a move Christie said could […]

David Wessel goes to a familiar source: One big reason is that his efforts have made borrowing easy for big companies, those that can sell bonds, but not for consumers or smaller firms that rely on banks to borrow. “If you’re a large corporation relying on capital markets, the Fed and Treasury saved you,” says […]

by Tom aka Rusty YES IT CAN GET WORSE – Health Care Edition Business Week, (a Bloomberg publication), has written some friendly advice for the newly minted elite MBAs who cannot get rich quick on Wall Street as is their birthright. No, not Plastics. Health care! MBAs in health care are hardly new, but the […]