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 […]

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 […]

Gorilla’s Guides and Long War Journal are useful sites for news and comments from Iraq.

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Comptroller Dugan Underscores Bank Responsibility for Model Validation WASHINGTON Feb. 3, 2006 – Comptroller of the Currency John C. Dugan said today that responsibility for validating the models banks use to manage credit risk and other critical activities lies first and foremost with the institution itself. “Just as good management requires this kind of attention […]

This mornings Wall Street Journal article on the stock markets lost decade gives me an excuse to publish one of my favorite charts– the really long term history of the stock market PE back to 1871.If you listen to Wall Street strategist they frequently talk about the long term average of the stock market PE […]

An article by Peter Bernstein is circulating that is such a good analysis of the economic environment that I though it was worth posting on Angry Bear. The Shape Of The Future By Peter L. Bernstein Three months ago, we wrote, “[T]he economic malaise will not be brief, even though its depth is uncertain. The […]

Tanta at CRtakes a different tack on BS and Stampf at Wells Fargo: Yves at naked capitalism had a good post yesterday on the infamous Bear Stearns Ten Buck Rechuck, that I think needs repeating: According to Sorkin, the $2 price for Bear was the Fed’s and Treasury’s idea; JP Morgan was prepared to pay […]