Monthly Archives: March 2014

Mian-Sufi vs. Scott Sumner and John Taylor

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Arnold Kling

They write, What we are witnessing is the limit of what monetary policy alone can do. Sometimes there is a tendency to assume that the Fed can “target” any inflation rate it wishes, or that it can target the overall … Continue reading →

Posted in Mark Thoma is Indispensable, Monetary Economics, Scott Sumner is Coherent | 10 Comments

Virginia Postrel on Crowdfunding

Posted on March 30, 2014 by Arnold Kling

She writes, “It’s a way to access capital, but what it’s also become is a market-testing and validation platform,” Ringelmann told the Dent the Future conference on Tuesday. “What we’re doing is creating pre-markets for ideas,” she said. This makes … Continue reading →

Posted in business economics, Tyler Cowen is my Favorite Blogger | 3 Comments

What I Said

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Arnold Kling

You can now watch my discussion of Peter Schuck’s book (my talk starts about 42 minutes in). I haven’t looked at it yet, but at the time I felt that it was one of my better talks.

Posted in books and book reviews, Libertarian Thought | 1 Comment

What I’m Saying

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Arnold Kling

At this event, on Peter Schuck’s book on government failure. Peter Berkowitz liked the book more than I did. Berkowitz, a conservative, was not as troubled as I was by the elitist assumptions embedded in the author’s thinking. Schuck talks … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Technology or the Safety Net?

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Arnold Kling

The Financial Times reports, Non-store retail, which includes online shops, recorded a boom in sales – up 31 per cent to $380bn. But the number of establishments rose only 12 per cent to 66,339 while employment in the sector was … Continue reading →

Posted in books and book reviews, labor market, Tyler Cowen is my Favorite Blogger | 6 Comments

Redefining the Problem of Our Time

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Arnold Kling

Piketty has written a book that nobody interested in a defining issue of our era can afford to ignore. That is from John Cassidy. Other reviewers often speak of inequality as the defining issue of our time. Brad DeLong has … Continue reading →

Posted in income distribution-wealth-poverty | 9 Comments

Shiller-Bashing

Posted on March 26, 2014 by Arnold Kling

Scott Sumner writes, I distinctly recall that Robert Shiller did not recommend that people buy stocks in 2009. That made me wonder when Robert Shiller did say it was a good time to buy stocks. Barry Ritholtz writes, By one … Continue reading →

Posted in books and book reviews, financial markets, Scott Sumner is Coherent | 12 Comments

Policy Proposals for Fishtown

Posted on March 26, 2014 by Arnold Kling

Ron Haskins writes The program of this type that has had the most success so far is called career academies, in which students organize into small learning communities to participate in academic and technical education for three or four years … Continue reading →

Posted in income distribution-wealth-poverty | 1 Comment

Replicating Successful Government Interventions

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Arnold Kling

According to Stuart M. Butler and David B. Mulhausen, it is not easy. the task of mimicking and scaling up programs that work is not so straightforward. Success is never a simple matter of easily traceable cause and effect, and … Continue reading →

Posted in public choice | 10 Comments

Climate Models vs. Macroeconomic Models

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Arnold Kling

In a podcast with Russ Roberts, Kerry Emanuel says, there is a huge difference between climate modeling and economic modeling. We know the equations. You guys don’t. Okay? And we actually know the equations we are trying to solve. And … Continue reading →

Posted in energy and the environment | 15 Comments