Monthly Archives: January 2015

Bitcoin Equals Dollar Plus Amnesia

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Arnold Kling

Timothy B. Lee writes, It’s a mistake to read too much into short-term fluctuations in Bitcoin’s value. On the contrary. Short-term fluctuations in value tell you everything you need to know about Bitcoin. It tells you that as a medium … Continue reading →

Posted in Monetary Economics, Tyler Cowen is my Favorite Blogger | 10 Comments

My Review of Colander and Kupers

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Arnold Kling

I write, the authors seek to dethrone neoclassical economics. In terms of a metaphor that Colander articulated at a conference, neoclassical economics represents a high mountain peak in terms of insights into social phenomena. However, there is a higher peak … Continue reading →

Posted in books and book reviews, Economic education and methods, links to my essays | 1 Comment

Teaching is Not About Teaching

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Arnold Kling

Eric Loken and Andrew Gelman wrote, Being empirical about teaching is hard. Lack of incentives aside, we feel like we move from case study to case study as college instructors and that our teaching is a multifaceted craft difficult to … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics of Education, Jason Collins is Indispensable, statistical methods | 4 Comments

The Great Depression as a Coordination Failure

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Arnold Kling

In Fear Itself, Ira Katznelson shows how many intellectuals yearned for a planned economy, but without the ugly police-state repression of Fascist Italy or Communist Russia. As you know, I sense that Katznelson himself seems to still yearn for government … Continue reading →

Posted in books and book reviews, Economic History, PSST and Macro | 12 Comments

Condivergence: A Theory of Changes in Income Distribution

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Arnold Kling

The WSJ blog writes, Within the United States, income inequality is most pronounced in the Southern half of the country This is consistent with a theory that I call Condivergence. It combines convergence with respect to geography and divergence with … Continue reading →

Posted in income distribution-wealth-poverty | 7 Comments

Jonathan Haidt, the n-word, and capitalism

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Arnold Kling

He writes, there are two basic master narratives about capitalism that have been circulating in the West since the time of Adam Smith. One story is that capitalism (and business more generally) is exploitation, so we need a strong government … Continue reading →

Posted in Three-Axes Model, Tyler Cowen is my Favorite Blogger | 17 Comments

Narrative is the New Baloney Sandwich

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Arnold Kling

Brad DeLong writes, When it became clear in late 2008 that the orgy of deregulation coupled with global imbalances was confronting the global economy with a shock at least as dangerous as the Great Crash that had initiated the Great … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Crisis of 2008, Mark Thoma is Indispensable | 5 Comments

Tyler Cowen vs. the Club Model

Posted on January 3, 2015 by Arnold Kling

He writes, In the old days one heard speculation about bundling a great number of newspapers and blogs into a single-price access model, but in retrospect this probably never had much financial potential, for reasons which by now should be … Continue reading →

Posted in Information Goods, links to my essays, Tyler Cowen is my Favorite Blogger | 4 Comments

The Paradox of Education

Posted on January 3, 2015 by Arnold Kling

Joel Kotkin writes, Generally speaking, those areas that have the heaviest concentration of educated people generally do better than those who don’t. He looks at statistics across different sections of California. Sort of randomly, the other morning I went to … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics of Education, income distribution-wealth-poverty | 8 Comments

Chris Dillow on Complexity Economics

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Arnold Kling

No, it’s not another review of Colander and Kupers (but I wonder what he would think of it). He writes, One feature of complexity economics is that recessions can be caused not merely by shocks but rather by interactions between … Continue reading →

Posted in Mark Thoma is Indispensable, PSST and Macro | 2 Comments