Probably fairly old, outdated musings. been sitting around in my notepad for a few days. I'll be busy the next few weeks, don't expect to post much:
1. Very interesting post on Hazlitt, his critics, and the critics of his critics by Professor Caplan:
http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2009/02/blocks_intro_to.html
2.
Kling returns (in my opinion) to shrill middle brow bumper stickerism. Too bad, his economic explanations are great.
http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2009/02/who_is_advising.html#comments
3.
I'm no expert, but I intuit here that Kling is being a useful critic rather than engaging in shrill bumper stickerism. I hope its not just that I like his language, using terms such as "folk marxism". I'd love to be part of an Ariely type experiment to see the degree to which I'm likely to swallow bullshit and be skeptical of best empiricism based solely on stylistic grounds.
http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2009/02/morning_comment_11.html
4. Stop making your CV solely a PDF on your academic websites. make it html too, to lower barriers to access.
5. I think the best argument for a libertarian approach (or the one I'd feel most confident about with my non-expert knowledge about macro) is simply that we tried a more keynsian approach last time around, and all other big economies are going keynsian. The only way to do diversified experimentation at the macro level is to change strategy with each new depression.
But, by this argument, there's also a strong case for trying a keynsian approach without tarriffs, to help tease out the effects of those two policies.
6. Interesting post by Prof. Henderson, who usually annoys me:
http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2009/02/barro_interview.html
7. Seems to me like a great post from Prof. Kling:
http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2009/02/morning_reading_6.html
8.
I think it’s extremely legitimate for Barro to criticize Krugman on the topic of macroeconomics, if Krugman isn’t a macroeconomist. I don’t know why international trade is considered different than macroeconomics, but I note that Krugman doesn’t appear on this list and Barro appears near the top:
http://ideas.repec.org/top/top.mac.html#authors
The Romers, Bernanke, and Mankiw are some other names on the list active in the public stimulus discussion. I don’t know what it means that I don’t see Feldstein, Summers, or Volcker among the top 90 -are they not macroeconomists? Did they just not submit their name to the list?
If Krugman is the equivalent of the world’s leading neurosurgeon commenting on the best way to do a heart and lung transplant, he should be called out on that -which I think is how I think Barro was attempting to frame him.
Anyway, I think the most important thing for a leader to do now is assess and build best expert consensus on practically achievable course of action. Macroeconomists with expertise on stimulus-related stuff: a great population to community organize right now.
8. Roger, it's not my position that the stimulus bill be stopped. I'm agnostic on the stimulus bill, and would rather defer on that decision to expert consensus. It seems unecessary to me to pass the full $1 trillion all at once. Even if we approved it roughly in thirds, with the best ideas passed this month and the other 2/3 held for more substantive deliberation and analysis, to be passed in each subsequent month. If the expert consensus truly says "rush" then I'll support that too, against my own intuitions.
9. Jonathon Lehrer blog? (neuroscience of decision making)
10. Macroeconomist of Christina Romer and higher (by this website's rankings):
Top Macroeconomists:
http://ideas.repec.org/top/top.mac.html#authors
1. 2.6 M Hashem Pesaran
http://www.econ.cam.ac.uk/faculty/pesaran/
2. 3.37 Olivier Blanchard
http://econ-www.mit.edu/faculty/blanchar/index.htm
3. 3.86 Michael Woodford
http://www.columbia.edu/~mw2230/
4. 3.95 Lars E. O. Svensson
http://www.princeton.edu/svensson/
5. 4.93 Jordi Gali
http://www.crei.cat/people/gali/publications.html
http://www.econ.upf.edu/en/research/papers.php?upfid=p769&nom=Gal%ED%2C+Jordi&pagina=1
6. 5 Mark L. Gertler
http://www.econ.nyu.edu/user/gertlerm/papers.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_L._Gertler
7. 8.99 Robert G. King
http://people.bu.edu/rking/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_King_(economist)
*8. 9.16 N. Gregory Mankiw
http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/
http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/mankiw/papers_mankiw
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._Gregory_Mankiw
9. 9.19 Thomas J. Sargent
10. 9.68 Frederic Mishkin
11. 10.27 Patrick Kehoe
*12. 10.95 Robert J. Barro
13. 12.18 Willem Hendrik Buiter
14. 12.35 John B. Taylor
*15. 18.85 Ben S. Bernanke
16. 19.36 Edmund S. Phelps
17. 19.5 James Hamilton
18. 20.66 Bennett McCallum
19. 21.64 Frank Rafael Smets
20. 24.16 David Romer
21. 24.27 Adrian Rodney Pagan
22. 25.24 Andrew Hughes Hallett
23. 25.26 Athanasios Orphanides
24. 27.38 Alex Cukierman
25. 27.98 Robert J. Gordon
26. 28.21 Jess Benhabib
27. 28.27 Maurice Obstfeld
28. 28.53 Glenn D. Rudebusch
29. 28.53 Marvin Goodfriend
30. 30.64 Ricardo J. Caballero
31. 31.17 Richard Rogerson
32. 31.28 Gary D. Hansen
33. 31.38 James H. Stock
34. 31.47 Robert C. Merton
35. 32.49 Laurence Ball
36. 32.54 George William Evans
37. 34.07 Randall Wright
38. 35.84 Edward C. Prescott
39. 36.1 Stephen J Turnovsky
40. 36.23 Edward Nelson
41. 37.16 Finn E. Kydland
42. 37.71 Anil K Kashyap
43. 39.44 David Laidler
44. 41.29 Varadarajan Chari
45. 42.49 Seppo Mikko Sakari Honkapohja
46. 42.49 Martin Eichenbaum
47. 42.8 Andrew Theo Levin
48. 46.48 Walter Erwin Diewert
49. 47.06 Dale T. Mortensen
50. 47.44 Christopher F Baum
51. 49.61 Ellen R. McGrattan
52. 50.43 Stefan Gerlach
53. 50.67 Sergio T Rebelo
54. 51.24 John C. Williams
55. 52.52 Stephanie Schmitt-Grohé
56. 55.89 Lawrence Christiano
57. 58.79 Alan S. Blinder
58. 59.59 Roberto Perotti
59. 59.68 Shouyong Shi
60. 60.1 Daniel L Thornton
61. 60.46 David B. Gordon
62. 60.71 Alberto Alesina
63. 61.86 Brent Richard Moulton
64. 62.84 Harald Uhlig
65. 63.52 Michael David Bordo
66. 65.13 Andrew Kenan Rose
67. 65.33 Christopher Carroll
68. 66.84 Geert Bekaert
69. 67.04 Stephen D. Williamson
70. 68.25 Roger E. A. Farmer
71. 68.89 Gregor W. Smith
72. 69.82 Martín Uribe
73. 70.82 Ricardo Reis
74. 72.06 William Arnold Barnett
75. 72.32 Alain Monfort
76. 75.27 Christopher A Pissarides
77. 75.48 Raf Wouters
78. 76.85 James Bullard
79. 77.62 John Muellbauer
80. 78.84 Zvi Hercowitz
81. 79.41 Eric Leeper
82. 79.85 Michael B. Devereux
83. 81.33 Douglas W. Diamond
84. 82.18 Ilian Mihov
85. 84.93 Volker Wieland
86. 85.11 Francis X. Diebold
87. 86.94 William Thomas Gavin
88. 88.58 Carl Walsh
89. 88.8 Giancarlo Corsetti
*90. 90.56 Christina Duckworth Romer
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