Thursday, February 05, 2009

Multum In Parvo

A few items of interest:
  • Bryan Caplan comments on the new edition of Henry Hazlitt's classic book Economics in One Lesson. Be sure to read his rebuttal of Brad De Long's "fears" about this book. It was this book that was partially to blame for my interest in economics. It is clear, elegant, well-written and convincingly argued. If you read one book on economics in your entire life, this would not be a bad choice.
  • Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff's lessons from past financial crises. I mainly agree with them, especially in the phrase "prolonged slump." Think 1970's, not 1930's.
  • Martin Feldstein and Greg Mankiw on economic stimulus. I mostly agree with Feldstein, I agree less with Mankiw. I know Mankiw is a partisan of ideas like this and this, but I am more convinced with these critiques of those positions.
  • For a more, ahem, arousing take on stimulus, watch this hilarious video from reason.tv.
  • Burton Malkiel, author of a classic book on finance and investing, opposes the idea of "Buy American." So do I. It sounds too much like this to me.
  • A great piece at Cato Unbound on political parties, appreciation and the need for partisan organizations. Read responses here and here.
  • An English professor's tale of retaking the GRE. Not surprisingly, he did well. Not surprisingly (to me, at least), he found the test lacking.

1 comment:

MJenks said...

I love it when we can work either Teapot Dome or Hawley-Smoot Tariff into a blog post.

Well done, sir, well done.