Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
On the European Central Bank chief with a seemingly impossible task. "Mario is very reserved," says one central banker. "He takes his time and listens carefully before making a decision. But when he does, he's all in"
Forgive the NSFW wrapper to read the Nobel prize-winning economist talk politics, economics, even music. Interesting throughout. "We should not be using the language of sacrifice to talk about how we deal with the current slump"
Profile of Justin Wolfers and Betsey Stevenson, power couple of Princeton economics faculty. Plus young daughter Matilda, dog Max. "They have become the go-to pair on the economics of marriage, divorce and child-rearing"
Conversation about economics and chess. “I’m not a great mathematician, but game theory really clicked for me." Nice anecdotes about Karpov, Fischer. On Europe: "We’re not in the endgame, we’re in the middle-game"
On life, work of Indian economist. An undisputed force for good: “Amartya Sen has helped give voice to the world's poor. And, that is no small matter, for the very lives of the world's poor may depend on having their voices heard"
Friedrich Hayek's reputation inflated by later admirers of his ideology. Mediocre technical economist. Never a counterweight to Keynes. "Road to Serfdom" an "embarrassment". Saved from obscurity when Mrs Thatcher lionised him
"If a mad scientist were to repair to his laboratory to design a machine that would make white liberals uncomfortable, that machine would be Thomas Sowell, whose input is data and whose output is socioeconomic criticism"
On Steve Keen, unorthodox economist: "His view is that economics has stuck with the mathematical approaches of a previous era while thinking has moved on. It is a question of the wrong mathematics." Recommended to us by @polit2k
On population worries: "That Malthus’s actual ‘theory of population’ is, by any standard, groundless at least explains why it was vitiated by subsequent history. Because, make no mistake, Malthus has never ceased to be wrong"
"Free-market enthusiasts’ place in the history of economic thought will remain secure. But thinkers like Friedman leave an ambiguous and puzzling legacy, because it is the interventionists who have succeeded in economic history"
"Has the global economy’s stuttering progress since 2008 demonstrated the limitations of Keynesian policies - or the dangers of abandoning them prematurely?" Cassidy considers with a careful eye. (Article fortunately now ungated)
"One century hence, if a roster of professional economists is asked to identify the intellectual father of their discipline, a majority will name Charles Darwin." Right now, many would say Adam Smith. So where does Darwin fit in?
