Friday, May 29, 2009

Krugman Says No Worries about Inflation

The Big Inflation Scare from Paul Krugman. He siad, "...the only thing we have to fear is inflation fear itself."

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Is China's One-Child Policy to Blame for the Subprime Mess?

A interesting research. The paper is here.
China's sex ratio is now 120 boys to 100 girls. That is very imbalanced.

Monday, May 25, 2009

What's New in Econometrics – Time Series 2008

NBER Summer Institute 2008: Whats New in Econometrics – Time Series
NBER Summer Institute 2007: Whats New in Econometrics?

I should watch these lectures during the summer. I love Internet.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Bernamke's Commencement Address

Bernake's speech at the 2009 Commencement of the Boston College School of Law, quite a soft and personal speech.
He mentioned a good quote from John Lennon: "Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans."

Capitalism In China Today

Made In China: The People's Republic of Profit, a video for 45 mins
from CNBC Originals.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

What Does Your Credit-Card Company Know About You?

A very interesting article about credit card business and its use of human psychology. It also provides some interesting example of correlation, for example:
Less-likely default cardholder: buy felt-pad, visit dentist, getting married, having a child.
More-likely default cardholder: buy chrome-skull, go to bar, pawnshop, marriage therapy.

Hedge Fund Manager’s Farewell

A pretty good reflection of a hedge fund manager.


"....Although Mr. Barsky has clearly gotten rich, he was surprisingly clear-eyed about the societal imbalances of hedge fund mania. The industry, he told me, “was part of this huge trend towards the celebration of wealth. Hedge fund managers overearned. It just became too easy. There has been a massive misallocation of human resources. I have so many smart guys here who were making seven figures. And I think it is a fair question to ask: what would they have been doing in 1948 — going into the foreign service? If Obama does anything, the best thing he could do is change a generation’s values.”
He continued: “I have a friend whose son is a senior at Princeton. She said all his friends want to work for Goldman Sachs.” He added, “We have an overground railroad to finance. It is not the best way for a society to be run.”..........."

Thursday, May 14, 2009

A New York Times Reporter's Credit Crisis

A very sad story of personal finance crisis in housing bubble. It is a lesson we should learn and keep in mind. This story also reminds me of a movie: "Thank you for smoking (2005)." There is a memorable quote in the movie: "Everyone's got a mortgage to pay."