Krugman on Bernake

Bernake Conundrum.

Miserables Behind China's Economic Boom

Tragedies from New York Times.

Again, mark my word. China's real estate bubble is about to bust big.

China vs Google

Free markets require free minds eventually.
Update: Short the Chinese Communist Party.

Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee

Obama proposed this tax on big banks. I think it is necessary and crucial in the whole financial reform. It is not easy to see that Makiw agrees with Obama on one thing. Of course Krugman thinks this is no brainer.

....Do the bankers really not understand what happened, or are they just talking
their self-interest? No matter. As I said, the important thing looking forward is to stop listening to financiers about financial reform.

Wall Street executives will tell you that the financial-reform bill the House passed last month would cripple the economy with overregulation (it’s actually quite mild).
They’ll insist that the tax on bank debt just proposed by the Obama administration is a crude concession to foolish populism. They’ll warn that action to tax or otherwise rein in financial-industry compensation is destructive and unjustified.

But what do they know? The answer, as far as I can tell, is: not much.

Contrarian Investor Sees Economic Crash in China

I totally agree with James Chanos on China.

Blogometrics

A ranking of economics blogs and its Source.

Keeping America's Edge

Very interesting article!

Lost Decade for Stocks

From James Hamliton.

US Treasury Stocks

A cool idea of government finance by issuing stocks from Robert Shiller.

Is There A Santa Claus?

A question from a little girl and the answer from New York Sun on Sept. 21, 1897.

Paul Samuelson Dies at 94

Paul Samuelson, the first American Nobel laureate in economics, died at 94.

What Makes a Nation Rich?

I think this is the best article I had read of the year. An article about institution, economic growth, and US foreign affairs from Daron Acemoglu.

Bob Shiller on the Economic Recovery

The ghost in the recovery machine.

Time Series of the US Political Spectrum

From WSJ.

Health Care Systems in Other Countries

PBS made a great program about helath care systems in UK, Japan, Taiwan, Germany and Switzerland.

Surprising and Interesting Freakconomics

The Impact of Minimum Wage Rates on Body Weight in the US.
NBER and SSRN.
In short, declining real minimum wage --> fast food stores prosper --> more obesity.

The Fed Is Already Transparent

By Anil Kashyap and Fred Mishkin

Market Prices for Health Care

I found a good website (Healthcare Blue Book) to real the market prices of health care services.
WSJ also have a good survey.

Efficient Market Theory and the Crisis

Jeremy Siegel makes it clear for this issue.

East Asian Production Networks, Global Imbalances, and Exchange Rate Coordination

A good analysis by Willem Thorbecke.

Business Fends Off Tax Hit

From WSJ.

Obama's Report Card

By Alan Blinder.

SuperFreakonomics

The final chapter of Superfreakonomics casues a lot of debates recently.
Two stars in economics get involved: Krugman vs Levitt.

Greenspan Says U.S. Should Consider Breaking Up Large Banks

From Bloomberg.

China Steps Into Futures Markets

From WSJ.

Eric Maskin on Financial Crisis

Economic Theory and the Financial Crisis by Eric Maskin, Nobel Prize Winner of 2007.

Boeing's dreamliner Production

An interesting story.

Economics Nobel 2009

Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson got the Nobel Prize of Economics in 2009.
Michael Spence had a good introduction.
To be honest, I never heard these two scholars. But when I check in Google Scholar, I understand why. Williamson's work got 18669 citations!!!

China’s Dollar Problem

By Kenneth Rogoff.

Kocherlakota to be the Minneapolis Fed President

The new president is the same economist in my previous post.
Here is the WSJ article; here is Mankiw's comment.