Monthly Archives: June 2007

How Derivatives Traders Can Also Be Heroes

Bear Stearns out-trades John Paulson.
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The NAR Turns Bearish on Housing

With David Lereah gone,
it seems that the National Association of Realtors is becoming more bearish
in its forecasts
(if not its spin).
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Supply and Demand in the Cocaine Industry

There’s a large faction of economists who love to say that raising the minimum wage must also raise unemployment, because of the way that supply and demand curves work. I wonder what they would have to say about the cocaine situation.
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Paper of the Day: Levy and Temin on Income Inequality

Robert
Samuelson
devoted his column yesterday to a very interesting new paper from
Frank Levy and Peter Temin of MIT. For those
of us who prefer to read original papers rather than the journalism based on
them, the paper can be found here.
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Wednesday links

Links from around the blogosphere.
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Where I blog

I’ve found out of late that not everybody reads my website through RSS, and there are actually people who don’t know that the reason I’m barely blogging here is that I’m blogging as much as ten times per day over … Continue reading

Posted in Econoblog | 1 Comment

Complaining About the Immigration Points System

The immigration debate sure does throw together some strange
bedfellows
. Today, George
Borjas
and Robert
Reich
both express misgivings with the points-based system which will be
used to screen potential immigrants.
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Whole Foods – Wild Oats: Has the FTC Been at the Nutmeg?

Why does the FTC want to block this merger?
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Why The WSJ Is Not Necessarily A Wasting Asset

Michael
Lewis
has an interesting but wrong-headed argument today, saying that Rupert
Murdoch
is buying a wasting asset in the Wall Street Journal.
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Loans: More Liquid Than Bonds

There are impressive financings, and then there are mind-blowing financings. And they way that KKR is raising $24 billion to fund its acquisition of First Data definitely falls into the latter camp.
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Posted in bonds and loans | Comments Off on Loans: More Liquid Than Bonds

Digital Movie Datapoint of the Day

Could it possibly be that the movie studios are making more money than ever?
Maybe even because of, rather than despite, the explosion in digital
technologies?
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Can Bondholders Make a Profit When a Company Defaults?

Trying to explain record-tight bond spreads.
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Can the Bancrofts Trust the Murdochs?

“It’s a very difficult kind thing to actually put in writing,” said Amy Mitchell, deputy director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism.
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Mwenda vs Bono in Tanzania

Easterly vs Sachs becomes Mwenda vs Bono.
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Argentina’s “Intergalactic Dead Cat Bounce”

Argentina has already seemingly violated numerous laws of economics: why shouldn’t it violate the laws of physics, too?
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Credit Deteriorates, Spreads Stay Tight

Rarely are the markets and the experts more divergent than when it comes to the issue of credit quality.
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Globalization Didn’t Bring Down US Prices After All

If inflation is “always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon,” then, as Ball puts it, “the accounting theory of inflation is always and everywhere a fallacy.”
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The End of Harry Potter

The market is pricing
in Harry Potter’s death
.
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Monday Links

Random links from the blogosphere.
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How to Sell Equity in Your House

I’m sure that there are some people for whom a Rex agreement does make sense. But for most people, it doesn’t.
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Q&A: Tom Dichter on Microcredit

“Can scores of presidents, prime ministers, monarchs be wrong? Yes. Can the Nobel committee be wrong? Yes. Can celebrities and the media be wrong? Yes!!!”
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Posted in development | Comments Off on Q&A: Tom Dichter on Microcredit

Hirst’s Spectacular Skull

The acres of press that this skull is receiving is testament to the fact that he has – again – created an icon which transcends the art world and resonates in the public’s mind like the art of no other contemporary artist.
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The Economics of Carbon Taxes

Mark
Thoma
has a good overview of the economics of the carbon tax vs cap-and-trade
debate.
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Posted in climate change, economics | Comments Off on The Economics of Carbon Taxes

How the Bancrofts Changed Their Mind

The Wall Street Journal proves today that, when pushed, it can do excellent
long-form narrative investigative journalism and turn it around within 24 hours.
Much kudos to Matthew Karnitschnig, Sarah Ellison,
Susan Pulliam
and Susan Warren for pulling together
the
definitive story on how the Bancrofts changed their mind
, and getting it
out on today’s front page.
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Bush and Rodrik: Immigration Bedfellows

Bush, in the WSJ, and Rodrik, in the NYT, argue in different ways for the same thing.
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Posted in immigration | Comments Off on Bush and Rodrik: Immigration Bedfellows