Author Archives: Felix

Great Food on the Basque Coast

Posted on August 9, 2008 by Felix

I had a little holiday last month, and discovered what might well be the greatest food city in the world: San Sebastian. Just, wow. The jamon iberico on the beach was, far and away, the greatest ham I’ve ever eaten … Continue reading →

Posted in Not economics | 1 Comment

Extra Credit, Friday Edition

Posted on August 8, 2008 by Felix

Failure has a thousand fathers: "Earlier this summer people started to distrust Libor – partly because there were rumours that contributing banks were underreporting their borrowing costs in order not to appear in trouble. Serious, if true. But it can’t … Continue reading →

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Four Billion

Posted on August 8, 2008 by Felix

The NYT brings out the big numbers for its Olympic coverage today: At 8 p.m. on the eighth day of the eighth month in the year 2008 — eight being a lucky number in China — the world looked toward … Continue reading →

Posted in Media, statistics | Comments Off on Four Billion

US Shortchanges Artists

Posted on August 8, 2008 by Felix

A generation ago, "percent for art" schemes started taking off in culturally-enlightened parts of the world. The idea is that when a new public (or even private) building is constructed, 1% of the budget should be used to fund and … Continue reading →

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Who’s Gaining from Volatility?

Posted on August 8, 2008 by Felix

Most hedge funds had a hard time in July, losing twice as much money, on average, as someone invested in the S&P 500. It seems that a lot of people were rushing in to the short-financials trade, and got massively … Continue reading →

Posted in banking, hedge funds | Comments Off on Who’s Gaining from Volatility?

The Low-Water Lifestyle

Posted on August 8, 2008 by Felix

Andrew Leonard is surprised to find that his Berkeley lifestyle isn’t water-intensive enough to qualify him for water rationing: When I examined my drought advisory notice a little more closely I noticed something I’d missed before: "Residential customer accounts that … Continue reading →

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A Fun Train of Thought

Posted on August 8, 2008 by Felix

I’m heartened by Christopher Conkey’s piece in the WSJ today saying that Amtrak is getting more financial and political support than ever. And about time too! My imagination was also sparked by a stray metonym: One measure of progress will … Continue reading →

Posted in cities, travel | Comments Off on A Fun Train of Thought

Please, Mr Greenspan, Shut Up

Posted on August 8, 2008 by Felix

If ever there was a need for gag orders on former central bank chairmen, it is now. Actually, scrap that: if ever thre was a need for a gag order on Alan Greenspan, it is now. The rest of them … Continue reading →

Posted in fiscal and monetary policy | Comments Off on Please, Mr Greenspan, Shut Up

Chinese iPod Datapoint of the Day

Posted on August 8, 2008 by Felix

From Robert Koopman, Zhi Wang, and Shang-Jin Wei: In trade statistics, the Chinese export value for a unit of a 30GB video model in 2006 was about $150. However, Linden, Kraemer, and Dedrick (2007) estimated the value added attributable to … Continue reading →

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Footnote of the Day

Posted on August 8, 2008 by Felix

As cited by Z (a/k/a Olivier Fouquet), a commenter at Crooked Timber: In fact, almost all non trivial results of […] can be put in the following tripartite classification: (a) Results for which a (sound) reference is given, but of … Continue reading →

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Are Banks Systematically Evicting Renters?

Posted on August 8, 2008 by Felix

The Washington Post, this morning, fronts a story about the troubles facing renters when their landlords are foreclosed upon. It’s much longer on anecdote than it is on data, but even so it puzzles me. The clear feeling one gets … Continue reading →

Posted in housing | Comments Off on Are Banks Systematically Evicting Renters?

Willumstad’s Hard Choice

Posted on August 8, 2008 by Felix

AIG’s earnings yesterday were horrible, no doubt about it, and the stock market meted out condign punishment: American International Group Inc., the biggest U.S. insurer by assets, fell the most since going public in 1969 after writing down more than … Continue reading →

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On Risk Aversion

Posted on August 8, 2008 by Felix

I’ve been thinking a bit more about the downside of risk aversion, which is something that Steve Waldman brought up yesterday and which I then applied to the ARS fiasco, among other things. The problem is that it’s entirely natural, … Continue reading →

Posted in economics, investing | Comments Off on On Risk Aversion

Extra Credit, Thursday Edition

Posted on August 7, 2008 by Felix

Information and energy: "On any plausible estimate of the properties of demand, the benefits of ever-cheaper and more plentiful information will far outweigh the costs of less carbon-intensive energy." Stephen Schwarzman’s Smart Hedge-Fund Acquisition: It’s GSO. And he paid in … Continue reading →

Posted in remainders | Comments Off on Extra Credit, Thursday Edition

When Safety is Worse Than Risk

Posted on August 7, 2008 by Felix

Steve Waldman has a corker of a blog entry today, blaming a large part of the present crisis on "investors’ childlike demand for safety". It’s a very powerful insight. Think of the enormous emerging-market central bank reserves that everyone was … Continue reading →

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Detroit: Tow Ridiculous

Posted on August 7, 2008 by Felix

Fuel-economy standards are a good idea because they prevent automobile manufacturers from gaming the system. If everybody is forced to make fuel-efficient cars, there’s a level playing field; if it’s left up to market forces, then everybody tends to wait … Continue reading →

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Cartoon of the Day

Posted on August 7, 2008 by Felix

Rex Babin, for the Sacramento Bee: (Via Neubert)

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How Long Will Rick Wagoner Last?

Posted on August 7, 2008 by Felix

Joe Nocera is taking to blogging like Steve Jobs took to turtlenecks: “Rick has the unified support of the entire board to a person,” the company’s lead outside director, George M.C. Fisher, told Bill Vlasic of The Times in an … Continue reading →

Posted in defenestrations, governance, leadership | Comments Off on How Long Will Rick Wagoner Last?

Supply and Demand in the Oil Market

Posted on August 7, 2008 by Felix

Stan Collender just doesn’t believe that the volatile oil price can really be function of old-fashioned supply and demand: It’s not that I’m not a big believer in this most basic rule of economics. It’s just that the higher prices … Continue reading →

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Good Idea of the Day: Slashing the Structured Product Investor Base

Posted on August 7, 2008 by Felix

Aline van Duyn reports today that a group of A-list banks — "including JPMorgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, HSBC, Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley," we’re told, a list which is notable for the non-inclusion of Goldman Sachs — is interested … Continue reading →

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Harvard Wins

Posted on August 7, 2008 by Felix

Remember Jack Meyer, the former manager of the Harvard endowment who left to form his own hedge fund, Convexity Capital? Last year, he was a zero, underperforming his benchmark, and Harvard was being peppered with questions about whether they still … Continue reading →

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Mexican Peso Datapoint of the Day

Posted on August 7, 2008 by Felix

Currency conversion is so easy these days. More or less, one US dollar is worth the same as a Canadian dollar, an Australian dollar, a Swiss franc, one hundred yen, one thousand won, and half a British pound. The latest … Continue reading →

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How to Build a Recovery

Posted on August 7, 2008 by Felix

Larry Summers has a long and pompous article in the FT today on building a financial recovery. If you can slog your way through the awkward constructions ("consideration should be given to whether the government should establish a mechanism for … Continue reading →

Posted in economics, fiscal and monetary policy | Comments Off on How to Build a Recovery

Extra Credit, Wednesday Edition

Posted on August 6, 2008 by Felix

Hobbit Crisis: The Shire in Foreclosure: Yes. For real. What does the GDP deflator measure? Jim Hamilton explains it all. Ex-UI researcher faces deportation: A prime case of the utter idiocy that is the US immigration bureaucracy. Decline of Aspirational … Continue reading →

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Chart of the Day: The InTrade Electoral Map

Posted on August 6, 2008 by Felix

Electoralmap.net puts the latest InTrade prices into graphical form: Looks like Florida alone isn’t remotely enough to get McCain into the White House. Update: Chris Masse points me to electoralmarkets.com, a sexy flash version of the above. Cool! (HT: Caveat … Continue reading →

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