Elephantstrunk

Emmanuel Derman will be relieved to know that I agree with him when he says of his favourite (Harry Kat I think) approach to hedge fund replication:
But it requires so much statistics on such poor data that it’s hard to swallow.
But he doesn’t get off the hook that easily, I want more. If the problem […]

Or more specifically, is lifting trade restrictions the most important thing a developing country can do?
There’s more heat (and inappropriately macho language) than light in the ringside seats for the econoblog death match between Dani Rodrik and Don Boudreaux.
Dani Rodrik says that free trade may not be the best prescription for the development of developing […]

Free Exchange asks:
What madman would support expanded use of fixed-rate mortgages?

and then descends into nonsense. Let’s see:
Economically, a preference for fixed-rate mortgages makes absolutely no sense. Let’s say you’re a mortgage lender considering lending out some money for the next thirty years. You have to be worried that if you lend money out […]

Lefties worried about over zealous central bank rate setting often appear to be putting great faith in the solidity of the Phillips curve and therefore also appear naive. Listen to pundits talk about wage settlements when guessing what a central bank is going to do next and it becomes harder to dismiss their concerns. There […]

A reason to read The Guardian
The Economist on ethical food didn’t go down well
Microfinance puzzling

From The Economist’s blog:
A LITTLE while back, Sir Partha Dasgupta, an economist well known for his work on development, caused a stir in the blogosphere by suggesting that the Stern report on global warming had been insufficiently attentive to the question of inequality in its selection of a discount rate for future damage.  The relative […]

These must be the last days.
First neo-con Pangloss Amity Shlaes declares that taxes don’t affect behaviour all that much.
Then today’s Economist says:
People who want to make the world a better place cannot do so by shifting their shopping habits: transforming the planet requires duller disciplines, like politics.
The leader is almost worthless but the full article […]

Tyler Cowen has seven ways to diminish regret. Playing Hamurabi, am I supposed to be maximising welfare based on prior expectations or for a population well versed in the yoga of regret management?
Marginal Revolution: Trudie on kids and career
1. Practice major life shifts, so you get used to regret and thus can bear it more […]

FT.com / Comment & analysis / Letters - Hedge funds are designed to recognise and manage risk
From Mr Christopher Fawcett.
Sir, We must take Eric Anstee, chief executive of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, to task over his remarks about a possible hedge fund failure hitting confidence in savings (Letters, November 16). […]

More that 300 comments on “Economics and Ideology” at Crooked Timber show there’s something to talk about.
It would be disappointing if learning systematically about the economy for the first time didn’t inform a political outlook. Many young and left wing have only thought about the fairness of outcomes  and not the practicalities of achieving fair […]