Alea

Going Private

Financial Journalism for the Mathematically Challanged

Portfolio.com: Market Movers

Why GE's Selling its Appliances Division

GE looks as though it'll sell off its appliances business, and John Gapper wonders why GE is not prepared to invest enough in the business to turn it into a global powerhouse when it clearly expects someone else to buy it for that reason. I think the answer is the same as the reason why CBS ...

Interfluidity

Capabilities, constraints, and confidence

Mark Thoma offers a very thoughtful rejoinder to my post on whether the Fed should be given authority to pay interest on deposits. Mark's comments range from specific,...

Stumbling and Mumbling

An "age of forgetting"?

In his new book, Reappraisals, Tony Judt claims we live in an "age of forgetting". We regard history, he says, not as something that has shaped us, but rather a litany of error and delusion from which we have escaped...

naked capitalism

Do We Want to Foster Customer Neurosis?

As a resident of New York City, I am acutely aware of the perils of neuroticism. This town is full of it. I am as guilty as anyone, although I try to keep it under wraps. If I wasn't concerned about looking like a control freak in front of clients and friends, I would grill ...

A Dash of Insight

Bailout for Homeowners and Lenders?

Developments in housing remain crucial for the economy and for stocks. Nearly any account of the housing situation includes reports of the number of foreclosures, the inventory of empty homes, and the potential ARM re-sets that may stimulate even more foreclosure activity. Any help for distressed homeowners would help to shift the supply curve for ...

Paul Krugman

I am a jelly donut

A Berliner There is no truth to the old claim that when John F. Kennedy said, “Ich bin ein Berliner” — as opposed to “Ich bin Berliner” — he described himself as a pastry. But the story has truthiness, so it persists. Besides, when I was in 8th grade a German woman really did tell ...

The Aleph Blog

Average? I Like Average, if It’s My Average. (Part II)

Finishing off the average 10, the slightly better 5… Deltic Timber Deltic Timber was an idea that I gleaned from Jim Grant.  They have a lot of timberland in the Southern US, a decent amount of which is next to Little Rock, Arkansas.  The land near Little Rock, once developed, could be quite valuable in ...

Le blog d'éconoclaste

Localisme universitaire

Un débat intéressant se lance sur le localisme universitaire, avec de vrais morceaux d'économistes dedans. Le localisme est, rappelons-le, cette pratique consistant à favoriser pour le recrutement des enseignants des "locaux" au détriment de candidats venus de l'extérieur. Le débat a été lancé par O. Godechot et A. Louvet sur la vie des idées, qui ...

FT Alphaville

The Weekender

On FT Alphaville this week, - On Monday, a week of banking succour: kicked off by HSBC. - Shrunken Crock. - On Tuesday, Barcap raids ABN. - Barclays updates its numbers. - Is this global inflation thing overcooked? - HMG Cassandras. - On Wednesday, Surallun meets the MPC: Yer Fiyud! - Bradford,...

Brad Setser: Follow the Money

Don’t look to the TIC data to understand how the US financed its current account deficit in q1

It is appropriate, I suspect, for my first post over here – and I want to reiterate my thanks to Nouriel for hosting my blog at RGE for the past 8 months even I after I moved to the Council – is on the latest Treasury capital flows data. The TIC data is both amazing ...

Abnormal Returns

Friday links: absent edition

Abnormal Returns is going to be taking a short break from blogging. During an earlier break we wrote this post highlighting some additional linkfests worth your time. In the meantime, feel free to drop us a line with any questions and/or comments. Will be back to our regular posting schedule as soon as possible. ...