John Maynard Keynes: … the master-economist must possess a rare combination of gifts. He must be mathematician, historian, statesman, philosopher–in some degree. He must understand symbols and speak in words. He must contemplate the particular in terms of the general, and touch abstract and concrete in the same flight of thought. He must study the […]
Or so says two of the blogs I often read for US economic information: Market Movers (*) The Big Picture (*) I have to concur. However, for New Zealand there is a big plus to this collapse in US economic activity – the huge capacity constraints on shipping have lifted (Market Movers). Shipping costs have […]
Hat Tip: NZIER economist Patrick Nolan
Over at Market Movers, Felix Salmon discusses “Lehman’s Lies“. In the wake of the collapse, it was clear that if Lehman couldn’t be trusted, then it would be silly to trust any other troubled financial institution, either — AIG, WaMu, Wachovia, Fortis, Hypo Real Estate, you name it. This breakdown in “trust” destroyed the delicate […]
We have a guest post over at No Minister. The conclusion: Ultimately, I doubt that the government has a role in investing in large scale projects in the absence of “externalities”. The best thing the government can do is make sure that the economic environment is open and transparent – such that firms with greater […]
Our dollar has fallen markedly in recent days. This is illustrated in a post from Kiwiblog (*) There are two main ways that the falling dollar impacts on New Zealanders It now requires more NZ dollars to buy goods from overseas, We now get given the equivalent of more NZ dollars for things we sell […]