economics

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Economists Are Rediscovering Humility —and Humanity

Field should be seen as an art, not a science

(Newser) - The failure of economists to spot the financial crisis in advance is causing soul-searching that will redefine the whole field, writes David Brooks. The cutting-edge models economists built over decades ignored the complexities of human nature and economists are now rediscovering the humility of an earlier time and trying to...

Tax the Rich. It Won't Hurt (Them, or the Economy)
 Tax the Rich. It Won't Hurt 
 (Them, or the Economy) 
Eliot Spitzer
Feb 24, 2010 10:51 AM CST

Tax the Rich. It Won't Hurt (Them, or the Economy)

Marginal tax rates have nothing to do with GDP

(Newser) - Why doesn’t anyone argue for increased taxes on the rich anymore? Only a generation ago, American politicians had no problem calling for high marginal tax rates, but no one’s had the nerve to do it since Ronald Reagan argued that they penalized the rich for working hard—which...

How Paul Krugman Became a Liberal

New York Times economist wasn't always political

(Newser) - Believe it or not, Paul Krugman once worked for Ronald Reagan. It’s not that Krugman was conservative; it’s that he just wasn’t political. He was an academic, and only vaguely aware of the growing right-left divide. “I feel now like I was sleepwalking through the twenty...

Legendary Economist Paul Samuelson Dead at 94

Nobel laureate write classic intro text for 'dismal science'

(Newser) - Paul A. Samuelson, the first American Nobel laureate in economics and a familiar name to generations of college students, died today at his home outside Boston. He was 94. Ben Bernanke praised his former MIT professor as "a titan of economics," and a colleague said of their fellow...

Now Is the Time for Extravagance
 Now Is 
 the Time for 
 Extravagance 
BEN STEIN
Dec 7, 2009 11:41 AM CST

Now Is the Time for Extravagance

After all, what good is your money when you're too old to have fun?

(Newser) - Ben Stein still doesn’t think it’s a good idea for you to “run out of money before you run out of breath,” but assuming you have a little extra, he highly recommends you use it to buy stuff—now. Life is short, he writes in Fortune...

Holiday Shopping Tip: Money Can Buy You Love
Holiday Shopping Tip: Money Can Buy You Love
george will
Nov 26, 2009 9:49 AM CST

Holiday Shopping Tip: Money Can Buy You Love

Yuletide economics dissected

(Newser) - Christmas is coming, and the "voluntary December calamity" of destruction of billions of dollars in value is under way, writes George Will. People will splurge on gifts their relatives and friends don't want or need, and the discrepancy between the cost of the present and its value to the...

Soros to Spend $50M to Reinvent Economics

Fund manager's think tank charged with reinventing the field

(Newser) - George Soros has decided to spend $50 million to launch a new think tank charged with reinventing the field of economics, which the Hungarian-American billionaire calls "a dogma whose time has passed." The Institute of New Economic Thinking, whose board members include luminaries such as Joseph Stiglitz and...

Winter Babies' Real Problem? Less-Educated Mothers

Accidental find shines light on old conundrum

(Newser) - For years, economists have been trying to explain why winter babies have it so tough. In study after study, those born in winter consistently perform worse in school, earn less, and are less healthy than peers born at other times of year. Now Notre Dame economists Kasey Buckles and Daniel...

Utilities Turn to Peer Pressure to Nudge Customers

Cut your energy use to keep up with Joneses

(Newser) - Would you be more likely to rein in your energy use if you knew it would save money, or if you knew your neighbors used less? Traditional economists assume the former—that consumers do what is in their best interest—but companies are ditching that notion in favor of behavioral...

Fed Has Field of Economics in Its Pocket
Fed Has Field of Economics in Its Pocket
OPINION
Sep 9, 2009 3:09 PM CDT

Fed Has Field of Economics in Its Pocket

Central bank keeps vast number of thinkers on the payroll

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve has essentially bought out the economics profession, writes Ryan Grim in a Huffington Post investigation. The Fed employs or contracts with so many economists that it's a "career liability" for any independent-minded one to criticize policy, writes Grim. This might explain why the Fed has largely...

Krugman: How Economists Blew It
Krugman: How Economists Blew It
OPINION
Sep 4, 2009 11:42 AM CDT

Krugman: How Economists Blew It

Downturn blindsided big brains who thought markets were perfect

(Newser) - Believe it or not, economists were, until about a year ago, congratulating themselves on a job well done. Now the dismal science is in shock, and Paul Krugman thinks he knows why. Economists, he writes in the New York Times Magazine, “mistook beauty, clad in impressive-looking mathematics, for truth....

Economist Rose Friedman Dead at 98
Economist
Rose Friedman Dead at 98
OBITUARY
Aug 19, 2009 2:34 PM CDT

Economist Rose Friedman Dead at 98

Collaborated with husband Milton on foundational texts

(Newser) - Rose Friedman, economist and collaborator with husband and Nobel laureate Milton Friedman, died yesterday of heart failure, the Chicago Tribune reports. Rose was the co-author of Capitalism and Freedom and Free to Choose, two foundational texts of the Chicago School of economics. Though birth records from her birthplace in modern-day...

Only 2nd Stimulus Can Save US: Stiglitz
Only 2nd Stimulus Can Save US: Stiglitz
OPINION
Aug 10, 2009 7:12 AM CDT

Only 2nd Stimulus Can Save US: Stiglitz

But Wall Street bailout has made it a dirty word, writes economist

(Newser) - Pundits can't help but ask whether the winter's fiscal stimulus has failed, and for Joseph Stiglitz it has—because the Obama administration made "political compromises that caused it to be less effective than it could have been." For the Nobel Prize-winning economist, there is no option but a...

Barnes: Obama's an 'Economic IIliterate'

(Newser) - President Obama has big plans for the economy, and that’s too bad because he knows nothing about it, Fred Barnes writes in the Weekly Standard. All of his proposals and angry jabs at Wall Street are counter to his professed interest in growth and job creation. “Obamanomics pays...

If Economists Fail, Don't Blame Economics

...don't give up on economics

(Newser) - Economists have made some disastrous calls recently, but that doesn’t mean you should give up on economics, opines an editorial in the Economist. True, too few economists predicted the financial crisis, but the current backlash, which assumes that the dismal science is basically useless, has gone too far. “...

Pope Urges New World Order for Global Economy

(Newser) - Pope Benedict delivers a broad criticism of contemporary capitalism in his latest encyclical, the Washington Post reports. The biggest problem with businesses today is that “they are almost exclusively answerable to their investors,” Benedict writes in the 144-page document. He proposes a radically different economic model in which...

Cap-and-Trade Could Help —Not Hurt—the Economy

Fighting climate change can be profitable: Krugman

(Newser) - Now that Washington finally has the political will to combat climate change, opponents of environmentalism are pushing a new line: limiting emissions would do further damage to a battered economy. For Paul Krugman, those claims are "junk economics" to go with climate change deniers' "junk science." A...

Zimbabwe Central Bank Stole Cash to Stay Solvent

Governor admits pilfering private accounts to keep ministries running

(Newser) - Zimbabwe's central bank governor admits he took money from bank accounts of private businesses and foreign aid groups without permission to keep the country's cash-strapped ministries running. Gideon Gono said today he loaned money from the private hard-currency accounts to the government. He says the accounts will be reimbursed when...

Couple Buys Black-Owned Only in 'Ebony Experiment'

(Newser) - A Chicago family is trying to use its household spending to invest in the black community by buying exclusively from black-owned businesses for 1 year, the Tribune reports. The Andersons’ ambitious “Ebony Experiment” has them driving 14 miles for groceries (and farther for other stuff) and has earned hate...

Bernanke Backs Stimulus Bill
 Bernanke Backs Stimulus Bill 
Mar 3, 2009 12:00 PM CST

Bernanke Backs Stimulus Bill

Bigger deficits are worth the benefits, Fed chair tells Congress

(Newser) - Ben Bernanke supported the Obama administration’s economic policy before Congress today, the Wall Street Journal reports. The $787 billion stimulus bill should boost “demand and production” and soften job losses over the next 2 years, the Federal Reserve chief told the Senate Budget Committee. The expansion of government...

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