Author Archives: wciecon
No, you may not speak to my class
Because I would be abusing my authority if I said "yes". So you shouldn't even ask. [Updated: see below] This post is about teaching economics, though it could be about teaching anything else. It's also about allocating scarce resources between competing ends, which is the subject matter of economics.
Whatever happened to Price Level Path Targeting?
Before the recession, Inflation Targeting was the Champ, and Price Level Path Targeting was the Challenger. A strong Challenger. The Champ was the champ, but the Challenger had a lot of support. A lot of people thought he should and eventually would replace the Champ. People argued about who was better overall, but all agreed […]
Can we understand agent-based models?
[Updated. See below.] [I wrote this because we were starting to discuss the question in comments, and I thought it was interesting, so tried to collect my thoughts. No great original insights here. Nor even any conclusions, right or wrong. Read at your own risk. This post is really just a place for people who […]
Wot about the capitalists?
I just read Matt Yglesias "Monetary policy complacency is the conventional wisdom" (HT RA of The Economist) piece in Slate. It's depressing reading. "On one team are the leaders of the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, and the Bank of England. Alongside them are the political leaders of the United […]
Recessions and Making Babies
It would appear that the severity of the global recession is affecting fertility rates in many countries. The fertility rate as measured by the number of live births per woman in Europe has dropped substantially in a number of countries according to The Economist. These results suggest that rather than lowering the opportunity cost of […]
A preliminary estimate for Canadian 2012Q2 GDP growth
The May GDP number came out today, so it's time for my quarterly exercise in trying to come up with a preliminary estimate for quarterly GDP growth a month before Statistics Canada makes its first announcement. As regular readers will no doubt be weary of being reminded, the estimate is based on the GDP numbers […]
New Keynesian vs Neo-Wicksellian macroeconomics
I am not going to disagree with Simon Wren-Lewis. There is a lot of merit to his perspective on what New Keynesian macroeconomics is really about. But I want to put forward a very different perspective that I think also has a lot of merit.
Can you please read a first year textbook?
You will recognise yourself from my description. (Or you will recognise others who fit this description). You are probably very smart. You are probably very well-educated — either formally, or self-educated, and probably both. You spend a lot of time on the internet reading economics blogs and commenting on those blogs. You maybe even have […]
The marginal productivity of geniuses: why Apple’s workers earn modest wages
Apple has recently come under fire for the low wages paid to its retail employees, the sales "specialists" and technical support "geniuses." According to a recent New York Times article, Apple is doing something "unique in the annals of retailing". It pays "a modest hourly wage, and no commission, to employees who typically have college […]
Why are (almost all) economists unaware of Milton Friedman’s thermostat?
I know I'm right in saying that Milton Friedman's thermostat is an important idea that all economists ought to be aware of. And I'm pretty sure I'm right in asserting that almost all economists are unaware of this important idea. Am I wrong? Are you aware of this idea? Maybe under some other name?? Google […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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