Victor V. Claar's Blog, page 10

Adam Smith Reflects on Obamanomics

Would Adam Smith be a fan of President Obama's economic policies? Using block quotes from Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Salon's Michael Lind "interviews" Adam Smith to find out.

I'm interested to know your reaction. If you read the short piece and have a thought or two, I'd love to know.

Announcement of the 2009 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel--Watch It LIVE

Watch the live web cast from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden, on Monday, October 12, 1:00 p.m. CET, 11:00 a.m. GMT at the earliest. Following the announcement, an interview will be held with one of the Committee members about the 2009 Prize in Economic Sciences.

Thomson Reuters forecasts winners each year using citation records of economists' scholarly contributions. (But please, no wagering.)

Asset Liquidity and How It Works

CNN's Maggie Lake reports on the basics of asset liquidity:

Embedded video from CNN Video

Europe's Socialists Suffering--Even in Downturn

From the New York Times:

PARIS — A specter is haunting Europe — the specter of Socialism's slow collapse.

Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

Even in the midst of one of the greatest challenges to capitalism in 75 years, involving a breakdown of the financial system due to "irrational exuberance," greed and the weakness of regulatory systems, European Socialist parties and their left-wing cousins have not found a compelling response, let alone taken advantage of the right's...

If You Print It, Is It Money?

CNN's Charles Hodson examines one local community's effort to get its own currency off the ground:

Embedded video from CNN Video

Survivors of Steel in Pittsburgh Give Advice to Autoworkers in Detroit

From American Public Media's Marketplace:

When Pittsburgh's steel industry began to fall apart, steel workers needed to find a new way to survive. Marketplace's Rico Gagliano spoke with former steel workers to see if they had any advice for autoworkers in Detroit.

Who Do You Trust to Track the Stimulus Spending? A dot-gov? Or a dot-com?

Our federal government has a highly-promoted web site designed to track spending of the $787 billion stimulus, recovery.gov.

But Onvia offers its own, perhaps more up-to-date version, at recovery.com.

NPR's Morning Edition handicaps the sites:

Creative Ways Around Import Tax Barriers

From NPR's Morning Edition:

As government leaders discuss trade issues, a story in this week's The Wall Street Journal reported on some of the bizarre trade rules that are still on the books. Reporter Matthew Dolan tells Linda Wertheimer about a story he dug up on how Ford Motor Company does some fancy maneuvering to get around an import tax that started in the 1960s with chickens.

Food Producers Do Well in a Down Economy

From American Public Media's Marketplace:

ConAgra and General Mills report earnings this week, and things seem to be looking up. Why? The short answer: it costs less to buy what it takes for companies to make the food. Jeremy Hobson reports.

Hope College Colleagues' Letter in This Weekend's NYT Magazine

This weekend's issue of the New York Times Magazine features a letter to the editor by Hope College colleagues Mr. John Lunn and Ms. Marty LaBarge. Their letter is a response to Paul Krugman's "How Did Economists Get It So Wrong?"

In part, the letter reads:

Paul Krugman cites a concern for mathematical elegance over truth and reliance on efficient market theory as reasons for economists underestimating the instability of markets. But similar arguments could be made about the Keynesianism...