Friday, December 31, 2010

Sewell Chan: Economists consider ethics code

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It's about time .  I do think it is a good thing when economists participate in both business and policy--such things inform both teachi...
2 comments:
Thursday, December 30, 2010

How the NCAA undermines the academic enterprise

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I love major college sports; I have enjoyed having athletes in class--they actually tend to run the gamut in terms of how well they do, and ...
1 comment:
Wednesday, December 29, 2010

My colleague Lisa Schweitzer gently scolds me, and then teaches me something about LA Metro project management

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In response to my post , she starts by writing : First off, it’s a bad idea to conclude anything about work effort based on what you obser...
1 comment:

Suddenly, some members of the GOP realize they actually will be part of the government

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Alan Zibel writes in the Wall Street Journal : Earlier this year, leading House Republicans proposed to privatize mortgage giants Fannie M...
2 comments:
Monday, December 27, 2010

Keynes on the "Psychology of Society"

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My wife gave me a Kindle for Christmas.  The first thing I should say is that it is really great: my eyesight isn't what it once was, an...
2 comments:
Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Is the Mortgage Interest Deduction a "Middle-class" benefit?

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Yesterday, I was on the Larry Mantle program on KPCC debating Lawrence Yun about the merits of the mortgage interest deduction.  Lawrence is...
4 comments:
Monday, December 20, 2010

Small reasons that government drives people crazy

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A light rail line going by USC--the Exposition Line--has been under construction for some time now.  For a considerable time, the site featu...
1 comment:
Thursday, December 16, 2010

Bethany McLean on the GOP "primer" on the financial crisis

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She writes : This narrative isn't completely wrong—but it is shockingly incomplete, which makes it, in the end, a ludicrous distortio...
Monday, December 13, 2010

Jonathan Weinstein on Fairness in Tax Policy

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It is worth reading the whole thing ; here is the conclusion: As a 1st approximation, someone in a highly scalable profession would keep ...
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Yves Smith gives Five Rules for Private Label Mortgage Securitization

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They are : 1. Mortgages must be seasoned 12 months before they can be securitized 2. The originator must retain at least a 5% interest in...
1 comment:

Yesterday's NYT: A Secretive Banking Elite Rules Trading in Derivatives

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In the aftermath of The Big Short , one would think we would try to stop this kind of thing.   It is one thing to be OK with some people mak...
Sunday, December 12, 2010

Density and the use of public transportation

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I am grading papers from students in my Advanced Urban course, and a number are reviewing literature on density and use of public transport....
1 comment:
Friday, December 10, 2010

Some facts about Wisconsin: Presentation to Wisconsin Realtors Executive Conference

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1 comment:
Monday, December 06, 2010

I see that the Adminstration's deal on taxes is being characterized as a "compromise"

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It is not a compromise.  It is a capitulation.
2 comments:
Friday, December 03, 2010

The Residences at LA Live may become LA's icon

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After the Hollywood sign, of course.  I heard Victor McFarlane give a talk last night; MacFarlane Partners did the Residences at LA Live: ...
Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Should house prices still be falling?

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I'm not sure.  According to the National Association of Realtors , the median house price in the US is $170,500.  The most recent Ameri...
1 comment:
Monday, November 29, 2010

Ingrid Ellen, John Tye, and Mark Willis on Covered Bonds replacing GSES

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They write : Covered bonds have three potential advantages over MBSs as a method of mortgage finance. First, they have the potential to re...
1 comment:
Saturday, November 20, 2010

A thought experiment on airport screening and jobs

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As noted in earlier posts, my students and I discussed Bill Cronon's Nature's Metropolis this past week.  One of Cronon's explan...
Thursday, November 18, 2010

Is US success a product of bailouts?

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Hamilton "cemented" the Union by getting congress to agree to assume the states' debts from the American Revolution; in exchan...
Monday, November 15, 2010

More BIll Cronon

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I just finished my third reading of Nature's Metropolis, which I am teaching tomorrow.  It is among the best works on central place theo...