muntedkowhai: fantastic crochet jewelry

{ admiral on leave necklace with copper chain }

when one hears "hand-crocheted necklace," it does sound like a bit of summer camp craft, or "fuzzy afghan tea cozy" as tiffany put it. but muntedkowhai's crocheted lace confections, paired with asymmetrical vintage buttons and chains, or arranged symmetrically in hand-factured winglets... have never seen their like. original and compelling.

portland-based muntedkowhai is a research scientist by day who combines her globetrotting background (new zealand, malaysia, hong kong) into delightful off-kilter conversation pieces.





more at muntedkowhai.etsy.com

My Last Free Post

...is coming soon.

With Harvard having lost so much of its endowment lately, the university has asked me to stop providing this blog free of charge. Starting shortly, therefore, this blog will be available only to Harvard students and alumni and to others who subscribe via the new Harvard-bloggers program. All revenue from this program will be split between building the new Allston campus and providing students hot fudge sundaes on alternate Thursdays and every day during exam periods.

To obtain your subscription to this blog, please click here.

Update: Please, please, please, no more irate emails before you click on the link to check out the price.

Market-based Financial Regulation

An idea from Oliver Hart and Luigi Zingales.

Those on college wait lists: Stay cool

So says my Harvard colleague Al Roth.

REYKJAVIK - nordic fashion biennale, bonus

The Mess that is GM

The take from David Brooks.

Haircuts as Tradables

Economists often use haircuts as a prototypical non-tradable good. But maybe we need to find a new example:

Dear Greg,

I am a professor of economics in Germany and a reader of your blog. I found this funny but true tidbit in a newspaper over here. It's about haircuts. Eastern Europe's financial troubles and the strong nominal depreciations have suddenly turned haircuts into tradable goods. Here is the original link.

I guess few people read German, so here are a few key facts from the article:

The financial crisis has hit Eastern Europe particularly hard, leading to strong depreciation pressure on exchange rates. As a result, traditional non-tradable goods have suddenly become tradable. The Polish village of Osinow Dolny at the Polish-German border has approx. 200 inhabitants, 100 of which are active hairdressers. Germans come from as far as Berlin (70 km) to take advantage of the zloty exchange rate, which went from 3.30 per euro in the summer of 2008 to well over 4 now. "Salon Teresa" at the end of main street charges 9 euros for ladies and 4 for men.

Best regards
Martin Klein

Thanks, Martin, for the story. It certainly demonstrates that people respond to incentives. And it illustrates the forces that tend to push exchange rates toward purchasing-power parity.

must-read!

if you haven't already, please read:

this, which gets at the heart of why i blog at all

this, which i think is immensely sane and steady thinking

and this, on kicking the wedding blog blues, all from a practical wedding.

oh heck, just read the whole thing. such a blog crush. just please don't stop reading *this* blog, right?

Majors at Harvard

#605: i'm not gonna do...

...what you all think i'm going to do. just because i have less than 2 months left.

*************************************

part of today will be spent doing some homeworkage. i'm going to study this post and all of the subsequent links shared in the comments.

i want our vows to be simple, strong, heartfelt. but not cheesy, dramatic, 'trying too hard'.

best of luck to us.

The Case for Drug Legalization

From Harvard's Jeff Miron.

REYKJAVIK - nordic fashion biennale, 03/28-29/09

Top Young Economists

Here is the ranking. (For information about this ranking, click here.)

I am delighted to report that I was on the PhD dissertation committee for two out of the top three (Reis and Angeletos). That is one of the great things about being a faculty member at Harvard: You get to know the young stars before the rest of the world notices their brilliance.

For those aspiring to make this list someday who are now deciding where to attend graduate school, here is the most up-to-date ranking of economics departments.

The Youngest Member of the Pigou Club

When Maggie turned one, she got this t-shirt from her uncle, an econ grad student:

Forecasting as Futuristic Fiction

Robert Shiller's latest.

REYKJAVIK - nordic fashion biennale, 03/27-28/09

More Competition

Keith Hennessey, the former director of the National Economic Council, has a blog.

REYKJAVIK - nordic fashion biennale, 03/27/09

#604: win it.

need a little something charmy?


or just think this rebecca wynne bracelet would be gorge in silver?

enter a contest to win it. details at happy hour bride.

#603: 30 reasons.

what do you get the guy who wants for nothing.

i have been struggling. his 30th came and went and i had no clue what to get him. i know. bad me. i mean. we celebrated his 30th. but the 'gift' has been IOU for 2 weeks now because i haven't been able to come up with something that would satisfy my inner gifter. whatever i get, i want him to be like 'i want to be 30 again next year.' and perhaps jerk a tear? maybe from laughing so hard? maybe from the sentiment? something like that. and i haven't been able to think of anything that would even remotely have that kind of effect. a watch? golf lessons? scotch? shoes? next.

but.

now i have a plan. i'm going to make a list. a list like this (via a practical wedding). and i'm going to have it printed as a small poster or something. and then frame it for him. so he can have it to look at for always and forever.

because really. who wouldn't like to know 30 ways in which he is absolutely loved and adored.

*****************************************

so. could you suggest any etsy'ers who would be able to create this type of thingamajiggy for me? you know my style right?

much appreciated.

Menu Costs, Defeated

Thanks to the Harvard student who took this picture outside a Thai restaurant in London during spring break.

History Repeating Itself

2009:

President Obama's budget chief hinted Wednesday that the president's signature campaign issue -- a middle-class tax cut -- will not likely survive a budget battle with Democrats on Capitol Hill. On a conference call with reporters in advance of the president's trip to the Hill to speak before the Senate Democratic caucus, Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag indicated that, while 98 percent of the budget mark-ups in the House and Senate are on par with the administration's budget blueprint, some campaign trail promises, like middle-class tax cuts, may get left on the cutting room floor.

1993:

Seeking to explain why he is backtracking on a campaign promise to cut taxes for the middle class, President-elect Bill Clinton said Thursday that the plan was never a major theme in his race for the White House. Mr. Clinton, speaking at a news conference a day after saying he would have to "revisit" his tax-cut plan, said Americans voted for him because of the "big things" he wanted to do.The middle-class tax cut, he said, was not among them....

Mr. Clinton spoke throughout the campaign of the need to redress declining middle-class incomes during the 1980s. He proposed a tax cut for the middle class nearly a year ago, in New Hampshire, and repeated the pledge frequently.

#602: shoot.

i'm already in the middle of constructing my centerpieces. and i've repeatedly said i don't want to use candles.

but dang.

i need to host a party of some kind so i have an excuse to create these lovelies.


complete instructions over at once wed.

p.s. i said dang. what.

#601: watercolors.

via courtney khail stationery.

so very very pretty, no?

she's hosting a contest over at design crush for a set of stationery. so go take a gander and maybe you'll win.

or maybe i'll win.




i think if i were to win it. i wouldn't send them out, but frame each one for different rooms in my house. and by house, i mean 1-bedroom apartment.

top ten etsy vintage wedding items: march 26

{each photo links to its shop}

yes. now am stuck on chalkboards and typewriters (please, someone buy that chalkboard before i do: i do not need a chalkboard. i do not need a chalkboard. i do not need a chalkboard. i... )

why typewriters? for a clever guest book, of course... i read it somewhere... any readers have a link to typewriter as guest book? i don't care if it's been done, i love it. that and polaroids. love.