The Latest from the Standup Economist

Economic Education Video Competition

Sponsored by the St. Louis Fed.  For college students.

PARIS - fashion week s/s 11, day 1, 09/29/10

LONDON - fashion week s/s 11, bonus 3

New NRC Rankings

The National Research Council has released updated rankings of PhD graduate programs.   You can find the ranking of economics departments here.

Bill Clinton channels Friedrich Hayek

Friedrich Hayek, The Fatal Conceit: "The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design."

Bill Clinton, 9/21: "Do you know how many political and economic decisions are made in this world by people who don't know what in the living daylights they are talking about?"

HT: Newmark's Door.

The Harvard Nobel Prize Pool

is up and running.

MILAN - fashion week s/s 11, 09/26-27/10

All my London Fashion Week photos are up on my visual diary.

A New Approach to Intermediate Macroeconomics

I have a new intermediate macroeconomics textbook coming out.  Coauthored with my old friend Larry Ball, it is aimed at those instructors who want to include more material on the financial system than is traditional in macro courses.  Click here for more information, and click here to read a sample chapter.

The book is being printed now and will be available for next semester's classes.

BUCHAREST - absolutely fabulous, la blanca, 09/25/10

LONDON - fashion week s/s 11, bonus 2

LONDON - fashion week s/s 11, bonus 1

Best Congressional Testimony Ever

Smart Athletes

A reader points out to me that Sporting News has named the 20 smartest athletes in sports. Two of them are graduates of the Harvard economics department.

LONDON - fashion week s/s 11, day 5 & 6, 09/21-22/10

More LFW on my visual diary.

Me on All Things Considered

Larry and Harvard

A reader asks the following about Larry Summers:

The media is saying that Larry is leaving the White House in part because his leave from Harvard is almost up and if he stayed away longer, he'd have to reapply for tenure. From your own experience, is that probably true? I thought universities routinely relaxed such policies for star academics like you and Larry. Also, how prestigious is it to be a university professor?

Different universities have different policies regarding faculty leave for policy jobs, and different degrees of enforcement. Harvard allows two years of leave, and it has the reputation of enforcing the rule rather strictly. I can imagine that Larry could have negotiated an extra semester of leave, but I would have been surprised if the university had extended his leave much beyond that. (FYI, I left my CEA job in February 2005 after being in Washington for precisely two years.)

Also, being a university professor is quite a good deal.  Top pay with maximum flexibility regarding teaching etc.  As I understand it, you do pretty much whatever you want.

Would Larry have been rehired by Harvard if he resigned and stayed another couple of years in Washington?  Unclear.  The pro case for rehiring would be that Larry is one of the smartest guys around and has a great deal of fascinating experience to share with students.  The con case would be that he has been out of the academic research game for quite a while and that in a time of reduced financial resources, faculty slots should be devoted to younger scholars rather than potentially extinct volcanoes.  Ironically, if Larry were on the faculty voting on this matter, the con case is the kind of argument he might have made.

So, while I am sure that Larry's decision had various inputs, Harvard's leave policy was very plausibly one of them.

I can also say that ec 10 students will likely be among the beneficiaries of Larry's return.  Larry was a regular guest lecturer in the course, and his lectures were always well received.   He does a great job illustrating the connections between economic theory and economic reality.

LONDON - fashion week s/s 11, day 5, 09/21/10

All my NYFW shots are up on my visual diary.

Predicting the Nobel

The good folk at Thomson-Reuters have updated their list of Citation Laureates, which they believe is a good predictor of future Nobel Prizes.  Closely related: the REPEC ranking of most cited economists.

FYI, the economics prize will be announced on October 11.

LONDON - matthew, fashion week s/s 11, 09/19/10

Krugman versus Rajan

1. Paul on Raghu
2. Raghu on Paul

ISTANBUL - fashion week bonus 2, 08/25-28/10

married!

we are so happy.

stay tuned, everyone!
etsy wedding gears up again starting 9.25.

LONDON - fashion week s/s 11, day 2, 09/18/10

Inside Job

In a couple weeks, a movie called Inside Job will be coming to a big screen near you.  Apparently, several prominent members of the economics profession play leading roles.  Click here for the trailer and some clips.

LONDON - nathalie & larry, fashion week s/s 11, 09/17/10

New NYFW photos on my visual diary.

Glaeser on Goolsbee

Ed's take on Austan.

ISTANBUL - didem, fashion week, 08/26/10