Hypothetical Bias

Another Great Depression?

From the Morganton News Herald (The Worst of Times), Mark Strazizich forecasts the probability:

"I don't think we're ever going to see another Depression," Strazicich said.

Whither Mankiw's online teaching resources?

Has any instructor other than me found that the Mankiw website is impossible to navigate? This makes the promised instructional resources impossible to find and integrate into one's course.

I'm discouraged.

ECO 2040: Exporting inflation

Asian Inflation Begins to Sting U.S. Shoppers:

The free ride for American consumers is ending. For two generations, Americans have imported goods produced ever more cheaply from a succession of low-wage countries — first Japan and Korea, then China, and now increasingly places like Vietnam and India.

But mounting inflation in the developing world, especially Asia, is threatening that arrangement, and not just in China, where rising energy and labor costs have already made exports to the United States more expensive, but in the lower-cost alternatives to China, too.

UofL vs UT: 9:57 tipoff

Tonight I'm following a mini-max strategy. I'm pulling for the team/coach I dislike least (UofL/Pitino). From the Daily Fix:

The matchup between Louisville and Tennessee comes lots of talk about the men on the sidelines: the Cardinals’ Rick Pitino and the Volunteers’ Bruce Pearl.

In the Lexington Herald-Leader, John Clay wants to see Mr. Pearl clad entirely in orange (”like one big Valencia”) and Mr. Pitino in Colonel Sandersesque white head to toe.

“Here’s Pitino, who resurrected Kentucky basketball in the 1990s by employing a pressing, up-tempo style mixed with master marketing and sideline theatrics,” he writes. “Here’s Pearl, who has resurrected Tennessee basketball by employing a pressing, running, up-tempo style, mixed with master marketing and sideline theatrics.”

Over to the Louisville Courier-Journal, where Eric Crawford has the benefit of six years covering Mr. Pearl and seven covering Mr. Pitino, and says in some ways the two are quite different.

“After a win, Pitino is apt to head out to an upscale eatery such as Porcini,” he writes. “I went looking for Pearl after the University of Kentucky game in Knoxville last season, and he already had changed into a cabana shirt and was hanging out with a crowd of boosters. … Here’s where they are similar. Both are willing to adapt their personal styles to give themselves a chance to win. Both are driven by an other-worldly work ethic. Both are big believers in creating momentum and using it to their advantage, and in having their teams apply pressure rather than react to it. And both are marvelous motivators.”

New monetary policy tools on the Fed's website

The Fed has added 3 new monetary policy tools on their webpage. Numbers 1-3 are in every economics textbook. Number 4 was new back in February when I first checked with my macro class. Numbers 5 and 6 were added in March.

1. Open Market Operations
2. The Discount Rate
3. Reserve Requirements
4. Term Auction Facility
5. Primary Dealer Credit Facility
6. Term Securities Lending Facility