Via Kottke, an especially fun video of starlings flocking: More here.
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
A Particularly Enjoyable Murmuration
Posted in Uncategorized on November 4, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Cars vs. Pedestrians vs. Bikes
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Life, New York City on June 8, 2011 | 2 Comments »
I am walking around my hometown of NYC today, so this video seems particularly apt. ht: kottke
Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse
Posted in Life, Uncategorized, tagged Emergency, Humor, Zombie on May 19, 2011 | 2 Comments »
The Centers for Disease Control offers emergency preparedness tips with a sense of humor: So what do you need to do before zombies…or hurricanes or pandemics for example, actually happen? First of all, you should have an emergency kit in your house. This includes things like water, food, and other supplies to get you through the [...]
Developing the Competitiveness Agenda
Posted in Economy, Uncategorized, tagged Economy on February 24, 2011 | 1 Comment »
On Friday I will be speaking at an event sponsored by Hamilton Place Strategies. It came together on short notice, so let me give it a plug: Developing the Competitiveness Agenda This week’s first meeting of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness kicked off a national debate on the economic policies encouraging greater job creation and [...]
The Yield Spread and the Odds of Recession
Posted in Finance, Macroeconomics, Uncategorized, tagged Finance, Interest Rates, Macroeconomics, Recession on August 26, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Worries about a double-dip recession have spawned much economic commentary … and a humorous country and western song. So how likely is a return to recession? Researchers at the San Francisco Fed took a crack at this question a few weeks ago. Their answer? It depends. When they used a traditional model based on the [...]
The Vuvuzela Externality
Posted in Life, Microeconomics, Uncategorized, tagged Microeconomics, Sports on June 13, 2010 | 23 Comments »
Thus far, the top three stories of the World Cup are (3) Germany looks strong, (2) the U.S. got lucky, and (1) the vuvuzela is remarkably annoying. For those who haven’t tuned in yet, the vuvuzela is a meter-long plastic horn whose name translates roughly as “making a vuvu noise.” And make a noise it [...]
Single-Family Home Construction is Still Flat
Posted in Uncategorized on May 18, 2010 | 8 Comments »
Today’s housing data are again driving some optimistic headlines. Most notably, new starts of single-family homes in April were up more than 10% from March. As I’ve noted in previous posts (here, for example), I think it’s useful to look not only at the number of housing starts, but also at the number of houses under [...]
Advice to Nasdaq and the NYSE: Cancel Only 90% of the “Erroneous” Trades
Posted in Finance, Microeconomics, Uncategorized, tagged Finance, Incentives on May 9, 2010 | 4 Comments »
Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange have both announced that they will cancel many trades made during the temporary market meltdown between 2:40 and 3:00 last Thursday afternoon (see, for example, this story from Reuters). These “erroneous” trades include any that were executed at a price more than 60% away from their last trade [...]
Greece, the Other PIIGS, and “The Chastening”
Posted in Economy, Finance, History, International, Uncategorized, tagged Germany, Greece, IMF, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain on April 28, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Several colleagues recently suggested that now is a propitious time to read (or re-read) Paul Blustein’s “The Chastening.” The book recounts how the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the G-7 nations struggled to combat the Asian, Russian, and Latin American economic crises of the late 1990s. Having read the book while flying back and forth [...]
The Legacy of the Economic Crisis
Posted in International, Macroeconomics, Uncategorized, tagged GDP, International, Macroeconomics, unemployment on March 14, 2010 | 4 Comments »
In its recent Going for Growth report, the OECD concludes that the economic and financial crisis will leave an unwelcome legacy: a permanent reduction in economic activity. This loss averages about 3% of potential GDP across the 20 member countries for which the OECD was able to make these estimates. As the following chart shows, those [...]


