FT exchange rates

The Financial Times is the best place to sell your dollars. In the normal world 1 USD buys you 0.7 euro cents or 0.6 pence. In the FT world 1USD buys 1.7 euros (2.5 times the normal exchange ate) or 0.8 pence (1.3 times the normal exchange rate). 

Here it is: How much would you pay to read this page? At about 2,000 of the roughly 50,000 printed words in a typical copy of the Financial Times, it should in theory be worth about 4 per cent of the newspaper's cover price - 10 US cents, 17½ euro cents or eight pence.

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Growth after the crisis

New (at least to me) paper by Dani Rodrik

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Popper on research

via CB

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Wolframalpha

This may become bigger than Google. The intro video is here (well worth the 13 minutes). I found it on MR. It has a lot of economics stuff.

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On chewing and french bread

Here

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The big problem of small change

Via MR, I found this article on lack of coins in Argentina. The same thing happened in Italy in the 1970s. There is actually serious research on this. I think that it started with Cipolla (his laws of stupidity are here). The most recent work is by Sargent and Velde. 

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Refuted economic doctrines

Here

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More on the state of Macroeconomics

Blanchard versus others (De Long says that others win).  This is an older post on the same subject

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Of Financial Innovations and Excesses

From the Journal of Finance, July 1985: 

In the case of the corporation, a manager does not want to miss out on a perceived good thing if everyone else is doing it....executives are attracted to a new repackaging of mortgaged-backed securities, even though they could manufacture essentially the same thing themselves at a lower cost. Like ants attracted to the honey pot, this is a bonanza for financial promoters. Each time a defeasance plan, leveraged buyout, or new type of mortgage-backed security is sold, substantial promoter fees are realized. But do they make money the old fashioned way by earning it? I think not in many cases.

James C. Van Horne, President of the American Finance Association (1984)

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Development and business class

Chris Blattman has a post with great comments (read the second one by Bill Easterly and the two by April on WB compensation).   I don't think that moving to economy would greatly affect the budget, it's more a symbolic thing. 

My two cents: I used to care less about BC travel and always (or almost always) travel economy, but the older I get the more I give value to BC. I would try to avoid more missions if I had to travel economy (of course, this may still be optimal from society's point of view).   

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Syrian English

Jeep

Dream house

Good bye

VIP

Paint

No Parking

Thanks to Raja

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What's economics

Rigotnomics has a nice post on the meaning of "economics", but I can't believe that they like Dambisa Mojo (BTW did you see who wrote her Time profile?). My other point of disagreement with Rigotnomics.
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Stress tests

Baseline scenario explains

My work on public banks: here and here

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The Ph. D. Octopus

An absurd story from 1903

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Why economists write papers and not books

The making of Economic Literature (presidential address to the American Economic Association, 1909). My favorite parts: 

A three hundred page thesis not only does not fit a man to be an economist: it really incapacitates him for work...I hold that the better the economist the clearer, shorter, and more precise are his utterances …A book is merely the trail along which its author has gone in his search for clear expression and sharp analysis. This is of great importance to the author, but of little consequence to the reader.

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Conferences I wish I had attended

Can you get better timing?

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Religion and education gender gap in Lebanon

Things are different form what you may think. (ungated version here)

My other Middle-East related papers are:

• “Macroeconomic Policies in Egypt: An Interpretation of the Past and Options for the Future,” Journal of Development and Economic Policies (December, 2002). Download Working Paper
  
•  “Fiscal Sustainability: Issues for Emerging Market Countries” (with A. Izquierdo) in A. El Galal and N. Ul. Haque (eds)Fiscal Sustainability in Emerging Markets: International Experience and Implications for Egypt. AmericanUniversity in Cairo Press (2006). Download Working Paper
  
•  “Poverty and Social Mobility in Lebanon: A Few Guesses.” (with M. El Khoury) Forum, Newsletter of the Economic Research Forum for the Arab Countries, Iran and Turkey. 8: 12- 13.  Not Available online
  
•  “Education, Childbearing, and Female Labor Market Participation: Evidence from Lebanon,” (with M. Hajj) Journal of Development and Economic Policies (June, 2002). Not available online
  
•  “Social Mobility and Religion. Evidence from Lebanon” (with M. El Khoury) Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion (Fall, 2005). Download Working Paper
  

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Very very strange buildings

Here and here.

Thanks to Sweta for the idea and dedicated to SiL Nadine, the architect

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Better LATE than nothing

Imben's response to Deaton and Heckman and Urzua. This debate is really cool. 

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Google!

Data searching and plotting

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Eichengreen on Economic research in the 21st century

Here, more on Barry here

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Chris Blattman loves Colombia (and he's right)

Here and here.  I've been to Cartagena several times (it's wonderful, but careful with aguardiente) and I may go to Medellin in August, but I haven't yet visited to Bogota (I was so sorry to miss the Economia panel a couple of weeks ago).

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A macro lesson

From PK

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Sugar count

here.

check out the shakes

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Interpreting GDP Growth

From Baseline Scenario. Another post, which I would rename French Sociology and the Education of Tim Geithner is also intersting and shold be read with the, by now classic, Atlantic piece on financila oligarcs.

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