Monthly Archives: April 2008

Jan de Vries slides

Brad DeLong posts some really interesting presentation slides on pre-WWI colonialism, imperialism, and globalization prepared by Jan de Vries. And here’s a local copy.

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Earth Policy Institute: books

I keep forgetting to write down this link: http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/ The book that first got me there was Plan B 2.0 (since redeveloped into Plan B 3.0).  Lots and lots of things to think about…

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Paul Krugman wonders about grain prices

Paul Krugman writes: The financial crisis gets most of the attention from the business press — but in terms of sheer human impact, the current food crisis may well be a bigger deal. Governments across the developing world are scrambling … Continue reading

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Bank failures in historical perspective

Since its foundation in 1933, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has been collecting data on bank failures. Here’s a snapshot of this data from 1980 onwards: So far, it appears that the U.S. banking system is holding up pretty well compared … Continue reading

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The case against price controls

A question asked privately: Why do economists seem to think that price controls are a bad idea? Because price controls have been tried before in various (mostly Communist) countries around the world, and the results were a disaster. Essentially, as … Continue reading

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Recession vs. depression

A question asked privately: What is the difference between recession and depression? Depression is an unusually severe or unusually long recession.  Since 1854, an average recession lasted 17 months with a standard deviation of 12.  The Great Depression of 1929-33, … Continue reading

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WSE has big plans

From Institutional Investor: * * * * * MARKETS Greater Warsaw? 19 Mar 2008 David Lanchner Ludwik Sobolewski’s plans for the Warsaw Stock Exchange: Eastern Europe’s regional bourse. Central and Eastern Europe’s equity markets have long failed to live up … Continue reading

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