Thursday, September 13, 2012

Why the economics blogosphere is a good thing...

...I am seeing a lot of young libertarian or Austrian PhD students I know, with fairly stereotypical libertarian/Austrian professors (from what I am aware - correct me if I'm wrong), reacting very positively toward the Fed announcement.

Of course that is because of the market monetarist corner of the blogosphere, which has this strange effect of preserving the anti-Keynesian animus of the libertarian/Austrian professors even though Keynesians have been saying very similar things (see previous post for an example).

But still, if it makes for good policy I'm happy.

But it's very interesting. I'd be curious to know about how discussions of this with your professors go over the next several weeks.

7 comments:

  1. I'm glad to hear that there are some younger Austrians who have become less resistant to concept of monetary or fiscal stimulus, thanks to the Market Monetarists.

    On another note...I have to go on a tangent. Even though I'm proud of the economics blogosphere, what I've noticed is that there hasn't really been any definitive documentary for which one can use to teach economics. A lot of the films about economics lean often to the left or to the right.

    Granted, there are things like Commanding Heights and Inside Job, but there hasn't been a group of films that I would say to be defining. Granted, the economy is touched upon in historical documentaries, but economics is more found in the backdrop. What I would like to see is a good documentary on the history of central banking, among other things.

    Perhaps somewhere out there, there's someone on the econoblogopshere that's making a documentary that can be as much of a hit as John Papola and Russ Roberts's Keynes versus Hayek rap videos. I hope there is.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Please link to these young libertarian/Austrians...so I can delete them from my FB friends list.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Its largely on FB - although I've linked to Ryan below.

      Other than him, I am keeping the identity of these brave souls secret, to defend them from your belligerence and your social media purges.

      :)

      Delete
    2. On the basis of the expressed criteria, it inexplicably appears that I am immune (to such an evacuation).

      Delete
    3. Aw come on Bob, i promise we are still austrian...

      Delete
  3. Bob,

    I think the Fed announcement was great. Defriend me on Facebook if you must.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "I am seeing a lot of young libertarian or Austrian PhD students I know, with fairly stereotypical libertarian/Austrian professors ... , reacting very positively toward the Fed announcement."

    Then they are just poseurs and not really libertarians or Austrians at all.

    ReplyDelete

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