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The Big Picture: Innovative Ideas for Revitalizing the LIHTC Market

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:00:40 -0500

Release Date: November 10, 2009

For immediate release

The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday announced the availability of a collection of brief articles that examine ways to improve the availability of housing options for low-income renters.

The publication, commissioned in conjunction with the Community Affairs staff at [...]

Newmark's Door: "98.6 Degrees Is Not Normal"

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:36:00 -0500

Normal, claims this article, is 98.2.

[...]

Newmark's Door: "Stop Kissing the Baby"

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:28:00 -0500

Sometimes. you really should. [...]

Newmark's Door: New York Times reviewer assesses the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport . . .

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:21:00 -0500

. . . and decides that it is just unnecessarily superb. Excerpts:

The Bugatti shifts occupants around like a Star Trek transporter: from a standstill to 60 miles per hour in 2.7 seconds, to 125 m.p.h. in just over 7 seconds and on to [...]

Newmark's Door: "Alicia Silverstone Will Teach You How to Poop"

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:21:00 -0500

Go here if you want the details. (It's sad, even cruel, to say, Alicia, but I think your career peaked with Clueless.) [...]

Newmark's Door: "Top 10 College Admissions Tips"

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:20:00 -0500

Ya gotta love #8:

8. Make Sure the Teachers Show Up for Class
“The most important question to ask when considering an application or making an enrollment decision is this: What is the degree of attention paid by this school to the undergraduate educational experience? If superstar faculty members never [...]

Adam Smith's Lost Legacy: Announcement IV

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:39:00 -0500

I took a short break yesterday either side of lunch and posted on Lost Legacy.

However, the spam comments attack continues - 17 since Saturday - all in Chinese and the bits in English are weird.

Those few appropriate comments were published - the rest were rejected.

[...]

Market Power: Principles of Economics Test Question

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:30:00 -0500

Christmas is the busiest time of year for most retailers. The demand for retail goods spikes after Thanksgiving and then settles to more of a typical pattern after Christmas. But retailers also run many sales during this time period, suggesting that prices, on average are no higher than at other [...]

CoreEcon: Superfreakonomics Chapter 2

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:03:45 -0500

Following on from my chapter by chapter reviews of Superfreakonomics (here is One and here is Five), I have now read Chapter 2 — the Kindle version of course (as the Australian Government now advocates). Chapter 2 is describes why terrorists should take out life insurance. I [...]

CoreEcon: Special interests win out in books

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:23:43 -0500

Number of comments: 1

Suppose that you had a reform that potentially would lead to consumer benefits of around half a billion per year that might stand to harm some 10,000 Australians with 10 percent of that total. So that interest group gets $5,000 each while costing the rest of us $450m. Seems like [...]

Liberalism-Capitalism-Globalisation: Get some perspective, please

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:31:43 -0500

An important article by Anne Applebaum, about those who use the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall to write about unsolved problems and unfulfilled expectations:

"Back then, most of those who did make predictions saw a dark future. ... Some truly awful things did happen: In [...]

Don't Mess With Taxes: Military tax tips

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:15:00 -0500

Veterans Day this year is particularly poignant due to the tragedy at Fort Hood.

Please keep those who lost family and friends at the Texas base in your thoughts today, along with all our veterans who [...]

Organizations and Markets: The MSM Rediscovers the Classics

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:11:21 -0500

| Peter Klein | The rediscovery of Keynes is one of the official storylines of the financial crisis and global recession. The problem is that Keynes was, in my judgment, a charlatan, a clever man obsessed with his own cleverness who never paid serious, thoughtful attention to economics (or any subject). [...]

Mises Economics Blog: Hoppe on East vs. West Germany and the Fall of the Wall

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:10:40 -0500

A lot of blogposts have been flying around the libertarian blogosphere about the fall of the Berlin Wall twenty years ago. Those looking for truly thoughtful commentary should read the article by Hans-Hermann Hoppe, "De-Socialization in a United Germany" Review of Austrian Economics, Vol. 5, No. 2 (1991). Hoppe [...]

Marginal Revolution: Markets in everything

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:03:00 -0500

"Twitter-equipped scale tells the world how much you weigh."

How's that for purchasing self-constraint? Or do you just stop weighing yourself?

For the pointer I thank Eric H.

[...]

Econbrowser: Will rising oil prices derail the recovery?

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:43:00 -0500

Last April I described new research on the role of oil prices in the recent recession. Here's an update on what's happened since then.

[...]

Cafe Hayek: Degrees saved or created

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:25:47 -0500

Number of comments: 4

NOAA announced (HT: Drudge) that October was the third coldest October on record. If it weren’t for global warming it would have been the coldest by far.

[...]

Calculated Risk: California Controller: Overview of the Commercial Property Markets

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:23:00 -0500

Number of comments: 0
Buried in the California Controller's November analysis is a guest article: Overview of the Commercial Property and Capital Markets with Implications for the State of California by Dr. Randall Zisler. (ht picosec)

Here are some excerpts: Whereas excessive and imprudent leverage fed the bubble, deleveraging not only popped [...]

CoreEcon: Superfreakonomics aint economics

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:54:54 -0500

Number of comments: 1

I have just read Chapter 5 of Superfreakonomics, alongside the New Yorker review by Elizabeth Colbert. The focus is on climate change science – the science is uncertain and imprecise (nothing new there), but the claim is that climate change fears are overdone and technological solutions will fix the [...]

The Big Picture: Supervising and Resolving Large Financial Institutions

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:30:00 -0500

Governor Daniel K. Tarullo

At the Institute of International Bankers Conference on Cross-Border Insolvency Issues, New York, New York
November 10, 2009

Supervising and Resolving Large Financial Institutions

Proposals for the creation of a special resolution process for large financial firms have rightly assumed prominence in the wake of the financial crisis. [...]

voluntary Xchange: OMG: Bryan Caplan On the 20th Anniversary

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:23:55 -0500

Two parts quoted almost in full – I completely agree with this:

The conventional interpretation of the Wall: Socialism, a movement that began with wide-eyed idealism, was gradually corrupted. The first socialists dreamed of freeing the common man; but once their intellectual heirs were drunk on absolute power, they ended [...]

The Big Picture: Damn Annoying: Traveling the US by Air

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:00:13 -0500

Number of comments: 10

So.

Here I am.

Winging my way back from a long business trip – I left 10 days ago, and with any luck, will finally stumble home some time in the wee hours Wednesday.

The experience was a whirlwind tour of the best and worst airports, airlines and aircraft the friendly skys have [...]

Environmental and Urban Economics: My Father Wins a NYU Teaching Award

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:46:00 -0500

Number of comments: 0
I haven't won any teaching awards and I don't expect to win any soon. I do know a guy who wins these things and he is proud of it and I'm proud of him. But, he could publish more!

Master Clinician: Martin L. Kahn, MD, the Joel E. and' [...]

Angry Bear: Seasonal Posting: NYTFail, Part 2

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:25:00 -0500

Number of comments: 0
First, David Leonhardt argued that this recession was good for workers.

Now, Floyd Norris apparently has decided to mix and match data. (I wonder if the fact many NYT employees who are looking at their 45-day severance offers is having an effect on its economic coverage.)
[...]

EconLog: Exposure Therapy: When Probabilities Fail

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:19:00 -0500

(November 11, 2009 01:19 AM, by Bryan Caplan) In chapter 4 of Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids, I show that - objectively speaking - kids today are safer than ever. And I'm far from the first social scientist to point out the public's systematically biased beliefs about...' [...]

Out of Control: Amendment to Ron Paul's "Audit the Fed" Bill Isn't A Bad Compromise

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:52:00 -0500

Rep. Ron Paul's "Audit the Fed" bill has been back in the national conversation the past week with news of an amendment offered by North Carolina Rep. Mel Watt (D). The Ron Paul amendment would have the GAO audit Fed monetary policy decisions, including the recent expansion of the Fed [...]

Calculated Risk: Fed's Fisher: Suboptimal Growth in 2010, "Perhaps" 2011

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:39:00 -0500

Number of comments: 0
"[L]ooking into 2010 and perhaps to 2011, the most likely outcome is for growth to be suboptimal, unemployment to remain a vexing problem and inflation to remain subdued."
Dallas Fed President Richard FisherAnd a little more Fed Speak ... (note: Fisher's speeches are always colorful).

From Dallas Fed President [...]

Market Power: Why Did Mizzou Lose to Baylor?

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:22:00 -0500

Number of comments: 0

With all due respect to the Bears, the Mizzou loss to Baylor almost defies explanation. A 14-point underdog that had scored 34 points in 4 previous Big XII games, all loses, Baylor had only won one previous Big XII road game in the history of the league. After the stunning [...]

Institutional Economics: Nouriel Roubini versus the Dow

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:32:00 -0500

An illustrated history of Nouriel’s money-losing calls of 2009.

[...]

Businesspundit: 8 Animals That Ran for Government

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:16:31 -0500

Some crackpots think the world is controlled by giant lizards, but what they don’t know is that several animals really have tried to be elected to power. Meet the real-life political ‘party animals’…

8. Pigasus the Immortal Boar

Pigasus the Immortal was a boar hog put forward by the [...]

Free exchange: Link exchange

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:05:46 -0500

The best of the rest of the economics web

TODAY'S recommended economics writing:• Joe Gagnon says that both monetary and fiscal policy can be effective in a liquidity trap. (Econbrowser) • Why has distance (rumoured for some time to have died) been having an increasing effect on trade patterns? [...]

Felix Salmon: CounterpartiesFelix Salmon

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:59:46 -0500

Mineral sequestration: where you use common rocks to eat CO2 and convert it into minerals. Neat! — Miller-McCune

Moscow's deputy mayor has VERY expensive taste in watches — Hettena

Tweet your weight daily! Talk about an incentive to keep the pounds off — LAT

The FHFA has no external auditor [...]

Out of Control: Cioffi and Tannin Found Not Guilty

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:42:00 -0500

In a somewhat surprising decision today, former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers Ralph Cioffi and Matt Tannin were found not guilty by a jury of their peers in federal court. Nearly a month to the day after their trial began, the jury ruled that Cioffi and Tannin did not [...]

The Big Picture: California Stimulus Funding Map

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:30:30 -0500

Number of comments: 9

I am sitting in the Upper Class Lounge of Virgin in San Francisco International airport, waiting to be called for my flight (more on my airline experience later).

What could be more appropriate while I wait than to take a look at how California, trashed though it is financially, is deploying [...]

Angry Bear: 11 Nov 1775

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:26:00 -0500

Number of comments: 0
Good night Chesty, wherever you are. [...]

Free exchange: Prepare for the worst

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:21:57 -0500

The future's so frightening it might not be that bad

FELIX SALMON comments on a book on financial reform by Bob Pozen and concludes:What’s pretty obvious though is that most of Pozen’s recommendations will not be enacted. Which raises the obvious question: if we don’t do this, what’s going [...]

Felix Salmon: The end of safe havensFelix Salmon

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:21:36 -0500

I'm surprised to see this coming from Ryan Avent:

If everyone is certain that crises are going to be bigger and more frequent, and if everyone is certain that governments won't be able to afford to bail everyone out the next time around, then shouldn't everyone be busy limiting their' [...]

Don't Mess With Taxes: State tax collectors ramp up enforcement

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:55:00 -0500

Baseball great Satchel Paige once said, "Don't look back, something might be gaining on you."

That comment immediately came to mind today when I read about New York State's latest effort to get as much tax money as possible.

New York Gov. David A. Paterson told a [...]

The Big Picture: Five Question for Frederick J. Sheehan, Author, PANDERER TO POWER

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:39:50 -0500

Number of comments: 1

Frederick Sheehan is the co-author of Greenspan’s Bubbles: The Age of Ignorance at the Federal Reserve.

His next book, Panderer for Power: The True Story of How Alan Greenspan Enriched Wall Street and Left a Legacy of Recession, will be published by McGraw-Hill in [...]

Worthwhile Canadian Initiative: An updated history of the federal government surplus deficit

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:37:28 -0500

In an upcoming post, I'm going to try to thrash out some of the details about the origins of the federal budget deficit, with an idea to figuring out how to make it go whence it came. But first, I'm going to set out some historical background, now that the [...]

Kudlow's Money Politic$: On CNBC's Kudlow Report

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:34:00 -0500

This evening at 7pm ET:

DODD’S PLAN
CNBC chief Washington correspondent John Harwood reports from Washington.

DOES TOO BIG TO FAIL MEAN TOO BIG?

*Charlie Gasparino, CNBC on-air editor; "The Sellout" author
*Rob Nichols, president of the Financial Services Forum
*Cam Fine President [...]

Division of Labour: The plural of anecdote is data, Campbell

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:14:00 -0500

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_the_Soviet_Union#Comedy... [...]

Mises Economics Blog: Foreign Collusion

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:11:37 -0500

Foreign policy isn't just for the president and Congress. The four unelected lawyers appointed by George W. Bush who constitute the Federal Trade Commission have signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" with their unelected Russian counterparts:

The U.S. antitrust agencies and FAS Russia recognize that it is in their' [...]

The Big Picture: Consolidated NYSE volume on track for another sub 5b share day

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:56:20 -0500

Number of comments: 1

To quantify the fall off in volume seen over the past week of trading, assuming current trends persist to day’s end, today will be the 4th day in a row of total consolidated NYSE volume below 5b shares for the first time since mid July. I’m not going to give [...]

The Austrian Economists: Schumpeter on Capitalism

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:40:13 -0500

Chris Coyne

David Saito-Chung has an article at Investor's Business Daily on how "Joseph Schumpeter spoke out for Capitalism."

Here is an excerpt:

In his view, classes did not form because of capitalism. They formed because people spent more time with other people of the same background, interests and social standing. Schumpeter argued [...]

EconLog: Read it and Weep

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:25:00 -0500

(November 10, 2009 08:25 PM, by Arnold Kling) Various pundits offer suggestions for controlling health care costs, hosted by the New York Times. My proposal (health care vouchers) has zero chance of being enacted. You may not like it, anyway. The other pundits' proposals, even if they were...' [...]

Division of Labour: That's ONE, Lawson...

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:20:00 -0500

And, besides, it was made by a subjugated people. I wonder what the state-approved subjects for comedy were? Slap-stick only?... [...]

Calculated Risk: Loan Modifications: Key Numbers not Released

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:17:00 -0500

Number of comments: 0
From Reuters: Treasury says 650,000 in trial home loan workouts [The Treasury Department] said there were 650,994 active trial modifications through October under President Barack Obama's plan to help the housing market. That was up from 487,081 ... participating through September.

The Treasury did not release figures for [...]

Free exchange: Not much too much

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:16:23 -0500

Is China building itself into excess capacity purgatory?

TYLER COWEN is worried about excess capacity in China. He quotes the Wall Street Journal: Most of China's growth this year has been unsustainable, driven by stimulus. China's money supply has risen 29% in the past year. At the government's behest, [...]

Market Power: College and the Fallacy of Composition

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:06:45 -0500

Number of comments: 0

Fallacy of composition: whatever is true for the individual is also true for the whole. Example: if I stand at a football game, I get a better view if I'm the only one who stands up. If everyone stands up*, my view is probably no better or, quite possibly, worse. ' [...]

Market Power: Testing for Twitter Part Deux

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:59:27 -0500

Number of comments: 0
I'm still checking some Twitter connections with my Typepad account. I apologize for any annoyance that this might cause. ' [...]

Free exchange: Chart of the day

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:56:57 -0500

Markets shine on American exporters

PAUL KEDROSKY titles the post containing this chart, "Dying Dollar Dings Exporters? Not So Much." But of course, that American exporters would benefit froma falling dollar is exactly what we'd expect to happen.Note that this is based on share performance. Presumably, anticipation of better [...]

The Big Picture: QOTD: Bankers Must Take Resposibility for Own Mistakes

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:30:42 -0500

Number of comments: 10

How very British: Hector Sants, the head of Britain’s financial industry regulatory body, chides the industry for refusing to step up to the plate and mea culpa:

“There remains, I believe, an absence of the acceptance of collective responsibility for what has happened. I remained unconvinced that all senior management have [...]

Market Power: Testing for Twitter

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:11:47 -0500

Number of comments: 0
I am changing how I send my blog posts to Twitter. Please disregard this post. [...]

Freakonomics: When You Have Honors Students in the Classroom

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:11:10 -0500

Number of comments: 2
Because we are so short of faculty, I have a section of 30 honors students in my lecture class along with the 500 regular students. Although the 30 also have a recitation with some additional assignments, five-sixths of their grade is based on the same tests, quizzes, and short essay [...]

Division of Labour: "How can Democrats favor such a tree-cutting, ecologically-destructive bill?"

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:06:00 -0500

That's the question a student sent me after reading this WSJ story about needing 1,900 plus pages of paper to print the health care bill. Here's one possible answer: Many Dems care less about the environment than they do about redistribution and about controlling other people's lives. When environmentalism is' [...]

Market Power: Mark Cuban Interested in Buying the Dodgers

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:06:00 -0500

Number of comments: 0

Mark Cuban was kept out of the running for the buying of the Chicago Cubs, but he's still interested in buying an MLB team. From the LA Times.

Mark Cuban, the high-profile owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, said Monday he would consider adding the Dodgers to his portfolio.

As the unusually public [...]