EclectEcon

Still a Top Blog

Despite a marked slowdown in my blogging about economics, EclectEcon is still listed among the top 100 economics blogs. Here's an excerpt from the notice I just received:

5th Annual Top Economics Blogs Winner

Dear John,

I wanted to let you know that your blog, EclectEcon has been featured in the Top 100 Economics Blogs of 2020

Congratulations!

https://www.intelligenteconomist.com/economics-blogs/

Top 100 Economics Blogs

Once again, EclectEcon has been named one of the top 100 economics blogs.

 

One of the most brilliant wallpaper GIFs I've ever seen

EclectEcon Is Still One of the Top 100 Economics Blogs

.... despite the fact that I post very little about economic policy here anymore. I won't provide the link because I don't think the "honour" is worth all that much, but I like the graphic that was sent to me about it:

What is Happening with Page Views at EclectEcon?

I'm concerned. Starting about 4 days ago, the number of page views here at EclectEcon sky-rocketed even though the number of visits doesn't seem to have changed much:

Does anyone have any idea what happened or what is going on?

Is It Possible to Increase Your Happiness?

I have blogged about happiness several times in the past.

One of my more recent mental wanderings led to me and several others to wonder whether one can consciously and conscientiously choose to do things that will make you happier. Shawn Achor argues that we can with these six exercises (I have no evidence other than my own experiences and those of others around me to know how valid these are). My own comments and reactions follow each item.

1. Gratitude Exercises. Write down three things you're grateful for that occurred over the last 24 hours. They don't have to be profound. It could be a really good cup of coffee or the warmth of a sunny day. 

I don't actually write these things down, but I probably do something like this most days in my mind. Gratitude has played a major role in my own sense of happiness. And those who knew the late Greg Mate will recall his daily posts of gratitude on Facebook that he began writing upon learning he had terminal cancer; they were terrifically inspiring.

2. The Doubler. Take one positive experience from the past 24 hours and spend two minutes writing down every detail about that experience. As you remember it, your brain labels it as meaningful and deepens the imprint.

This suggestion intrigues me. I don't know that I've done it consciously, and I will now be trying, once again in my mind but not on paper, to do this more overtly. In many respects, many of my postings to Facebook and here on this blog fall into these first two categories.

3. The Fun Fifteen. Do 15 minutes of a fun cardio activity, like gardening or walking the dog, every day. The effects of daily cardio can be as effective as taking an antidepressant.

Back in a dark period of my life, people kept suggesting things like this. I'm not convinced they worked, but I do try to have some kind of fun physical action nearly every day. And sometimes it's less fun, e.g. doing the stairs instead of taking the elevator to check the mail.

4. Meditation. Every day take two minutes to stop whatever you're doing and concentrate on breathing. Even a short mindful break can result in a calmer, happier you.

I really struggle with this one. I try to stop, but my mind quickly wanders. I guess it takes more work/effort than I'm willing to put out.

5. Conscious act of kindness. At the start of every day, send a short email or text praising someone you know. Our brains become addicted to feeling good by making others feel good.

Please don't include me if you do this. It sounds fake, and if it comes off as an exercise you're doing for yourself, it won't seem all that sincere to the others.

However, a couple of decades ago, I realized that the people who seemed happier were the ones who said nice things to and about others. I realized the causation could go in either direction, but I started doing things like this and stopped being as grouchy and as critical as I had been. It seems to help. Yes, there are still plenty of times when I grouse and criticize, but I keep more of them to myself more often and work through them more effectively.

6. Deepen Social Connections. Spend time with family and friends. Our social connections are one of the best predictors for success and health, and even life expectancy.

Does Facebook count? Does theatre count? Do musical groups count? Those connections are rarely very deep, but they do lead to other connections that are deeper.

Related articles

How to choose happiness

How Much Time Do You Waste on Facebook? in my case, lots or none, depending on your perspective

There is a Time piece that purports to estimate how much time individuals have "wasted" on Facebook since joining it. It assumes that each posting to one's timeline takes about 17 minutes, on average, and the search algorithm totals the number of postings made (not the amount of time surfing, reading, and messaging!).

By their count, I have posted over 14,600 items to my Facebook feed since I joined it over eight years ago [a rough average of more than four items posted per day!]. By their estimate, I have wasted 35 days and 10 hours posting items on Facebook. Of course this is a very rough estimate. In my case it is likely a gross underestimate of the time I have "wasted" [or spent!] on Facebook. But here are some reasonable qualifications:

• The estimate is based on the assumption of 24-hour days. Even though I read things on Facebook and even post things there all times of the day and night, it might be more reasonable to estimate the number of 8-hour workdays lost. In my case that would be 106 days and 2 hours, which seems much closer to the amount of time I've spent on Facebook since joining it.
• However, many of my postings are just "shares" of something someone else posted, and those shares take only a minute or less; others are links to blog posts (like this one) which often take an hour or more to write.
• I spend a lot of time reading things on Facebook, following links from FB friends, messaging friends, etc. I am quite certain I spend much more time on FB than 17 minutes per posting. As an example of this point, I know one person who is on FB but who never clicks on "like", never posts anything, and never shares a thing but is still on FB on average a couple of hours each day just reading items and following links.
• I know lots of people who hold full-time jobs, don't use FB while they are at work, and still spend a lot of time on FB. It is a form of social networking, after all, and this social networking should probably NOT be thought of as time wasted. It provides happiness, joy, information, connections, etc. for its participants. I'm on it so much because I enjoy it. And from this perspective, unless you're from the Max Weber sense of Protestantism and the Calvinistic work ethic, it is difficult to see something that gives pleasure as time "wasted".
• I know others who use FB to try to expand their business options and contacts. For these people, too, it is hard to think of FBing as time wasted.
• In my case, I've been mostly retired for the past few years. What would I have been doing if I hadn't been on FB? Reading more? Writing more for the blog [www.EclectEcon.net]? Watching more television? Spending more time practicing musical instruments or studying roles for plays and films? Learning and installing Netflix so I could watch tonnes of old movies and tv shows on demand? Gotten a new job (doing what? maybe as a Walmart greeter or as a squeegee kid?)?
• In other words, what have I given up to be on FB so much? What are the opportunity costs of my having spent so much time on FB?
• Given the feasible options for me, and especially given my revealed preferences, I really doubt if I have "wasted" much, if any, time at all on FB.

One Lovely Blog

My actor/director/producer friend, Kerry Hishon nominated me for this award. She writes an excellent blog about theatre, mostly, as well as other aspects of her life. It is one of the very few blogs to which I subscribe. Her blog posts inspired me to post my "Theatre Briefs" as blog post entries. Thanks for the nomination, Kerry!

I've been writing EclectEcon for nearly ten years. I owe its origin primarily to Tyler Cowen and Craig Newmark, both of whom encouraged me and helped me in the early days of writing the blog. Through blogging I have met some very good friends over the past decade [e.g., see this] and learned so much more than I would have otherwise.

My life has changed, and so has the content of the blog. But I still enjoy sharing my views, reactions, analyses, and perspectives here.

It is with great pleasure that I accept Kerry's nomination, but it is with some hesitation that I nominate others. Here are the rules for those nominated (I hasten to add that I see no reason for those I nominate to obey any or all of these rules):

1. Thank the person who nominated you and include a link to their blog.
2. List the rules and display the award.
3. Add 7 facts about yourself.
4. Nominate 15 other bloggers and comment on one of their posts to let them know they have been nominated.
5. Display the award logo and follow the blogger who nominated you.

Seven Facts about me:

1. It took me far too long in life to realize and to acknowledge how grateful I am for so much.
2. As much as I like music, I don't listen to all that much, and I really do need to practice more.
3. I'm a dilettante, a dabbler. I love trying many different things. One of my favourite quotes listed on Facebook is a line from Frank Zappa's Camarillo Brillo: "Well I was born to have adventure...".
4. I simply cannot imagine what my life would be like without Ms Eclectic.
5. I love economics and "The Economic Way of Thinking".
6. Not counting phones, we have 23 clocks [but that includes DVD players, cable boxes, etc.]. "Does anybody really know what time it is?"
7. Aging itself isn't so bad, but some of the effects of aging get me down.

Blogs I nominate:

I don't read blogs nearly as avidly as I used to, but here are the ones that I continue to read regularly or semi-regularly. I nominate these:

• EconLog (Bryan Caplan, former student David Henderson, et al.)
• AskBlog (Arnold Kling)
• Cafe Hayek (Don Boudreaux and Russ Roberts)
• The Money Illusion (Scott Sumner)
• Political Calculations (The Ironman)
• Newmark's Door (Craig Newmark)
• Marginal Revolution (Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok)
• Worthwhile Canadian Initiative (Stephen Gordon, Nick Rowe, et al.)
• Composite Drawlings (Rebekah Kloepel)
• Market Power (Phil Miller)
• Melanie Phillips
• CiF Watch
• Coyote Blog
• The Powerline
• Not Even Wrong (Peter Woit, an important cosmology critic of string theory)

 

Related articles

Theatre Briefs 00: Introduction

EclectEcon, the Hockey Player

Everyday Economics: Prosperity and Trade

Tyler Cowen's Unusual Final Exam

Arrrggghhh

On Wednesday I slipped and fell very hard on my back. I should have gone to ER, but couldn't bear the thought of trying to sit up for hours in an ER waiting room. And then Thursday things seemed a bit better. But on Friday morning I was in agony, so we went to urgent care. After 7 hours.....

 

​....h​

ere are the details. The ER guy saw 

​a​

 compression fracture in

​ the​

 L1 

​vertebra ​

in the xray, but then said they should do a ct-scan to make sure there was nothing else

​ the matter​

 . The scan showed a bit of a compression in L2 and maybe some in L3 as well. So he called a neuro-osteo guy [back specialist]. They both agreed that since I was/am getting around ok with no tingling in my arms or legs, etc. (i.e. no nerve damage), the best thing is to "take two aspirins and call 'em in the morning." Well, actually, take two extra strength Tylenol every 4-6 hours and call them if things get worse. 

 

They've made a referral to a back specialist, possibly the same one who looked at the pix, I don't know. Apparently that office will call me and make an app

​ointment​

.

 

I landed very hard, but I suspect my aging and attendant loss of bone density may have played a role. I have no idea whether I really am losing bone density but I wouldn't be surprised if I am, which means I gotta be careful.... no seniors' rugby, I guess.

 

Dissociation was rampant: It seemed as if the ER doctor was talking about someone else as I heard him talking with the radiologist, "I have a[n under 90] male who is otherwise very fit....". Woohoo! It's nice to be thought of as "otherwise very fit"! But it is shocking to hear my age said out loud like that. I guess I haven't really accepted it.

 

Anyway, the outlook, assuming things stay stable (the ER dr's term

 ​)​

 in the spine, is as follows:

• medicate for pain
• don't do any strenuous exercise
• should be healed in 4-6 weeks [though medline says 8-10 weeks :-( ]
  

I sure hope it heals quickly. I have a show a week from today, which doesn't involve much movement, but it's one heck of a long trip: in an RV to Windsor. Then another show two weeks from today, again, nothing strenuous. We'll have to see how things go in Academia Nuts, the Fringe show I'll be in this coming June. For now we'll have to work around some of the more active scenes in the early rehearsals. But we should have all of May to work and refine things a

fter​

 I heal.

 

I'm in pretty good spirits for now. It's very painful getting up or sitting down or especially trying to lie down or get up --- changing positions in general. We're seeing the GP on Monday for our blocked eustachians, so when we see her I'll ask for some medical marijuana to help deal with the pain. ;-)

 

Meanwhile, despite being on the Atkins diet, we ordered pizza last night ---- comfort food!

 

Our reply to people who ask if they can do anything? Nope, but thanks for wanting to help.

 

​[more details here:  

http://umm.edu/programs/spine/health/guides/lumbar-compression-fractures

 which seems to be a very complete site.​ ]

​

 

 

Again, a request for my Facebook friends, please do not post comments there. I'll just delete 'em.

​

Related articles

Three Things I Would Like from my Family Physician

Photos: Aging

What Happened?

Friends and regular readers of EclectEcon have noticed that up until a few days ago, my blog postings and Facebook activity seemed considerably diminished. Aside from a few "likes" and "shares" I didn't post much on Facebook; in fact I didn't even keep up with all the status updates. And the blog postings were generally rare and brief.

They're right. A month ago, we went to Houston to visit our son and his family. While we were there, we both noticed some symptoms of illness (and are grateful that our granddaughters don't seem to have caught this), especially tiredness. Since our return we have both been quite ill. We had symptoms that seemed like H1N1 flu initially, but according to our family physician, this viral flu (whatever it was) morphed into a bacterial infection. The first bout of antibiotics didn't do the job, so she prescribed some stronger ones.

We seem to have improved health now, but it has been an exhausting period. Ms. Eclectic has a persistent cough, I have clogged eustachian tubes, and we are both tired almost all the time. Really tired.  There have been times when I wanted to post things, but just didn't have the energy to think about them deeply enough or to search for appropriate links. We have rarely left our home, and every time we do we go out, we have been extremely exhausted afterward. We managed to get out to do some shopping yesterday, but are done-in now.

We seem to be on the mend, though. Apologies to all whose emails have gone unanswered or been answered with terse remarks.

And to all my friends on Facebook, please do not comment on this. I want people to know, which is why I'm posting this, and I appreciate your implied well-wishes. Thanks.

P.S.: may the person who invented "peel and push" blister packs for medication burn in hell.

Sex, Horndogs, Porn, Curling, and the Blog

Some years ago, in an attempt to generate traffic to the blog, I posted links and subject lines to attract the attention of people who were looking for photos from the "Nude Women of Curling" calendar. [see here, here, and here, for example].

It worked. Traffic to the blog is up this week during the Olympic curling, and about half the traffic seems to be from people searching for nude photos of female curlers.

When I saw the traffic was up, I was hoping it was because people were interested in my views on economics or on higher education or something in my recent posts.

Nope.

And traffic at the curling blog is high, too, despite the fact that I haven't posted anything there for a long time. Same reason.

Apparently sex sells (as if we didn't already know that).

Houston

We're on our way to Houston, where our younger son (Adam Smith Palmer) and his family live. We're looking forward to seeing them again. And we are really going to  appreciate the warm(er) weather. It's about +5F going up to +8F with windchills below zero F here. There it is +46  going up to +54F with forecasts for pleasant +66F this weekend.

Blogging and social media actively may slack off a bit while I'm away.

My Real Age? This Quiz Says I'm 35

I tell people I'm under 90 but also am pleased to be immature young-at-heart, too. I didn't like all the choices available in this quiz. I suspect it was compiled by some smart aleck who has no idea what it's like be over 50 (and still under 90). But the first time I took it, the results said I'm 35. Yeah, sure.

So I took it again, giving slightly different answers for those questions where I'd been ambivalent. 35 again.

Third try, 27 going on 45 with this comment:

The only thing you like better than going to bed very early is proclaiming to the world that you are going to bed very early. Because you are old.

Overall pretty stupid.

"But Enough about Me. What Did YOU Think of My Performance?"

The subject line of this blog post is a well-known punchline/joke, knowingly and often repeated among actors. We are a self-centred lot.

Here is some further evidence (as if more were needed). Remember those Theatre Briefs I posted during the past few months? [The index to them is here] Guess which one gets by far the most traffic.

The one with suggestions about how to write your biography for the programme. Yes, we want to be better actors, but we also want to know how to present ourselves to others.

 

Related articles

31 Theatre Briefs: Index

Theatre Brief 30: Theatre Definitions

My Favourite Drug Dealer

A close internet correspondent has suggested I make it clear that when I use this phrase I am referring to someone who is a licensed pharmacist; it is not someone who peddles illicit drugs on street corners. Just in case, so there is no confusion or misrepresentation.

What Would You Ask a Federal Reserve Bank President?Rocky Mountain Economic Summit, 003

At the Rocky Mountain Economic Summit, I will likely have the opportunity to spend some time with Charles Plosser, President of the Philadelphia Fed, and Jim Bullard, President of the St. Louis Fed.

I will be attending the Summit with journalist credentials and in that capacity will be able to interview these two speakers (and others) while I am there. What should I ask them? Here are some ideas I now have, but I don't know how deep we can get or how much time I will have. I am eagrely searching for other suggestions.

• What is the likelihood the Fed will monetize substantially more of the US debt, leading to future inflation?
• Given the massive and growing US debt (and the possibility of future inflation), what is your outlook for the term structure of interest rates? 
• Put differently, why are long-term interest rates so low?
• Why does the velocity of money appear to have declined so much over the past decade or so?
• There was an intriguing chart from the St. Louis Fed back in about 2008 showing a massive increase in "high-powered money". What happened to all that monetary base, and why didn't it have more of an impact on the real economy?
• How important was the liquidity created by the shadow banks, and its subsequent collapse, in causing the 2007 financial implosion?
• Why on earth did the Fed decide to pay interest on bank reserves held at the Fed at the very time it was trying to stimulate the economy? That sounds painfully like the "soaking up excess reserves" mistake made by the Fed back in the 1930s.

I welcome your suggestions/refinements either via email or in the comments.

My attendance at the summit is supported by several sponsors, including the Department of Economics at The University of Regina.

Related articles

Rocky Mountain Economic Summit, 001

Bullard Says Fed Should Maintain 'Effective' QE Program - Bloomberg

The Fed: Philly Fed's Plosser: Slow, then end, bond buys

Converting "Too Big to Fail" into "Too Small to Save"

Three Fed Presidents Call to Phase Out Mortgage Bond Buys - Bloomberg

Rocky Mountain Economic Summit, 002

Paul Krugman Explains Why Crow Tastes So Good

Let's face it. Not many people are good prognosticators. In fact most of us do not even bother trying to imagine what the world will be like in 20 years. But in this article, Paul Krugman explains why most economits' predictions are wrong. My explanation for why most economists' predictions are wrong includes the following:

• Many of our predictions are not wrong. The basic supply and demand models work very well most of the time.
• Our macro models, dealing with inflation and unemployment, are generally quite poor. 
• It's hard to predict what politicians are going to do.
• Rational expectations and adaptation: if we predict prices are going to go down a year from now, and people believe us (ha!), they'll sell now, and prices will go down now, not a year from now.

Here are some predictions Paul Krugman made back in 1998:

* Productivity will drop sharply this year. Nineteen ninety-seven, which was a very good year for worker productivity, has led many pundits to conclude that the great technology-led boom has begun. They are wrong. Last year will prove to have been a blip, just like 1992.

* Inflation will be back. Wages are rising at almost 5 percent annually, and the underlying growth of productivity is probably only 1.5 percent or less. Sooner or later, companies will have to start raising prices. In 1999 inflation will probably be more than 3 percent; with only moderate bad luck--say, a drop in the dollar--it could easily top 4 percent. Sell bonds!

* Within two or three years, the current mood of American triumphalism--our belief that we have pulled economically and technologically ahead of the rest of the world--will evaporate. All it will take is a few technological setbacks or a mild recession here while Europe or Japan recovers a bit.

* The growth of the Internet will slow drastically, as the flaw in "Metcalfe's law"--which states that the number of potential connections in a network is proportional to the square of the number of participants--becomes apparent: most people have nothing to say to each other! By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet's impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine's.

* As the rate of technological change in computing slows, the number of jobs for IT specialists will decelerate, then actually turn down; ten years from now, the phrase information economy will sound silly.

* Sometime in the next 20 years, maybe sooner, there will be another '70s-style raw-material crunch: a disruption of oil supplies, a sharp run-up in agricultural prices, or both. And suddenly people will remember that we are still living in the material world and that natural resources matter.

The lesson to be learned? Economists are not much good at predicting the future .... and if we were, we'd do it rather than write about it.

Cited by Bloomberg. let's face it: sex and violence sell

There was an uptick in traffic to The EclectEcon recently. I looked to see what it was, and saw there was considerable traffic sent here from a blog posting at Bloomberg.com. And what article was cited there? A strange one that told about a prof at Columbia who linked sex and the US invasion of Iraq.

In such a strategy, Iraqis are posited by American super-masculine fighter-bomber pilots as women and feminised men to be penetrated by the missiles and bombs ejected from American warplanes.

I'd even forgotten about that posting, but it must have stuck in someone's mind (actually it was pretty high on the Google search list).

Me? A Flower?? Maybe a Snapdragon or a Canna Lily?

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

 The site's description:

"Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the prankster that loves to make other people laugh."

Shows what kind of mood I was in when I did that survey. But so many of the questions had answers that didn't quite suit me; or in some cases there was more than one answer that came close. So I retook the survey and got this answer:

I am a Canna What Flower Are You?

And the site's description of me this time?

"You stand up for what you believe in, even if it gets in the way of what other people think. You are proud of yourself and your accomplishments and you enjoy letting people know that."

I guess. After all, I do put a lot of stuff on Facebook.

at least it didn't call me a thistle!

Linked-In? Skool Daze? Whatever...

I keep receiving requests from people to connect with them via Linked In or Schooldays or whatever it is. I have no idea why I should or what the value of doing so might be... to them or to me. If I might have been a classmate, okay, I'll connect via Schooldays even if I don't have the foggiest idea of who you might be. But if I get a Linked-in request from someone I don't know, I just ignore it. Either way, I must say, I don't see the point of these versions of social media.

But maybe I'm wrong. Long-time readers of EclectEcon may remember that Scoop tried to encourage me to join Facebook, and I wouldn't do it until he created a Facebook group encouraging me to join and managed to find 50 people to join that group. After several months he, Rondi, and Erin, succeeded and I joined.

At the time I wrote,

Now that I have joined Facebook, I have a sense of alone-ness. Nobody from my high school or undergraduate graduating classes is a member of Facebook. Nobody from my present hometown is a member of Facebook. That says a lot about both my age and about the demographic market for Facebook.

That was over five years ago. Since then things have changed considerably. Many, many more people are FB members.  I have become increasingly active on Facebook. I have many friends there from all over creation based on my having taught and lived in so many places and having been involved in many different aspects of the arts, economics, and blogging. Through Facebook I keep in touch with former students with whom I'd almost surely have lost touch without FB. And I've renewed friendships with grade school and high school friends, as well as a couple of relatives. I love it.

My granddaughter and I had a contest last summer to see who was more addicted to Facebook. She won, but barely. Also, it is clear that posting links and comments on Facebook has replaced some of my blogging.

So maybe there is something to these other groups like Linked-in and SkoolDaze. But if so, what is it??

And does anyone really use Google+?

Over a Million

It went by without my noticing, but sometime a week or two ago, EclectEcon (combined with its earlier manifestations) reached a million page views. I realize that probably half the page views are directed to the blog by Google searches for nude curlers or crotch shots of Britney Spears or maybe even the infamous Danish cartoons. But at least some visitors have some interest in what I have written.

Imagine the traffic if I had continued posting two or more items/day!

Two Months of Chaos

Blog postings have been sparse at times lately. Here, in a nutshell, is why:

• After returning from Regina, SK, to Clinton, ON, at the end of April, we have sold our house in Clinton and moved to a condo apartment in London, ON in mid-June. The downsizing and packing (plus the shopping and selling time) were time-consuming and harrowing (but well worth it).
• Ms. Eclectic and I realized that the University of Regina had been a happy and productive professional adventure for me last year, and so I negotiated with them for a return to Regina for the autumn term.
• As some of you know, less than a week before our move to the condo, we learned that our three-year-old granddaughter has high-risk, stage IV neuroblastoma, a particularly nasty form of cancer that hits children and infants.
• Shortly after the move, I went to Houston, TX, for a week to be with my grandddaughter and her family while she received her first of many bouts of chemotherapy (with other therapies to follow). 
• After a week at home, unpacking and arranging our condo, I'm now on my way back to Houston for about two weeks. If I can help out the family in any way, much of my spare time will be spent in Houston as she receives various treatments over the next year or so.

I expect that as I adjust to these changes, the blog postings will become more regular.

Problems with TypePad: why does this blog take so long to load?

TypePad has changed things again. And now it seems to take about 5 seconds for this blog to load, no matter which browser I use. Does anyone have any suggestions? I notice that other TypePad-hosted blogs don't seem to have this problem, so I'm wondering what it might be on this blog that is causing the lag.

The Nude Women of Curling: Better than an Insta-lanche?

My recollection of this is fuzzy, but I think the impact of people's searches for the Nude Women of Curling Calendar photos has now surpassed the phenomenal increase in traffic to this blog from when Glenn Reynolds mentioned my posting about "The Cartoonists Strike Back" on Instapundit four years ago. And the traffic at our blog devoted to curling has been more than 50% higher than it has been here for the same reason.

Sex Sells: The Nude Women of Curling Calendar

Once again we have noticed a dramatic increase in traffic to this blog and to Curling, where I co-blog with Alan Adamson. With a few seconds of checking, we discovered that the higher traffic is not to read our brilliant insights, but is from people searching for the "Nude Women of Curling Calendar". Our friend, John Chilton, has sent us several recent links that mention the calendar; I guess the mention of the calendar elsewhere helps explain the sudden spurt of interest in the calendar and the searches that have led people to our sites.

We appreciate the traffic and the interest, and we appreciate the searches that people have made to find this artful work. At the same time, we hope all our visitors will look around and re-visit us for other reasons, too.

as if.

EclectEcon: Profiled on NormBlog This Week

EclectEcon is being profiled in the weekly posting about bloggers on NormBlog. While that profile probably tells more about me than it should, which questions I chose to answer was probably also revealing.

Coincidentally, my fifth anniversary of blogging occurred this week, too (first posting on November 4, 2004).

EclectEcon Named One of Top 100 Blogs for Economics Students and one of top 20 by economics educators

I do not quite understand the selection criteria or the ranking criteria for this listing but I'm pleased to see that EclectEcon is listed 9th among economics blogs by educators, ahead of Robert Reich, Gary Becker-Richard Posner, and Paul Krugman, among others.

Unfortunately there are several important omissions from their list. Among the omissions are:

• Newmark's Door (Craig Newmark, NCSU). The first blog I read each day. Not always explicitly economics content, but always worth checking
• Market Power (Phil Miller, Mankato). Co-author on some sports economics work. Fascinating and enjoyable market man
• SCSU Scholars (King Banaian, St. Cloud). Knowledgeable and informative blog by two people in Minnesota.
• The Emirates Economist (John Chilton, UAE) A former colleague presents an informed perspective on the Middle East in general and the UAE in particular.
• Supply and Demand (in that order), (Casey Mulligan, Chicago) primarily on current macro. Not always mainstream, which makes it an important blog to read.
• Tim Worstall , Daily sensible commentary on economic events, primarily in England
• Bill Polley (Western Illinois), Bright Macro guy who deserves to be better known
• John Lott, Assiduous free market economist who makes everyone think harder. I wish we had hired him at UWO.
• Mike Moffat, (About Economics) a former student who has boundless energy
• and a whole bunch of others, too, listed along the right side of this blog

I don't know which ones should be dropped from the list to make room for these blogs, but I haven't even heard of a bunch of the ones on their list. Suggestions are welcome.

Posner's Other Blog, Wherein He Calls Krugman a Born-Again Keynesian

I don't know how Richard Posner reads and writes as much as he does. But he does so much and does it so well.

Recently, Posner began another blog in addition to his original blog that he co-authors with Gary Becker. His latest blog, sponsored by The Atlantic, is called "A Failure of Capitalism", the same as the title of his book published this past spring by Harvard Press and about the financial crisis and the 2008ff recession in the United States.

In his most recent posting, Posner criticizes Paul Krugman's unabashed support for more gubmnt intervention in the market for health care, referring to Krugman as a "born again Keynesian".  Posner's criticism is that the debate has created considerable uncertainty and that this uncertainty has caused people not only to save but to hoard liquidity, thus prolonging and deepening the recession. Let me add that this criticism applies to much of the Democrat and Obama agenda for increasing involvement of the gubmnt in the economy. Here is the conclusion from this posting:

Initially the concern was with the macroeconomic implications of adding some $100 billion a year to the federal deficit (an underestimate, in my view, because it ignores the increase in demand for medical services by tens of millions of persons who will have health insurance for the first time, which will reduce the marginal cost of medical services to them). The concern became so acute that focus shifted to measures for financing the program so that it would not add to the deficit. But when this happened, businesses and individuals alike began asking: what part of the cost of the new program will I bear? And this question injects a new and very major source of uncertainty into the economic environment. Small businessmen are worrying about the added cost to them if they are required to insure their employees, and individuals are wondering whether their cost of health insurance will rise. Most people do have health insurance and most of those who do are more or less satisfied with it; anyway better the devil you know than the devil you don't know.

Prudent businessmen and prudent individuals alike have thus been given an additional motive for hoarding cash rather than investing and consuming. No one knows how his financial situation will be affected by health reform, if it is is enacted. There is enormous and I think justified distrust of the government's ability to design and execute so ambitious a program as the Administration and the congressional leadership envisage.

One might think that this would give a born-again Keynesian macroeconomist like Paul Krugman pause. But not only does he say nothing about the effect of the debate over health reform on uncertainty and through it on the economic situation, even though he is pessimistic about the situation; he provides no analysis of the likely costs of health reform, and the incidence of those costs on particular groups in the society. He does nothing to allay the uncertainty that the debate over health reform has engendered.

My only concern about this particular blog is that it seems designed to plug his book. Not that I think his book shouldn't be plugged; in fact, I bought the book as soon as it was advertised.

Back and Ready to Blog Again Soon

After more than a month away from blogging while I traveled and did other things, I'm home now. It will take some time before the blog posts come at a regular pace, but at least they will restart soon. Thanks to everyone for your patience.

Taking a Break

With apologies to all and with thanks to the regular readers who have asked if I'm okay, the answer is that I'm fine. I'm just taking a break from blogging while I'm teaching in England. There is much to blog about, but I'm just not finding the time to do it while I'm here this time.