Markets Reward Principled People
In a column on the late founder of the Vanguard money management firm, Jack Bogle, Yale Economics Professor Robert Shiller observed: In... Read More
What Will Cause the Next Financial Crisis?
Economist Brad DeLong looked for the source of the next significant economic downturn and shows just how close an economist can get... Read More
Are Economists Scholars?
In an editorial on the GOP tax bill, Economist Brad DeLong set a standard for separating highly paid, partisan myth pushers from... Read More
Transparency Literally Pays Off
A new study found that alternative investment funds that offer more transparency to their investors also perform better. Private equity, real estate,... Read More
The Myth of Financial Regulators Anticipating a Crisis
Financial regulators remind me of the drunk looking for his lost car keys under the street light because that is where the... Read More
Biggest Lesson of 2008
The biggest lesson of 2008 is opacity is the necessary condition for a financial crisis to occur. Investors panic and rush to... Read More
Until Something Breaks
On August 27, 2018, Fed Chairman Powell announced the Fed would raise rates and shrink its balance sheet “until something breaks”. The... Read More
The Role of Narratives and Transparency in Financial Markets
Trust, but Verify. This elegant expression lies at the heart of how our financial markets work. It also highlights the respective roles... Read More
Debt and Information Sensitivity
When the acute phase of the Great Financial Crisis hit, PhD Economists went into overdrive inventing new theories to explain what happened.... Read More
The Financial Crisis and the End of Trusting Elites
The response in 2008 to the acute phase of the Great Financial Crisis undermined trust not just in our technocratic elites, but... Read More
Financial Crises and the Flight to Safety
A key feature of financial crises is the flight to low risk assets. Scholars see this flight as the transmission mechanism that... Read More
The Veil of Opacity Is Needed for Bank Scandals to Occur
Why is anyone surprised when bankers engage in misbehavior behind the veil of opacity? They shouldn’t be. In the 1930s, the Pecora... Read More
The Economics Profession Chooses Ignorance
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The Economics profession is still without an explanation for why the Great Financial Crisis occurred that doesn’t leave out inconvenient facts. Specifically,... Read More
Deutsche Bank and a “New Era of Transparency”
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Is Deutsche Bank finally going to usher in the new era of transparency it promised investors over a year ago? Highly unlikely.... Read More
The Closing of the PhD Economist’s Mind
There is nothing as tightly sealed shut as an academic macroeconomist’s mind. Unless of course, it is the minds of the rest... Read More