We had a very enthusiastic EconTea today with Bob Atwell and Sarah Bohn, including a cursory discussion of Michael Lewis’ excellent series of pieces over the past two years in Vanity Fair. Here’s a piece on the rather bizarre Icelandic collapse. Then another on the Greek disaster. That doesn’t look good for them. And, finally, …
Michael Lewis is one of our generation’s most influential business writers, having penned the Wall Street classic Liar’s Poker (even I read that one), the professional sports classic Moneyball (hey, I read that one, too), along with assorted other gems on the would-be masters of the universe (here’s a page-turner about Iceland ). Why am …
Michael Lewis in his recently released book The Big Short highlighted several investors who anticipated the financial crisis and took actions to gain from it. One of them, Michael Burry was featured on a recent edition of 60 Minutes. In Sunday’s New York Times, Burry lays out the case. Op-Ed Contributor – I Saw the …
Central bankers in all major developed economies have adopted NIRP, ZIRP, or near ZIRP policies. The Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank now “offer” negative interest rates (NIRP) on reserves and project to do so for the foreseeable future. The Bank of England and the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States remain …
In 2003, Michael Lewis published Moneyball, the story of how a team with a relative small payroll (the Oakland Athletics) was able to be competitive by understanding how a general manager (Billy Beane) should spend money to generate the most wins. Many major league baseball teams now apply some of the strategies that Beane adopted …
The new Lawrence Today showed up in my mailbox today, and as promised I have provided another few hundred words on the dynamics of the college wage premium. You can click here to read my post on what exactly “composition-adjusted log real wages” means, along with a discussion about the trajectory of U.S. wages over …
Here’s some more on the situation in Greece. When I see a blog post titled “The Scariest Chart in Europe Just Got Even Scarier,” I typically think the author is invoking some grand hyperbole. Perhaps not in this case. Here’s Derek Thompson at The Atlantic: Thompson points us to a link that draws this conclusion: …
Ah, Winter Break is almost upon us, which means that it is almost time to get to my pile of books. I’m not sure what came over me, but I just went out and bought a whole bunch more that I can’t possibly get to. Here’s the latest in the queue: Roger E. Backhouse and …
Yale economist Gary Gorton reviews Michael Lewis’s The Big Short and Gregory Zuckerman’s The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History in the latest Journal of Economic Literature. Here’s how Gorton describes the books: Their take is that a small band of wacky outsider characters were able to see the …
In the wake of Michael Lewis’s recent piece, Professor Galambos reminds me of the excellent “In Search of the Pope’s Children” from 2006. If you have read the piece on Germany, you might take a look at the first 15 minutes of part 3, which is amazingly prescient given this was done five years ago …
Michael Lewis continues his Vanity Fair series with a rather disturbing article — disturbing on many levels — about Germany and the world financial crisis: “It’s the Economy, Dummkopf!” Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution calls the piece ” funny, one-sided, slightly offensive, somewhat true.” I agree with everything except the “slightly” part. Not for the …
The economic situation in Greece is downright gruesome, and I have to wonder how bad the social unrest is to become there. The principal source of my pessimism is a piece from last October where Michael Lewis essentially argues that the situation is hopeless: But beyond a $1.2 trillion debt (roughly a quarter-million dollars for …
I finished up Michael Lewis‘s The Big Short and I think I found it worthwhile and poignant. It’s a character-driven piece that follows some of the players — as the title suggests — who shorted the housing market and went to the bank. To Lewis’s credit, he seems to do a pretty good job …
Now that Commencement has passed, we can get on with our summers. For me, that means I can try to take a bite out of the big, tasty stack of books I have been accumulating over the past 9 months. These are my picks: Michael Lewis, The Big Short. Almost anything by Lewis is fun …
Überwriter Michael Lewis has written extensively about the potential economic impacts of an earthquake in Japan, “How a Tokyo Earthquake Could Devastate Wall Street and the Global Economy.” Interesting thing about this is that he wrote the piece back in 1989!!! My eyes aren’t quite good enough to make out that copy online, unfortunately, so …
In a recent issue of Vanity Fair (of all places), Michael Lewis (of Moneyball, the Blind Side, and The Big Short fame) describes the rise and fall of the economy of Ireland. He highlights several major policy mistakes made by those in power for which they were soundly thrashed in the Irish election yesterday. Lewis’s …
Looking to pick up some reading recommendations for the upcoming Reading Period? My pick is Tyler Cowen’s e-book, The Great Stagnation, which has been something of a sensation since its release (if by sensation you mean, which I do, a bunch of economists and policy wonks have been reading and reviewing it). Plenty of buzz …
A couple of final words on the summer I&E Reading Group selection, Moneyball. As was argued by Michael Lewis, Billy Beane capitalized by exploiting what appeared to be a market inefficiency. Indeed, economists Jahn Hakes and Skip Sauer found empirical support for this proposition . An interesting question, then, is why other teams didn’t innovate …
It’s the middle of the summer, and it’s time to check in with the I&E Reading Group. This summer, we have Michael Lewis’ Moneyball and Louis Menand’s Marketplace of Ideas. If you need a copy of either, I know we have them at The Mudd. For our first book, Lewis provides us with a look …
Given the dwindling attendance in my courses, either the weather has become appreciably better, Midwestern style, or Professor Finkler is giving another macro exam. Both are sure signs that summer is just around the corner. That means it’s time to unveil the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Reading Group‘s summer books. The first book comes recommended from …
