Recently Mentioned Books

The authors are Randall S. Kroszner and Bob Shiller, the subtitle is Reflections Before and Beyond Dodd-Frank , and the volume consists of a paper by Shiller (let’s democratize and humanize finance) and a paper by Kroszner (“ don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater “) and lots of transcribed discussion.  Here is one excerpt from George Kaufman:

You'll find it here , it's about The Great Stagnation .  I thought it was a very good dialogue.  It focused on the areas where you might expect Russ Roberts to disagree with the main argument, and we covered a lot of meaty territory, including a good discussion of Julian Simon and the political economy of admitting that growth has slowed down.

That is from Oliver Bullough's Let Our Fame be Great: Journeys Among the Defiant People of the Caucasus .

3. Jonathan Bendor, Daniel Diermeier, David A. Siegel, and Michael M. Ting, A Behavioral Theory of Elections .  The point is to predict both turnout and voting behavior (hard to get both right at once in a model), and the authors a computational model on top of all of that.  I have long been wanting more behavioral public choice.

2. Bengt Holmstrom and Jean Tirole, Inside and Outside Liquidity .  This is a take on what follows from the imperfect pledgeability of corporate assets, by two of the world's leading economic theorists.

Addendum : Here is my book on government support for the arts , and the proper roles of the aesthetic and political in liberal thought.

The critical responses to The Great Stagnation prefer to attack median income measures and in general they are reluctant to talk about total factor productivity.  Yet we are pointed very much toward the same conclusion.  My first post on TGS also considered these issues and you will find some relevant Charles Jones papers here .

The excellent Brink Lindsey pointed my attention to this fascinating book, subtitled The End of Economic Growth and the Beginning of Human Transformation (like many subtitles, that one is an exaggeration), wirtten by C. Owen Paepke and published in 1993.  A brief book summary is here .

The author is Frank Brady and the subtitle is Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall — from America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness .  It is sure to make my list of the best books of 2011 and it requires no real knowledge of chess.  Here is an excerpt on the rationality of the young Fischer:

1. Here is one passage from The Great Stagnation : "Since 1989, the size-adjusted and size – unadjusted measures have been rising at roughly the same rate , and post-1979 the difference between the size-adjusted and the size-unadjusted median income measures is never more than 0.3 percent."  For more on this, see Lawrence Mishel, Jared Bernstein, and Heidi Shierholz, The State of Working America 2008/2009 , chapter one.

1. Here is one passage from The Great Stagnation : "Since 1989, the size-adjusted and size – unadjusted measures have been rising at roughly the same rate , and post-1979 the difference between the size-adjusted and the size-unadjusted median income measures is never more than 0.3 percent."  For more on this, see Lawrence Mishel, Jared Bernstein, and Heidi Shierholz, The State of Working America 2008/2009 , chapter one.

In my conversation with Tyler about his new and much-debated book, The Great Stagnation , I was particularly struck by his explanation (at around 21:30) for how he came to embrace the idea that we are experiencing an innovation slowdown. His remarks about Julian Simon are also very noteworthy.

6. Richard B. McKenzie, Predictably Rational: In Search of Defenses for Rational Behavior in Economics .  The subtitle says it all, and the cover inverts the colors on the Dan Ariely book.  Here is a short McKenzie piece on the book and here is Mario Rizzo on the book .

5. New readings on the Euro include Paul Krugman's essay , Philipp Bagus, The Tragedy of the Euro , and Matthew Lynn, Bust: Greece, the Euro, and the Sovereign Debt Crisis .

5. New readings on the Euro include Paul Krugman's essay , Philipp Bagus, The Tragedy of the Euro , and Matthew Lynn, Bust: Greece, the Euro, and the Sovereign Debt Crisis .

4. Jeffrey Friedman, editor, What Caused the Financial Crisis .  Of all the books on the crisis, this one is arguably the most conceptual.  The authors of the essays include Stiglitz, John Taylor, Acemoglu, and Richard Posner.

3. Martin Gilman, No Precedent, No Plan: Inside Russia's 1998 Default .  This is not the definitive study it could have been, but it is a start toward writing a serious economic history of a still-neglected period.

2. Darin Strauss, Half a Life .  The author, as a young man, runs over a young girl on her bike and it ruins much, but not all, of his life.  It wasn't his fault.  This tract was well done enough to hold my interest, but I'm not sure how much it goes beyond the summary I offer right here.  Nominated for a National Book award.

1. Tino Balio, The Foreign Film Renaissance on American Screens, 1946-1973 .  One of the best pieces of U.S. cultural history I've read in years.  This book explains and recreates the time when foreign films were culturally central in the United States.  Here is a recent article on how we are consuming foreign films today; we're in a new renaissance of production, but few people seem to know the films themselves.

I never knew my paternal grandfather, but I was told he loved the music of Bartok, Stravinsky, Hindemith, and above all, Stan Kenton .  My grandfather was a professional jazz drummer in the era of big band, supposedly with more talent than workplace discipline .  Maybe because it's a way of keeping a connection with Grandpa Tom, but I've been listening to the music of Stan Kenton for about thirty-five years.  In any case the best Kenton cuts (download here ) still strike me as underrated.  Despi...

I never knew my paternal grandfather, but I was told he loved the music of Bartok, Stravinsky, Hindemith, and above all, Stan Kenton .  My grandfather was a professional jazz drummer in the era of big band, supposedly with more talent than workplace discipline .  Maybe because it's a way of keeping a connection with Grandpa Tom, but I've been listening to the music of Stan Kenton for about thirty-five years.  In any case the best Kenton cuts (download here ) still strike me as underrated.  Despi...

I never knew my paternal grandfather, but I was told he loved the music of Bartok, Stravinsky, Hindemith, and above all, Stan Kenton .  My grandfather was a professional jazz drummer in the era of big band, supposedly with more talent than workplace discipline .  Maybe because it's a way of keeping a connection with Grandpa Tom, but I've been listening to the music of Stan Kenton for about thirty-five years.  In any case the best Kenton cuts (download here ) still strike me as underrated.  Despi...

I just received a copy of Tim Worstall's new Chasing Rainbows: How the Green Agenda Defeats its Aims .  I am wondering: what are the best serious, economically-informed accounts on how to "eat green" in an informed way?  I am looking for suggestions which take economic reasoning and the idea of secondary consequences into account.

The author is Ralph Keyes and you can buy it here .  Here are three excerpts:

The author is Bryan Caplan and the subtitle is Why Being a Great Parent is Less Work and More Fun Than You Think .  Both were true for me and I predict at least one will be true for you.  It is now available for pre-order on Amazon .  And here is Bryan, new to Twitter .