Lars P. Syll

Larry Summers — ‘New Keynesian’ economics needs to be replaced Standard new Keynesian macroeconomics essentially abstracts away from most of what is important in macroeconomics. To an even greater extent, this is true of the dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models that are the workhorse of central bank staffs and much practically oriented academic work. Why? New Keynesian models imply that stabilization policies cannot affect the average level of output over time and that the...

Empirical macroeconomics — a scientific illusion Theoretical particle physicists wait anxiously to see whether experimentalists will be able to identify the particles their theories postulate. The image of an economic theorist nervously awaiting the result of a decisive econometric test does not ring true. The negligible impact of formal econometric work on the development of economic science is manifest in a number of ways … In the natural sciences, investigators rush to check out the...

Displaying the ridiculousness of libertarianism  [embedded content]  [embedded content]   [h/t Jan Milch]

The for-profit schools bubble For-profit colleges have capitalized on our desire to make education more inclusive. Students at for-profit schools are able to borrow huge sums of money because the government does not take creditworthiness into account when making most student loans. The goal is noble: everyone should be able to go to college. The result, though, is that too many people end up with debts they cannot repay. Seen this way, the students at for-profit schools look a lot like the...

Wage cuts — the ultimate atomistic fallacy The world has been slow to realize that we are living this year in the shadow of one of the greatest economic catastrophes of modern history. But now that the man in the street has become aware of what is happening, he, not knowing the why and wherefore, is as full to-day of what may prove excessive fears as, previously, when the trouble was first coming on, he was lacking in what would have been a reasonable anxiety. He begins to doubt the future...

Postmodernism — self-refuting nonsense Either (1) the Holocaust happened as a real, objective event in the past or (2) it did not as an objective fact, and any left-wing person who denies objective truth has got no business opposing, criticising and condemning the disgusting, shameful and ignorant fringe of Holocaust deniers we see today. Rather, any Postmodernists who really believe their truth relativism and Foucault’s view of truth should be saying that “all truth is made by power,” no...

Robert Lucas warped view on advancing knowledge The years 1978-1986 saw the first out-of-sample test by reality of both Lucas’s original theory that it was all information misperceptions driven by unanticipated monetary shocks and Lucas’s later allegiance to Prescott’s theory that it was all shocks to total factor productivity–recessions = “great forgettings”. Both Lucas’s monetary-misperceptions and Prescott’s real business cycle theory failed those tests catastrophically. Yet that — the...

I dessa tider — när ljudrummet dränks i den kommersiella radions tyckmyckentrutade ordbajseri och fullständigt intetsägande pubertalflamsande tjafs — har man ju nästan gett upp. Men det finns ljus i mörkret! I radions P2 går varje lördagmorgon ett vederkvickelsens och den seriösa musikens Lördagsmorgon i P2. Eric Schüldt har under flera år förgyllt våra lördagar. I höstmörkret har han vederkvickt våra utsvultna själar med gudomlig musik. En programledare som haft något att säga och inte...

Ha Ha Said The Clown  [embedded content]

 [embedded content] Une grande chanson d’espoir. Quand on a que l’amour A offrir а ceux-lа Dont l’unique combat Est de chercher le jour Alors sans avoir rien Que la force d’aimer Nous aurons dans nos mains Amis, le monde entier