I was unfortunately unable to attend the Kauffman Economics Bloggers' Forum this year. In lieu of a personal appearance, Brad DeLong asked me to do a quick video on the topic of how blogging might affect one's career in economics. So here is that video. It's a topic I've covered before, so not a ton of new stuff here if you're a regular reader. But with the video version, you get to see my office bookshelf! Awesome!
(Note: I now realize that this video makes it sound as if Justin Wolfers started blogging after me, when actually, he was blogging before I was.)
Update: As some people have pointed out, this video contains a mistake. I say that I spend "1 to 1.5 hours a week" blogging. I totally misspoke. I spend 1 to 1.5 hours per post. At 2-3 posts a week, that's 2 to 5 hours per week. Thanks to the people who caught that...
Anyway, for much much more on the Kauffman forum, visit Brad DeLong's blog.
Thanks Noah, that's great advise. But do you really spend only 1-1.5 hours a week on your blog? It looks like you post multiple times per week and every post is fairly long (maybe 500-600 words). Plus, writing a post requires a lot of reading, looking for good links (or retrieving them)and editing. I'd probably need an hour just for a single post like that (I mean, of that length).
ReplyDeleteYep, I misspoke. 1-1.5 hours per post, not per week. See correction.
DeleteNoah
ReplyDeleteThanks for making this video.
I blog about business news, not economics, but much of what you said here resonated with me. In fact, I would imagine that it might resonate with any professional that blogs about their profession.
Mohan Kompella
Thank you Noah for your insights... I am one of those bloggers who has new research. I am also not affiliated with any institution. I am completely independent in my own room. The blog is the only way for me to publish and get exposure.
ReplyDeleteI have been tremendously supported by Professor Mark Thoma. I was a commenter on his blog for a couple years until I discovered a new equation for effective demand. The strength of the equation grew beyond a commenter so I had to stop being a commenter and "move up" to my own blog. For the past month now, I have been "blogging" my new research.
Professor Thoma knows about my research and in little ways has encouraged me. I am an extremely small person in the economics field, yet he has given me some time of his very busy days. I am most thankful for every quick glance he casts my way, with due respect.
The point is... I am growing and having my own blog helps.
It is wonderfully inspirational to have the freedom to lay out new insights in economics and put them before the public for scrutiny. I spend at least 8 hours a day preparing posts and researching, apart from my full-time job.
Even though I am a total peon in the profession, I rely on the strength of my insights. After all, it is not about me. It is about the ideas. The ideas are bigger than me. Effective demand is probably the core concept of Keynes' thinking. And you don't hear about it. In my little blog way, I am filling this huge hole in economics. And I would love for some top researchers to catch on and start working with these equations too.
Well, I am writing too much... here is the link to my blog about Effective demand, so you know where I am coming from.
http://effectivedemand.typepad.com
So how is your research coming ....
ReplyDeleteNot bad! I'm running a number of experiments, and working on 3 theory papers...I want to branch out into more traditional empirical stuff, but haven't gotten around to that yet...
DeleteBut how much time does it take to also read and answer comments?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I think blogging is not too harmful if someone doesn't also have kids suckig up much of their time, and if they are a genuinely likable person, kinda like you. You sometimes raise my blood pressure, but I could never hold it against you. :-)
But how much time does it take to also read and answer comments?
DeleteToo much, with you around! ;-)
*shakes fist*
Anyway, I think blogging is not too harmful if someone doesn't also have kids suckig up much of their time, and if they are a genuinely likable person, kinda like you. You sometimes raise my blood pressure, but I could never hold it against you. :-)
Aww, shucks...
Was it the strategy you chose? Or was it that you could not help yourself ?
ReplyDeleteIt was a deliberate choice...
DeleteNoah - Blogging is not for everyone. One of the things that helps you a lot is that you write with considerable grace. Too many blog posts are poorly written and too much of the econ blog-o-sphere is self referential. Overall, the signal to noise ratio is low and falling.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Absalon!
DeleteI disagree with your pessimistic assessment of the overall quality of econ blogging, however. We now have Miles Kimball, Owen Zidar, Carola Binder, Austin Frakt, and a lot of other serious people doing lite of stuff that doesn't involve slinging insults or self-promoting.
An hour to an hour and a half a week?! Given that you maintain one of the more prolific and more profound blogs on my Reader (RIP), I don't see how that's possible. You're a machine, Mr. Smith.
ReplyDelete