tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post9100629117685756286..comments2024-03-28T03:16:14.104-04:00Comments on Noahpinion: Steve Williamson is right that I am confusedNoah Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09093917601641588575noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-66931392526143357672015-04-24T19:57:13.085-04:002015-04-24T19:57:13.085-04:00Look at how much of real estate price is land rent...Look at how much of real estate price is land rent (i.e., 100% economic rent). As any one can observe, land rents are amongst the stickiest of prices. Land can cheerfully hold out while capital rusts and labor starves.<br /><br />J-LibAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-10414273262220222172015-04-21T07:57:18.715-04:002015-04-21T07:57:18.715-04:00Really? Not as sticky as they were.<a href="http://www.apartments.com/" rel="nofollow">Really?</a> Not as sticky as they were.EliRabetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07957002964638398767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-85479539759020122842015-04-20T23:05:02.001-04:002015-04-20T23:05:02.001-04:00I don't know about airline pricing, but it is ...I don't know about airline pricing, but it is pretty dang clear that prices in labor and housing markets are sticky, and that that matters.SThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12250414866767420576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-40372506251439007532015-04-20T23:02:40.958-04:002015-04-20T23:02:40.958-04:00I think Tom is really onto something here.
Though...I think Tom is really onto something here.<br /><br />Though, not being an econometrician myself, I've lately been wondering if a combination of balance sheet effects, reversion to mean trend of housing stock (and thus dramatic decline in residential construction investment), and a pro-cyclical model of business investment, along with sticky wages, aren't entirely sufficient to explain the recent slow rate in which we've been getting those 9m unemployed to become re-employed.<br /><br />That and too low inflation...SThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12250414866767420576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-52146621821097606502015-04-20T20:30:10.980-04:002015-04-20T20:30:10.980-04:00Are prices sticky? With more and more commerce mo...Are prices sticky? With more and more commerce moving to the net, with comparison pricing web sites like Kayak, with everything in stores using sku numbers and single price labels on the shelf, and so forth, clearly not anymore in any meaningful sense, which means it may be time to change the model.<br /><br />As to the barter analogy, with comparison shopping web sites increasingly acting as brokers, why yes, that makes sense.<br /><br />EliRabetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07957002964638398767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-89004707235212062642015-04-20T20:29:36.751-04:002015-04-20T20:29:36.751-04:00Are prices sticky? With more and more commerce mo...Are prices sticky? With more and more commerce moving to the net, with comparison pricing web sites like Kayak, with everything in stores using sku numbers and single price labels on the shelf, and so forth, clearly not anymore in any meaningful sense, which means it may be time to change the model.<br /><br />As to the barter analogy, with comparison shopping web sites increasingly acting as brokers, why yes, that makes sense.<br /><br />EliRabetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07957002964638398767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-84314421554214720632015-04-20T11:13:07.844-04:002015-04-20T11:13:07.844-04:00Making assertions on the internet doesn't make...Making assertions on the internet doesn't make them true. Your critical thinking skills are so bad you can't figure out that they're bad. Tough luck, buddy, you got a bad draw from the skills distribution. Enjoy sociology.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-20866626380399007592015-04-20T11:11:36.948-04:002015-04-20T11:11:36.948-04:00Ragout, it is really sad that you know so little a...Ragout, it is really sad that you know so little as to miss the point entirely. I pity your children, as they will grow up with little or no intelligent discourse in their house.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-53873049702443302962015-04-19T18:46:00.862-04:002015-04-19T18:46:00.862-04:00BarroBarroLALhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08196675112184615614noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-3204275624771417972015-04-19T18:40:56.660-04:002015-04-19T18:40:56.660-04:00BarroBarroLALhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08196675112184615614noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-39681289368644835242015-04-18T14:38:42.974-04:002015-04-18T14:38:42.974-04:00I think you're just stating the post-Keynesian...I think you're just stating the post-Keynesian general attitude towards the neo-Keynesian synthesis, rather than examining this particular issue. Keynes' choice of terminology, "frictional unemployment" implies exception/adjustment to an implicitly frictionless classical labor market model. Nobody thinks the labor market isn't a market. Everybody has built on top of classical models.Tom Warnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11247836188106712069noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-10762911346089384672015-04-18T04:38:05.813-04:002015-04-18T04:38:05.813-04:00"Until then, you just have to read the equati..."Until then, you just have to read the equations and accept that every author with some fame gets to pick whatever language he or she prefers."<br /><br />Capital in neo-classical economics is another prime example of poor epistemology. You are right, economists do not take prose seriously. The discipline needs some Derrida and Critical Theory if they are going to seriously answer questions about why they call things what they do.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-46480496531597551672015-04-18T01:19:39.881-04:002015-04-18T01:19:39.881-04:00The therapist might be able to teach a few people ...The therapist might be able to teach a few people how you look at a problem and go about solving it. No rational expectations here. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-18538038723931139412015-04-17T20:35:27.321-04:002015-04-17T20:35:27.321-04:00You should try dropping your own first name. It sa...You should try dropping your own first name. It says a lot about you that you've been reduced to hurling childish insults behind a veil of anonymity like a coward. Utterly shameful. Hope you were smart enough to mask your IP, because this would permanently damage your reputation.Kmlevittnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-72330347617410453722015-04-17T18:54:56.195-04:002015-04-17T18:54:56.195-04:00(Ex-student rant)
When I studied undergraduate mac...(Ex-student rant)<br />When I studied undergraduate macro I was given Williamson's undergrad macro textbook, and I thought it was a good book. I can see that he is consistent with what he chooses to teach undergrads in the book and with what he preaches. I have also followed you econ and finance bloggers closely for about three years now (Noah, I have followed you closely especially), and while econ blogs are a great source of educational material and for major updates on the evolution of the theories and models for non-economists, I sometimes find myself so overwhelmingly confused by what economists are trying to say, that similar to Ricardo Caballero's view on DSGE models, I find the reasoning of economists themselves "mesmerized with [their] own internal logic that it has begun to confuse [the hell out of everyone]" <br /><br />I know there's enough discussion about the state of macroeconomics, but from the point of view of an outsider who aspires to be an economist one day, if what goes on in the blogging sphere is any decent proxy of what goes on the the field of macroeconomics, I think something might definitely be wrong about the way economists have come to explain modern economics to the public and to themselves. And it is really frustrating for us aspiring economists. No one asked me and no one cares, but I like Krugman's blog not for his reputation or fame, but for the simplicity and objectivity of his reasoning, even thought he may be wrong about a lot of things.<br /><br />But maybe econ really isn't for amateurs. <br /><br />Anyway, I feel that economists are getting to a point where group therapy would actually be helpful in guiding their ultimate objectives of developing better models of the economy. At this point I am so confused that I might need to go back to zero and pick up a new undergrad econ textbook. My first dilemma will be, which one to pick?<br />Lourençonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-17458823233160839802015-04-17T15:53:32.726-04:002015-04-17T15:53:32.726-04:00"I would describe what he was doing as adding..."I would describe what he was doing as adding frictions."<br /><br />No, it was much more radical and revolutionary than that. Really true Keynesianism is not compatible with Classical economics. The ongoing problem has been that people have tried to make the General Theory compatible with Classical Theory, when both offer two very different interpretations of the economic universe and methodologies to go about explaining it. Keynes has been greatly misrepresented since Hicks and Samuelson.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-40394664504077613302015-04-17T15:47:36.506-04:002015-04-17T15:47:36.506-04:00Anonymous: unfortunately, I am serious. I think it...Anonymous: unfortunately, I am serious. I think it is a model of a monetary exchange economy, and that the model would have very different results if we assumed that barter was easy (even if barter had to take place at the same relative prices given by the sticky nominal prices allowed by Calvo's fairy). But I am not sure everyone agrees with me on that point.<br /><br />I take it you agree with me, but think the point is so obvious that it's not worth making? I wish it were that obvious to others, but I don't think it is.Nick Rowehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04982579343160429422noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-88638762671491629402015-04-17T15:06:54.707-04:002015-04-17T15:06:54.707-04:00wow! coming back to this blog after a longish brea...wow! coming back to this blog after a longish break. This is great fun, did I miss any other classics from Quixote Williams? <br /><br />Every single time I encounter these genuflections by the freshwater types at the Lucas-Prescott altar, I tirelessly point out Paul Samuelson's comments on Lucas. Which basically amount to Lucas' inability to contribute anything useful at the Fed meetings (when he was invited)<br /><br />http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2009/06/an-interview-with-paul-samuelson-part-one/19572/Som Dasguptahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11848089230329819807noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-72938453282928326662015-04-17T14:38:28.596-04:002015-04-17T14:38:28.596-04:00Just trying to be unbilious.Just trying to be unbilious.Stephen Williamsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01434465858419028592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-10848144490778426332015-04-17T14:09:43.980-04:002015-04-17T14:09:43.980-04:00Cleary what is needed now is for that well-known L...Cleary what is needed now is for that well-known LSE economist, "Sticky Fingers" Mick Jagger to show up and adjudicate this. He could be especially useful in dealing with the Anonymous incendiaries from EJMR, becoming a "Street Fighting Man" to make them feel no "Satisfaction" whatsoever.. :-).rosserjb@jmu.eduhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09300046915843554101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-55163648729333091912015-04-17T14:04:03.623-04:002015-04-17T14:04:03.623-04:00I would describe what he was doing as adding frict...I would describe what he was doing as adding frictions. I don't think anybody wants to completely "blow up" the classical labor market model, which is just a standard model of a market.<br /><br />But the main point I'm trying to make is that labor markets are getting progressively more complicated and difficult to model. The New Keynesian model that puts all unemployment during recessions down to sticky wages is as outdated today as the classical model was in Keynes' day. I read too much daft pondering how sticky wages can explain why it took so long to re-employ 9m unemployed. It can't, of course. There are a lot of other reasons why labor markets differ from the classical model.Tom Warnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11247836188106712069noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-58243030725439649452015-04-17T13:19:06.953-04:002015-04-17T13:19:06.953-04:00Awww, shucks. :DAwww, shucks. :DNoah Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09093917601641588575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-5255126048898426382015-04-17T13:11:15.092-04:002015-04-17T13:11:15.092-04:00Nick are you serious? What on earth is the top mon...Nick are you serious? What on earth is the top monetary economist doing wanking around with a barter economy? What are you doing arguing about it - surely this is a red-herring from the start? To non-economists reading this it is just surreal. The farce just does not seem to get any better!<br /><br />Maybe this is where all this sticky price stuff is coming from? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-31995538087082071102015-04-17T13:03:40.248-04:002015-04-17T13:03:40.248-04:00Did Keynes blow up the Classical model or add &quo...Did Keynes blow up the Classical model or add "friction(s)" to it?BradKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00311675925651145239noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-22274981077113860732015-04-17T13:03:20.141-04:002015-04-17T13:03:20.141-04:00Did Keynes blow up the Classical model or add &quo...Did Keynes blow up the Classical model or add "friction(s)" to it?BradKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00311675925651145239noreply@blogger.com