Hmmm … should I read waste some time wwilfing at The Onion or dig into a little light reading about macroeconomic theory at Econbrowser? According to a WSJ story, more and more people are going the latter route, trying to figure out where the economy is heading by way of blogs penned by giant-brained econogeeks.
Funny note: In the related Reader’s Guide to Econoblogs, the Journal came up with a neat ratings system, awarding 1 to 5 lightbulbs for original insights, calculators for geekiness, and reading glasses for accessibility and how fun it is to read. You’d think that the story would have had little calculator and light bulb symbols, but no, below each blog name, the words “4 light bulbs” or whatever are written out. Doesn’t really have much of a visual impact. Guess that extra artwork wasn’t in the budget—fitting seeing as we’re in a recession, and the economists in question are writing about the recession.
Another funny (sad?) note: As my colleague Barbara Kiviat points out, economists are really bad at forecasting what’s going to happen.