“Have you ever tried buying lots of stuff?”
(The question is asked by a concerned-looking therapist, addressing a patient lying on a couch.)
Two wonky bits of the Myth of the Rational Market
Slate’s The Big Money is running a two-part excerpt from my book. Not just any excerpt, but an excerpt from the especially wonky Chapter 8, “Fischer Black Chooses to Focus on the Probable.” It’s Fischer Black day here at the Curious Capitalist! Anyway, Part 1 ran Monday. Part 2 is online now. Enjoy! (And enjoy the big ads for Barry …
It’s a Deal: Fly to Australia for $229 One Way
Round trip flights to Sydney cost $458 from Los Angeles or San Francisco, $578 from New York, via Qantas. Book by Tuesday, June 16.
John Maynard Keynes on the Fischer Black theory of business cycles
Just remembered this, in reference to the previous post. It’s from Keynes’ Tract on Monetary Reform, right after the famous line about us all being dead in the long run:
Economists set themselves too easy, too useless a task if in tempestuous seasons they can only tell us that when the storm is past the ocean is flat again.
Black’s …
Cheap Dates … and Cheaper Lap Dances?
My wife and I are long-time fans of IKEA. We have bookshelves, dressers, and toys from IKEA, and though I’ve been burned a few times—holes that don’t line up with the right bolts, that sort of thing—my overall impression is that you get what you pay for. Actually, at IKEA, you get more than what you pay for, compared to other places. …
More Healthcare Head Scratchers
President Obama will be in Green Bay, Wisconsin, today, apparently to talk about how super awesome Brett Favre is, before begging him not to retire. Oh wait, no. Obama is instead presenting Green Bay as an efficient healthcare model the rest of the country should emulate. Green Bay supposedly does healthcare right, offering excellent …
Doctors Say: No Healthcare for You!
President Obama is expected to address the American Medical Association next week in Chicago, but before he has a chance to, the powerful doctors’ lobbyist group with some 250,000 members already came out and said it opposes a government-funded healthcare plan. Why? They say they’re worried about you, the taxpayer.
Do Tyler Cowen and Fischer Black really have a useful explanation for the financial crisis?
Ezra Klein quotes from a new paper by Tyler Cowen on the financial crisis:
In a strict rational expectations model, we might expect some people to overtrust others and one view of rational expectations is that investors’ errors will cancel one another out in each market period. Another view of rational expectations is that investors’
…
How to Retire—and Actually Stay Retired
A Fortune story gives hope to those yearning to one day retire in peace and comfort. Apparently, it’s still possible. Saving—saving A LOT—helps your cause. One interesting fact: Much has been made about the fact that people are actually saving nowadays. The savings rate is now at about 4 percent, compared to zilch in the …
Commercials: Be Entertaining, Not Informative
The Today Show did a segment this morning on the best commercials of 2008, as awarded last night by the Association of Independent Commercial Producers. The commercials were fun to watch—some dazzling special effects that made kids’ eyebrows dance in hilarious fashion, a display of iconic images from the past juxtaposed to similar …
It’s a Deal: $9 Garnet Hill Bikinis
Girls bikinis, normally $36, are selling for $9 via Garnet Hill’s Sale of the Day.
Q&A with Consumer Psychologist Kathleen Vohs
Kathleen D. Vohs, associate professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, is an expert in self-regulation, problems with spending, and the psychology of money. Among other things, her work reveals how people feel when they’re reminded of money they’ve spent (not so good), and how you can practice …