Economics and International Affairs Blog

Saturday, August 9, 2014

On Banking Regulation

Stanford Financial Economist Anat Admati’s Proposal To Fix the Banking System

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/business/when-she-talks-banks-shudder.html

Friday, August 8, 2014

What's Wrong With Europe?

Protection of older workers is harming aspiring young workers in Europe. Recent WSJ piece notes:

“In Europe's weaker economies, people in their 20s and 30s often have little hope of achieving the careers, wealth and economic security enjoyed by their parents. In places like Spain and Italy, the employment rate has tumbled for people under 40 since 2008, even as it has stayed relatively steady or grown for their parents' generation. Their predicament is exposing a painful truth: The towering cost of labor protections that have provided a comfortable life for Europe's baby boomers is now keeping their children from breaking in.”

Italy's Lost Decade (Italy appears to have fallen into a triple-dip recession - third recession since 2008)
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/upshot/italys-lost-decade.html

Philippe Legrain’s rather pessimistic take on European affairs:

http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/wakeup-call-europe

ECB chief Draghi emphasizes the uneven nature of Euro area recovery:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/07/us-ecb-rates-economy-idUSKBN0G71FZ20140807

Ancient Caves of India

William Dalrymple’s fascinating FT piece on ancient caves of Maharashtra (India) includes this interesting nugget on ancient world’s balance of payments problem:

"The 2nd century BC was a period of great expansion of international trade, and these monasteries, remote as they may seem to us, were built on the trade routes of their time. The valleys they crown once saw the frequent passage of the caravans of the great merchant houses bringing luxury goods – ebony, teak and sandalwood, elephant tusks and translucent Indian textiles, pepper and cinnamon – to the coast where they would be shipped by Egyptian Jews and Greek middle men to the Red Sea and hence, via Alexandria, to Antioch and Rome.

All this led to a dramatic drain of western gold and silver to India, something that both Pliny and Strabo comment on with some anxiety in their writings. At the peak of the trade, during the reign of Nero, a south Indian embassy was sent to Rome to discuss the latter’s balance of payments problems.”

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Siberian Craters – A Possible Explanation

It might be related to climate change

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/08/05/scientists-may-have-cracked-the-giant-siberian-crater-mystery-and-the-news-isnt-good/

Monday, August 4, 2014

Philosophy and Religion

A Fascinating Piece on Hinduism in the NYTIMES

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/03/what-would-krishna-do-or-shiva-or-vishnu/

Jonardon Ganeri (interviewed in the piece) observes:

“Another Hindu conception of the divine is that it is the essential reality in comparison to which all else is only concealing appearance. This is the concept of one finds in the Upanishads. Philosophically the most important claim the Upanishads make is that the essence of each person is also the essence of all things’; the human self and brahman (the essential reality) are the same.”