Pleased that Peter Howitt has received the Economics Nobel. Peter is from Guelph, Ontario, and started his work with Philippe when he was here, at the University of Western Ontario.
Who's saying Johnny isn't cool? While he was alive, he was always cool.
Putting this gasoline fire out with my bare hands is health first.
3/we need some sort of different unconventional math, but we're not told what it might be, or given examples of how it might work. Thanks, but I think we're fine.
2/for 3rd and 4th year undergrad honours students, which I teach more-or-less at a masters level. So, the guy who struggled with something that my undergrads can do seems confident enough to opine on what math we should use in economics generally - in our teaching, research, whatever. Apparently...
1/What's wrong here? Harford starts this piece by telling us about his experience with an MA program in economics: "Everything was drenched in incomprehensible mathematics — or, to be more honest, maths that I could not comprehend." So, Harford would have trouble in my class - monetary economics...
Reposted by Stephen D. Williamson, Paul Goldberg, Albert Weale
Does economics use too much maths - or the wrong kind of maths? on.ft.com/3IqOgGb
The wrong kind of maths
[FREE TO READ] Why the mathematics used in economics for decades needs a rethink
on.ft.com
Glad to know someone thinks of us as an "R&D hub."
This year's Canadian Macro Study Group conference will be held November 14-15 in London Ontario at the University of Western Ontario (a.k.a. Western University). Excellent program organized by Sergio Ocampo and Baxter Robinson. canadianmacro.ca/conferences/...
2025: Western University – Canadian Macroeconomic Study Group
canadianmacro.ca
Huge opportunities here. And don't forget Kitchener-Waterloo, or even.... London Ontario.
Reposted by Stephen D. Williamson, Matthias Doepke
If the UK does not take this good advice, maybe Canada will? Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver are great places for tech hubs - lets compete for them by enabling skilled migration and students.
Restricting visas doesn’t lead to hiring non-immigrants—it leads to hiring foreigners. For every H-1B visa rejection, multinationals add ~0.4–0.9 foreign employees, especially in R&D hubs like India, China, and Canada.
via @florianederer.bsky.social
via @florianederer.bsky.social
"Loving the democratic party elite?" Yes, every time I see Chuck Schumer on the telly, I find it hard to contain myself.
Reposted by Stephen D. Williamson
Really interesting how the big external critics [others being Silver, Smith] mischaracterize this place. I don't think it's a ploy I think they genuinely have not got a clue, perhaps struggle with the concept that it is hard to characterize qualitatively a network of 38m people.
More accurately: "Given measurement error, the Eurozone inflation rate is essentially unchanged."
He'd probably be complaining if everyone agreed with him.
I would define Blueskyism as the habit of looking at a Clinton / Biden / Harris voter who happens to be somewhat more moderate than the poster on certain issues and deciding that person should be loudly condemned as a fascist and shunned.
Reposted by Stephen D. Williamson
Eurozone inflation rises to 2.1% in August on.ft.com/3UYo6NB
Eurozone inflation rises to 2.1% in August
Traders expect central bank to keep interest rates on hold at September 11 meeting
on.ft.com
2/have all the incentive and instability problems of conventional banking that we have struggled with for centuries. People aren't bothered about stablecoins because they represent competition for the conventional monetary system. It's because they potentially make the whole system less stable.
1/There's not much "modern" about a stablecoin. Basically, it's just a bank. The only difference is in the mechanism underlying how stablecoins change ownership, as opposed to how your claim on a bank changes ownership. The former, given current technology, is highly inefficient. And, stablecoins...
Reposted by Stephen D. Williamson, John Hogan
Stablecoins will force finance to modernise on.ft.com/47VFLgp | opinion
Stablecoins will force finance to modernise
Instead of trying to limit their use, foreign governments should focus on improving confidence in their own currencies
on.ft.com
Yes, there's plenty of funny money circulating in a university.
That's a solution. And, if you do the calculation properly, US PhD programs are not "losing money" in the first year or two. TAs are cheap relative to faculty, and it's the army of TAs that permits faculty the time to do research.
2/central bank independence, for example. Seems dangerous not to know about that, I'd say.
1/Right. For example, I know a lot of Argentinian macroeconomists who got interested in the subject because of what went wrong with economic policy in Argentina. Those people teach in American universities and work in the Fed system, and they have a deep understanding of the importance of...
2/economics in the top U.S. universities in the last 20 years were not U.S. citizens. Foreigners aren't just growing America's food. They're educating its children (speaking loosely - I've always thought of my students as adults).
1/Typically, students doing a PhD in economics in the U.S. finish in 5 or 6 years, and 6 is much more common than 5. So, this rule effectively bans foreign students in PhD programs in economics. I haven't looked at the numbers, but my impression is that most of the assistant professors hired in...
Oren Samet
@osamet.bsky.social
· Aug 28
One of the main benefits of doing a US PhD is the extra time you get, that's one of the big reasons I advised my students to apply for US programmes. We offer a four year degree here, there'd be no advantage over us. The US is euthanising its massive advantage in research for no good reason.
You could be right. I'm sure someone in the White House is researching the regional Fed Presidents and deciding whether they should stay or go. I think the end game is grift - getting the Fed to buy crypto assets, or some such.