Comments

john kenneth galbraith, rest in peace.

-- VlorbikDotCom - 16 Nov 2006

At least 94 is a good long run. Still it's sad to hear. My heart goes out to his wife.

Milton Friedman is a very impressive economist. Some of his ideas have been disproved (eg quantity targeting), but the impact he has had on academia and practice is immense. And he was an excellent writer.

-- TracyW - 16 Nov 2006

oh my gosh!

I'd forgotten Galbraith died this spring!

I was thinking he'd outlived Friedman -

sheesh

-- CatherineJohnson - 19 Nov 2006

I still know practically nothing about economics.

sigh

-- CatherineJohnson - 19 Nov 2006

What is quantity targeting?

(see?)

-- CatherineJohnson - 19 Nov 2006

boy

97 and 94

these two had a SERIOUS run

-- CatherineJohnson - 19 Nov 2006

I feel bad for the wives.

I can't imagine losing my husband at any age - but in one's 90s ....

what a horror

-- CatherineJohnson - 19 Nov 2006

I still know practically nothing about economics.

sigh

Rabbi Hillel was asked to define the law of the Torah while standing on one leg. Rabbi Hillel replied: "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. All else is commentary; go now and study."

The economics version would be, "Incentives matter. All else is commentary; go now and study."

A fantastic introduction to economic thinking (without the dull graphs and charts) is Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Experience by Steven Landsburg. It is a great read and lots of fun.

-Mark Roulo

-- KtmGuest - 19 Nov 2006

Hi Mark!

Our good friend Rob LOVES Landsburg.

That's the book he told me to get ages ago.

Do you like the new book everyone's talking about??

I think it's.....Naked Economist?

Is that it?

I'm going to have to go ahead and get Armchair Economist.

-- CatherineJohnson - 19 Nov 2006

I have not read The Naked Economist. And I was under-whelmed by Freakonomics.

-Mark Roulo

-- KtmGuest - 20 Nov 2006

Quantity Targeting is the idea that the central bank should control inflation by targetting the quantity of money. At least at one point in his career, Milton Friedman was arguing for a fairly mechanical calculation of what the growth rate in the quantity of money should be.

It worked out in practice to be more complicated and involve more judgement about future conditions than that.

-- TracyW - 20 Nov 2006

Quantity Targeting is the idea that the central bank should control inflation by targetting the quantity of money. At least at one point in his career, Milton Friedman was arguing for a fairly mechanical calculation of what the growth rate in the quantity of money should be.

It worked out in practice to be more complicated and involve more judgement about future conditions than that.

oh, thanks!

yes, I have limited understanding of this idea....

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Nov 2006

Mark

I have FREAKONOMICS, but I'm probably going to have the same reaction.

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Nov 2006