This week's Carnival of the Capitalists is up at Businesspundit. Recommended posts include David Foster's piece on interest rates and inflation, and FreeMoneyFinance, who gives us christianity and credit, where a store gives away books by anti-credit-card Dave Ramsey, in return for signing up for a... credit card.
Bad Analysis has a nice list of 10 reasons why people make stupid decisions. It talks about things like confirmation bias, failing to account for sunk costs, and so on.
DealBook points us to this piece that compares private equity flippers to "bored kids.”
Greg Mankiw’s gives tips on “how to write well.” It's ostensibly for economists, but it's worth reading for anyone in a technical subject who's writing for the general public.
And last (but never least), James Hamilton at Econbrowser provides some pointers on how prediction markets and give informaiton about election results.
Monday Link Dump
It's almost time for bed at the Unknown Household, so I thought I'd post a few links to give you some late night reading:
Pleasant reading!
Phelps Wins Nobel Prize
It official -- Edmund Phelps of Columbia University is this year's Nobel Laureate in Economics.
In case you don't want to read through his whole website, here's a link to his autobiography, and here's one to his vita.
Ah well, I guessed wrong again. Maybe Fama will get it next time around.
HT: Marginal Revolution
In case you don't want to read through his whole website, here's a link to his autobiography, and here's one to his vita.
Ah well, I guessed wrong again. Maybe Fama will get it next time around.
HT: Marginal Revolution
Weekend With Mr. Mom Link Dump
The Unknown Wife gets back tonight, so I'm still in Mr. Mom mode. And of course, our furnace isn't working - it's a new house, and it's still under warranty, so it won't cost anything for the call. But still, it's irritating. At least it's not really cold here yet (forecast for overnight is temperatures in the low 40s). But it still needs to be fixed.
It's an interesting phenomenon -- I used to think I'd enjoy a few days "to my self" (actually not, what with the kids). But I find that after so many years married, I have a hard time sleeping when U.W. is out of town. So, at 11:00 last night, I started tackling the pile of boxes in the basement. There were a pretty good number of boxes that were about half to three-quarters empty (we'd taken some things out of each box, but not finished). So, I was able to consolidate things and empty about 8 good sized boxes. There are another two or three of little-used books that will be moved to my school office this weekend after U.W. gets back.
Having said all that, it's time for the latest version of the Link Dump:
And with that, it's time to get the munchkins to the library - they're into reading and the prices there are way better than at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
It's an interesting phenomenon -- I used to think I'd enjoy a few days "to my self" (actually not, what with the kids). But I find that after so many years married, I have a hard time sleeping when U.W. is out of town. So, at 11:00 last night, I started tackling the pile of boxes in the basement. There were a pretty good number of boxes that were about half to three-quarters empty (we'd taken some things out of each box, but not finished). So, I was able to consolidate things and empty about 8 good sized boxes. There are another two or three of little-used books that will be moved to my school office this weekend after U.W. gets back.
Having said all that, it's time for the latest version of the Link Dump:
Yesterday's Wall Street Journal (subscription required) documents how Vega Asset Management's hedge fund offerings have had hard times this last year.
In Marketwatch.com, Mark Hulbert explains the difference between dollar and time-weighted returns. Given that money tends to flow into good-performing funds, it's an important distinction.
The Wall Street Journal talks about some possible winners for the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics.
Joe Carter at Evangelical Outpost has the latest installment of his Yak Shaving Razor series up.
Smartmoney.com has a collection of advice on the best time to buy clothes, airline tickets, and other things.
Wednesday Link Dump
I had a bit of confusion in taking the right train last night after teaching in that beforementioned professional program. There were trains leaving Boston to two towns that have the same name but are in different states. Of course, since they left at about the same time, I took the wrong one.
Luckily, the wrong one was a commuter train, so I was able to backtrack after only 15 minutes. But it did make me miss the last train to Unknown University Town. Luckily, I was able to get a train to a nearby town, but Unknown Wife had to pick me up at Midnight.
Today, she's off for a few days with her best friend from college to their 20th reunion. So I get to do the Mr. Mom thing.
Why am I telling you this? Because blogging will probably be way down the priority list what with teaching, kids, making up exams, and so on.
But in the meanwhile, here are the links for today:
Luckily, the wrong one was a commuter train, so I was able to backtrack after only 15 minutes. But it did make me miss the last train to Unknown University Town. Luckily, I was able to get a train to a nearby town, but Unknown Wife had to pick me up at Midnight.
Today, she's off for a few days with her best friend from college to their 20th reunion. So I get to do the Mr. Mom thing.
Why am I telling you this? Because blogging will probably be way down the priority list what with teaching, kids, making up exams, and so on.
But in the meanwhile, here are the links for today:
Jack Ciesielski at the AAO weblog gives us the latest news on companies caught up in the ongoing options backdating saga.That should keep y'all busy while I get some work done.
DealBook puts forth the idea that hedge funds' retreating may have helped lower energy prices.
From the Onion, the title says it all: "Heroic Computer Dies to Save World From Master's Thesis"
Marketwatch.com tells us that Active management beats indexes in down markets.
Craig Newmark points us to a list of the 50 hottest professors (and no, I'm not on it).
Last, but not least, yesterday's Wall Street Journal describes how trading in derivatives surged before the announcement of the Harrah's LBO. That makes sense, because an informed trader can make higher profits trading the derivative contract rather than the underlying asset.
Monday/Tuesday Link Dump
Yesterday was full with classes and some writing. I've been working on a project since what seem like forever, and the last few parts just refuse to be finish. With a bit of work, I may be able to stick a stake in its heart and submit it to a journal this week.
So, this is actually the Monday/Tuesday Link Dump:
So, this is actually the Monday/Tuesday Link Dump:
The Capital Spectator opines on inverted yield curves, and also gives some nice historical summary.Enough for now - back to the torturing of the English language.John Sence of Marketwatch gives his take on "fundamental indexing". The best quote of the piece comes at the end: "If anybody has a black box that really worked," he added, "they'd be out on a trading desk or a hedge fund, not doing it for an ETF." I'll have to use that line in my classes - it's a keeper.
Bloomberg reports on the conviction in the insider-trading case of Jeffrey Royer, and Anthony Elgindy. Royer, an FBI agent, gave information on companies under investigation to Elgindy, who'd short the companies and subsequently criticize them in his online newsletter. And Eliott Spitzer was nowhere in sight.
Not surprisingly, hedge funds are stepping up their lobbying efforts. Since, they're probably going to become a political football following Amaranth, it sounds like a logical move.
From the Wall Street Journal, e learn that Kobi Alexander's Bail is Set at $1.3 Million by Namibian Court. Anybody want to start a Tradesports contract on whether or not he's still there at the time of trial?
Finally, Biryini's Ticker Sense reports on an interesting pattern - since October, 2002, 60% of the gains in the S&P have come on the first of the month. Color me a bit skeptical that this is a tradable pattern - you can find a lot of patterns in market data (often because there's simply a lot of data and we have a lot of computing power). But 48 data points is not a lot to base a strategy on. Still, it is interesting...
This Week's Carnival of The Capitalists
This Week's COTC is up at My 1st Million at 33. Since (as usual) I'm pressed for time, I'll only highlight two pieces this week:
The Small Business Buzz suggests 4 Ways to Keep Up on Industry Trends.There are quite a few other pieces up there, so read around a bit.
Econbrowser shoots some pretty big holes in the conpiracy theory that Bush has manipulated gas prices for political purposes in The great gasoline price conspiracy.
Weekend Link Dump
It's been a pretty busy weekend (soccer games for the kids, a football game at the Unknown University, family visiting) and I'm a bit behind schedule due to my wisdom tooth extraction earlier this week. And it's been a pretty light couple of days news-wise. So I'm only posting a couple of items for the weekend edition of the Link Dump:
TheStreet.com does a good job of dissecting why some firms are willing to pay higher fees to do their IPOs in the U.S. capital markets.Enough blogging - time to get back to work.
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis discusses lenidng guidelines and the credit squeeze
Chuck Jaffe at Marketwatch gives us an idea of what we might expect from the Putnam/MFS merger.
Finally, the The Wall Street Journal has a couple of interesting articles. The first one (titled Your Portfolio on Autopilot) discusses automated trading systems for the small investor. Now anyone can set up a series of rules that will trigger buy/sell decisions. Be afraid - be very, very afraid.
And last but not least, another Wall Street Journal article "New 10-K Footnote Can Flag Woes" points out a new financial footnote that investors might want to look for. According to the article, the Securities and Exchange Commission recently required required most companies to include a footnote item in their financial statements called "unresolved staff comments." These are "any comments from an SEC review of their filings that were material, issued more than 180 days before the end of the fiscal year or remain unresolved by the date of the 10-K, the company's annual financial and business filing with the SEC." I wonder whether they'll be good predictors of future restatements or enforcement actions?
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