Noted for June 20, 2013
- Maurice Obstfeld: On Keeping Your Powder Dry: Fiscal Foundations of Financial and Price Stability: "Banking systems have rapidly grown to a point where for many countries bank assets amount to multiples of GDP. As a consequence, government’s capacity to provide stability-enhancing fiscal guarantees against systemic crises can no longer be taken for granted. As regulation of dynamic financial markets will inevitably be imperfect, prudent governments need to adjust other facets of macroeconomic policy in order to mitigate financial instability. A precautionary approach to fiscal policy, leading to moderate levels of public debt relative to GDP over the medium term, is essential for the credibility of government promises to support the financial system, as well as the broader economy."
Mio Coxon: Japan Exports Surge Most Since 2010 in Boost for Abenomics: "Japan’s exports surged by the most since 2010 as the yen weakened and shipments to the U.S. jumped, boosting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s campaign to revive the world’s third-largest economy. Overseas shipments increased 10.1 percent from a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said in Tokyo today. The median estimate of 29 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 6.4 percent gain. Shipments to China are recovering after tumbling last year during a flare-up in tensions over a maritime jurisdiction dispute, the report showed…. Today’s data may help to sustain confidence in Abe’s efforts to jump-start the economy with fiscal and monetary stimulus and a rollback of regulations restricting business."
Jo Walton on Georgette Heyer’s Cotillion: "I always read Regencies (or any historical novels) with SF notions of worldbuilding, and there’s plenty of that here. This is a comedy of manners with broadly drawn characters and beautiful scenery. There’s a proper ball and a masked ball, there are chaperones and new clothes — and there’s a man who is trying to make a beautiful poor girl his mistress. People are always considering what will or won’t 'do', what will pass in society. Matters of taste — from the colours of clothes to how public a seduction may be — are paramount…. There are four very different couples who end up happily together, and the entwining of the different romances and the part Kitty plays in helping all of them reach their conclusions is what provides the complications of the plot. They are the kind of characters it’s delightful to encounter, and they are deftly developed and entangled. But the thing that makes Cotillion such fun is… a great big spoiler…. It is a Cotillion, where everyone changes partners…. I think anyone will be surprised at the ending…. That’s such a cool thing to do! And all in such exquisite taste."
"Finally, a member of the Wu-Tang Clan has weighed in on the race for New Jersey's 5th Congressional District. Ghostface Killah, the most aggressive member of the renowned hip-hop group, took to Twitter Monday to endorse Roy Cho, who is vying for the Democratic nomination to challenge Rep. Scott Garrett" | Theodore Roosevelt: The Naval War of 1812 | Felix Salmon: Citibike: A victim of its own success | Peter Biskind: Lunch Conversations With Orson Welles | The Audience (2013 play) | Adam S. Posen: The Myth of the Omnipotent Central Banker: Monetary Policy and Its Limits | William E. Scheuerman: The Frankfurt School at War: The Marxists Who Explained the Nazis to Washington | J. Bradford DeLong: The Second Great Depression: Why the Economic Crisis Is Worse Than You Think | Nick Rowe: Worthwhile Canadian Initiative: New Keynesian countercyclical fiscal policy isn't what you probably think it is | David Frum (2012): The Fox News Wink: Is Obama "Gay"? or "Gay Gay"? |
