Grasping Reality on TypePad, by Brad DeLong

Interesting Reads:

• Kieran Healy: Data Visualization for Social Science: "A practical introduction with R and ggplot2..." http://socviz.co/index.html#preface
• Pedro Nicolaci da Costa: Trump unhappy with Cohn suggests tax reform officially dead: "Gary Cohn... appears to have angered Donald Trump.... Cohn has often been seen as the... chief architect.... His break with the president signals Trump’s tax cut plans are very much on the rocks..." http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-unhappy-with-cohn-suggests-tax-reform-officially-dead-2017-9
• Al Hunt: Why the U.S. Government Can't Be Downsized: "He ridiculed the populist-sounding arguments of Trump adviser Gary Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who say, for example, that tax cuts would help firemen since a resulting surge in stocks would help their retirement plans. Most firemen have defined-benefit pension plans that wouldn't be affected, Summers noted..." https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-09-07/why-the-u-s-government-can-t-be-downsized
• Wikipedia: Gates of horn and ivory: [Penelope:] "Two are the gates of shadowy dreams, and one is fashioned of horn and one of ivory. Those dreams that pass through the gate of sawn ivory deceive men, bringing words that find no fulfilment. But those that come forth through the gate of polished horn bring true..." [Arthur T. Murray:] "The play upon the words κέρας, 'horn', and κραίνω, 'fulfil', and upon ἐλέφας, 'ivory', and ἐλεφαίρομαι, 'deceive', cannot be preserved in English..." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_of_horn_and_ivory
• NHC: Atlantic 2-Day Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo.php?basin=atlc&fdays=2
• Hoisted from 2013: There Is Neither Coast Nor Interior, Nor Border, Nor Breed, Nor Birth: Live from the Roasterie http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2013/12/americas-coastal-royalty-realclearpolitics-live-from-the-roasterie-xlvi-december-3-2013.html
• Hoisted from 2016: Nimbyism in America: A Back-of-the-Envelope Finger-Exercise Calculation http://www.bradford-delong.com/2016/08/nimbyism-in-america-a-back-of-the-envelope-finger-exercise-calculation.html
• Adair Turner: Is Productivity Growth Becoming Irrelevant?: "Our standard mental model of productivity growth reflects the transition from agriculture to industry.... Much design, branding, and advertising activity is also essentially zero-sum.... Choice and human creativity are valuable per se. But we have no reason to believe that 2050’s designs and brands will make us any happier than those of 2017..." https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/is-productivity-growth-becoming-irrelevant
• Ta-Nehisi Coates: Donald Trump Is the First White President: "With one immediate exception, Trump’s predecessors made their way to high office through the passive power of whiteness—that bloody heirloom which cannot ensure mastery of all events but can conjure a tailwind for most of them.... No such elegant detachment can be attributed to Donald Trump—a president who, more than any other, has made the awful inheritance explicit..." https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/10/the-first-white-president-ta-nehisi-coates/537909/

And Over Here:

• Weekend Reading: Stanley Fischer (1973): Chicago Undergraduate Macro http://www.bradford-delong.com/2017/09/weekend-reading-stanley-fischer-1973-chicago-undergraduate-macro.html
• Weekend Reading: Dean Acheson: A Lawyer's Brief for the Mid-Twentieth Century Democratic Party: A Historical Document: http://www.bradford-delong.com/2017/09/a-historical-document-a-lawyers-brief-for-the-mid-twentieth-century-democratic-party.html
• Weekend Reading: Lael Brainard: Understanding the Disconnect between Employment and Inflation with a Low Neutral Rate http://www.bradford-delong.com/2017/09/weekend-reading-lael-brainard-understanding-the-disconnect-between-employment-and-inflation-with-a-low-neutral-rate.html
• For the Weekend: Stephen Vincent Benet: The Devil and Daniel Webster III http://www.bradford-delong.com/2017/09/for-the-weekend-stephen-vincent-benet-the-devil-and-daniel-webster-iii.html
• Live from Hurricane Alley: Rob Davis: WOW. THIS MIAMI FORECAST...: "http://www.bradford-delong.com/2017/09/live-from-hurricane-alley-rob-davis-wow-this-miami-forecast.html
• Ten Years and One Month Ago at Grasping Reality: August 4-7 2007 http://www.bradford-delong.com/2017/09/ten-years-and-one-month-ago-at-grasping-reality-august-4-7-2017.html
• Comment of the Day: Charles Steindel: INTERMEDIATE MACROECONOMICS U.S. DASHBOARD: "That's a reasonable set..." http://www.bradford-delong.com/2017/09/comment-of-the-day-intermediate-macroeconomics-us-dashboard-charles-steindel-said-thats-a-reasonable-set-you-mi.html
• Comment of the Day: kaleberg: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND THE FUTURE OF SOCIETY: "The Vax mainframe had three big counts against it..." http://www.bradford-delong.com/2017/09/ready-to-go-comment-of-the-day-kaleberg.html
• Must-Read: Austin Clemens: NEW REPORT ON EVIDENCED-BASED POLICYMAKING BOASTS RECOMMENDATIONS THAT CONGRESS MUST TAKE SERIOUSLY: "The Commission’s report does not address funding levels for existing statistical agencies, but funding for these agencies is not a luxury..." http://www.bradford-delong.com/2017/09/must-read-austin-clemens-new-report-on-evidenced-based-policymaking-boasts-recommendations-that-congress-must-take-seri.html
• Should-Read: Paul Krugman: THE POLITICAL FAILURE OF TRICKLE-DOWN ECONOMICS: "We tend to think of the period since Reagan’s election as a conservative era..." http://www.bradford-delong.com/2017/09/should-read-paul-krugman-the-political-failure-of-trickle-down-economics-we-tend-to-think-of-the-period-since-reaga.html
• Should-Read: Sam Bowles and Wendy Carlin: A NEW PARADIGM FOR THE INTRODUCTORY COURSE IN ECONOMICS: "The contributions of Keynes, Hayek, and Nash–aggregate demand, the central economic role of limited information, and strategic interactions modelled by game theory..." http://www.bradford-delong.com/2017/09/should-read-sam-bowles-and-wendy-carlin-a-new-paradigm-for-the-introductory-course-in-economics-the-contributions-of.html
• Must-Read: German Gutierrez and Thomas Philippon: INVESTMENT-LESS GROWTH: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION: "Business investment remains low despite high profits, low funding costs, and high asset values..." http://www.bradford-delong.com/2017/09/must-read-german-gutierrez-and-thomas-philippon-investment-less-growth-an-empirical-investigation-business-investmen.html
• Should-Read: Teresa Nielson Hayden: RULES FOR COMMENTERS: "What's striking about this fictional rule set is the issues it doesn't recognize..." http://www.bradford-delong.com/2017/09/should-read-teresa-nielson-hayden-open-thread-218-whats-striking-about-this-fictional-rule-set-is-the-issues-it-does.html
• Should-Read: Eve Fairbanks: CAN YOUR BEST FRIENDS BE BOOKS?: "I, too, had book friends as a child, and at a time when making real friends could feel like too much to bear..." http://www.bradford-delong.com/2017/09/should-read-eve-fairbanks-can-your-best-friends-be-books-i-too-had-book-friends-as-a-child-and-at-a-time-when-m.html
• Should-Read: Yonatan Zunger: WHAT CAN BE PARDONED?: "This [Arpaio] pardon is now being challenged in court as being unconstitutional..." http://www.bradford-delong.com/2017/09/should-read-yonatan-zunger-what-can-be-pardoned-this-arpaio-pardon-is-now-being-challenged-in-court-as-being-uncon.html
• Should-Read: Olivier Coibion, Yuriy Gorodnichenko, and Mauricio Ulate: THE US ECONOMY IS NOT YET BACK TO ITS POTENTIAL: "Estimates of potential output around the world have been systematically revised downward since the Great Recession..." http://www.bradford-delong.com/2017/09/the-us-economy-is-not-yet-back-to-its-potential-vox-ceprs-policy-portal-the-us-economy-is-not-yet-back-to-its-pote.html
• Must-Read: Cardiff Garcia: BRAINARD’S FRAMING CHALLENGE: "Tim Duy has the right response to Lael Brainard’s speech today..." http://www.bradford-delong.com/2017/09/cardiff-garcia-brainards-framing-challenge-ft-alphaville-brainards-framing-challenge-twitter-facebook-linkedin.html
• Must-Read: Chang-Tai Hsieh and Enrico Moretti: HOW LOCAL HOUSING REGULATIONS SMOTHER THE U.S. ECONOMY: "For most of the 20th century, workers moved to areas where new industries and opportunities were emerging..." http://www.bradford-delong.com/2017/09/must-read-i-could-wish-for-a-little-more-attention-to-the-on-the-ground-dynamics-of-local-political-economy-in-californ.html

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