Comments on: Ivory Tower Economics

By: Avl Dao

Avl Dao — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:46:48 +0000

Perhaps the global economic crisis is presenting us with a 2-fer solution regarding economics.
Budget-tightening is being forced upon all manner of higher ed institutions: 1) Harvard & other super-elite schools are reeling as their bubble-inflated endowments de-leverage; while 2) poorer private schools with piddling endowments join state schools facing brutal reductions in state funding, in scrambling to reduce costs.
All should target their Economic Depts as 1st in line for elimination as a budgetary step.
Why? Well something has to be cut, right?
But more importantly, the field needs to follow a military practice where rampant severe non-performance mandates a lock-down of activity while procedures and (re)training are applied.
America has suffered enough from dysfunctional economic curriculums…and it’s no use continuing to pay good money to spew the same conjectures and political science masquerading as “theory”.
The shutting down of an entire depts and degree-granting programs allows almost all schools to void existing tenure commitments.
The biggest blessing here will be that tenured and non-tenured academic economists will be tossed on the streets to fend for themselves in the “real world” for some years. Imagine how much more sobered up they will be…or the survivors will be…when they’re subsequently recruited to re-write curriculums for the pending re-opening of econ depts in the year 20xx.
This is a win-win situation for America, students, and state budgets.

By: Moss

Moss — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:24:10 +0000

@Franklin411:

Many ‘theories’ have been proved wrong yet the proponents are still Noble winners. The problem is that the theories are based on bogus assumptions which are based on bogus models.

By: dead hobo

dead hobo — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:29:36 +0000

Re Ivory Tower Economists: (some with Nobel Prizes) I hear oil is going to $200 pretty soon. Bet on it. (HA HA HA! Dumbass)

By: Che Stadium

Che Stadium — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 06:51:09 +0000

@Dow: Krugman’s chance for the Nobel would not have been helped by his being laughed off of campus.

By: DiggidyDan

DiggidyDan — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 04:17:39 +0000

@AT “I would suggest that a 45% rally into a May peak (euphoria and bottom pickers rejoicing), followed by a summer collapse to new lows (Holy Shit! I knew I shouldn’t have bought stocks again!!!! Puke out) might be sufficiently damaging to trading accounts of most people…..That’s not my forecast…just thinking about various ideas….” Glad to see somebody whose comments i hold in high esteem has seen technical indicators that are along the same lines of my theory i posted on this thread the other day http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/03/dow-6500/#comments.

What are your thoughts on the final “bottom” level of the “puke out”? (or are you smarter than to try and pick one, haha)

By: Mark E Hoffer

Mark E Hoffer — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 03:59:21 +0000

hr,

yes, of course, the polls could be done, probably have been..

though, sorry if I wasn’t clear, I was trying to convey that ‘polls to substantiate: “Free market theory, mathematical models and hostility to government regulation still reign in most economics departments at colleges and universities around the country.”–would have to be ‘made up’/fabricated, otherwise, they would not/could not be found..

By: hr

hr — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 03:11:12 +0000

carping demon Says:
From Franklin411 (4:00)’s link (from 1993):
“Keynesian economics eventually dominated macroeconomics but began to fall out of favor in the 1970s.”

Really?

I thought it was Keynesian economics providing the (so-called economic) underpinnings for the deficits that the US government has been running since before the 1970s, and since!! Keynesianism justifies deficit spending, (priming the pump).

Also, to Mark E Hoffer,

A poll of economics professors could surely be done. Other polls have shown vast majorities (90%?) of journalists vote Democrat. So a poll could be done showing the idealogy that those professors subscribe to.

By: Mark E Hoffer

Mark E Hoffer — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 03:02:13 +0000

AT,

that’s cool, that, and the out-of-the-money Puts are looking awfully dear..

that, and after these “Waterfalls”, we’ve, yet, to have any really hard rallies..

as a +, those huge down days, early last week, as PdP was pointing out in his weekend compendium, on nearby thread, might have ‘compressed the Spring’, enough..

and, speaking of Spring, I know that peep, here in the NE, are more than ready for it to bloom..

By: Andy Tabbo

Andy Tabbo — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 02:32:33 +0000

Hoffer.

Agreed. There is a lot of tension built up in this market. Taking a look at the Weekly RSI…you definitely now have some clear RSI divergence. Usually the “third of the Third” down will cause the most oversold reading on RSI, which it did in October. The next waves down should cause bullish RSI divergence, lower prices without setting lower RSI readings. This is clearly happening right now on a very large level. This is one of the signals you would want to have present before putting in a longer term “bottom.” The ADX indicator is approaching some levels that are difficult to maintain on the Daily chart. Short term RSI signals all showing various levels of bullish RSI divergence as well.

So, looking at non-Elliott technicals I can see some bullish “tension” building up….

By: Dow

Dow — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 02:14:33 +0000

Che Stadium, Here's a link to the press release announcing Krugman's Nobel for "his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity."