Request for requests

by on October 19, 2009 at 3:14 pm in Weblogs | Permalink

It can't hurt to try.

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Mikko October 20, 2009 at 1:16 am

Keynesian ideas are, (if I understand correctly) based on price rigidities. If you think about the kind of recession we are living through right now, would you say that the ultimate price rigidities exists in debt.

Sure, the Fed does higher and lower the magnitude of debt service by changing the rates, but still – the debt does not get bigger or smaller when the velocity slows or amount of money is reduced.

What are the implications of this? Is this what some economists really mean when they talk about zero bound?

I know you’ve remarked about this thing for a number of times, but how would you go on analyzing this and its impact for recession economy?

Liz October 20, 2009 at 2:01 am

I always assumed application fees for law school were for processing paperwork. Some schools waive the fee if you apply on-line; most do not. I have Googled and asked elsewhere but can’t seem to find a unanimous answer as to what the application fee is for and why some schools can “afford” (or are simply willing) to waive that fee or not.

It’s probably something right in front of me, but as long as you’re asking….

Liam October 20, 2009 at 2:45 am

Dear Tyler,

I would very much like to hear your thoughts about the ideas expressed in this “web pamphlet”… http://www.thirtythousand.org

Do you think that the size of Congressional constituencies matter? Or would such an agenda (reducing sizes) create more trouble than its worth?

Sincerely,

Liam

bbb October 20, 2009 at 6:00 am

Dear Tyler,

Do you think the concepts of “need” or “necessities” have any place in economic theory? If so, are there any policy-implications that would follow from the integration of these concepts into economic theory?

ZTP October 20, 2009 at 8:03 am

Space. More on space. Anything, really. Maybe tying it in with how the hard sciences are seemingly more and more niche courses in America these days…or maybe not that. Just, more on space. Grab some Carl Sagan, or read “Stephen Hawking’s Universe” and let us have it.

Space.

Canny Bus October 20, 2009 at 9:30 am

Public support for (re)legalizing marijuana is now at a peak of 45%:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/123728/u.s.-support-legalizing-marijuana-reaches-new-high.aspx

Will attaining majority support require the slow 1-2% per annum growth cited by Gallup, or is there the possibility of a tipping-point phenomenon? It may be wishful thinking, but I lean towards the latter. The main reason is that the media has suddenly discovered significant diversity of opinion on this issue and are no longer toeing the government line (exclusively, at least).

Side question- how will the breakdown of opinion by political affiliation affect electoral prospects?

Andromeda October 20, 2009 at 9:45 am

I’m a grad student and the mother of a young child, and in both capacities I meet lots of smart, highly educated people, many with impressive resumes and skillsets, who are only available for part-time work. Yet nearly all part-time jobs seem to be low-skilled and pay miserably. Are we not leaving a lot of twenty-dollar bills lying on the ground here? Why?

Michael Nielsen October 20, 2009 at 10:47 am

How do you work? What’s a typical day? What’s an ideal day?

How to find interesting information sources? I find this fascinating – most bloggers have relatively predictable information sources, and this makes their blogs boring. But others have unusual sources, and that can make them surprising. MR consistently surprises me.

Patrick October 20, 2009 at 11:12 am

There has been a significant amount of naysaying about the upcoming season for the Memphis Grizzlies after recent personnel changes (drafting Thabeet, trading for Randolph, signing Iverson, etc.). There have been accusations of O.J. Mayo being a ball hog to begin with and the addition of Randolph/Iverson destroying team chemistry. In this discussion there have been plenty of references to efficiency statistics.

1) Thoughts in general?
2) Are efficiency statistics more meaningful measures of effectiveness than simply watching a team in person?
3) Is there room in the world (and NBA) for redemption? (AI / Z-bo)

I can’t get over the fact that this team will have a significant level of talent looking out on a world that is saying they can’t accomplish anything. In my experience, there aren’t too many things more powerful than a group of talented individuals with their backs against the wall.

Neal October 20, 2009 at 11:14 am

Languages:

1. Will Chinese replace english as the global language?
2. Will the trend towards fewer langauges continue until there is just one, or will there be some forces counteracting that. Are there advantages to speaking a language which only some people speak (as long as you also speak what everyone speaks)
3. i.e. will we all speak The Global Language plus our own, or just The Global Language.

I tried this before, no harm trying again

Sean October 20, 2009 at 5:56 pm

What are the roots of the health insurance anti trust exemption, and what justification is given for continuing it?

Peter Earl October 21, 2009 at 1:57 am

Travel to Omaha, NE.

A WHite October 21, 2009 at 10:02 am

Pascal’s Wager as it relates to large lottery payouts. Given our finite lives is any sum of money ever large enough to be considered infinite (e.g. I can’t envision myself spending $400 million in my lifetime, for assumption purposes I have no heirs or feel no connectedness to my descendants)

Ry Sal October 22, 2009 at 11:40 am

wow, this worked!

Chris Auld October 24, 2009 at 12:44 pm

Stiglitz Watch III:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/oct/11/borlaug-bankers-economic-theory-values

What is to be said when excellent economic theorists write things like this in newspapers?

Michael Nielsen December 14, 2009 at 12:23 pm

How, if at all, would you improve Amazon’s new auction system for selling computer capacity:

http://aws.typepad.com/aws/2009/12/ec2-spot-instances-and-now-how-much-would-you-pay.html

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