Debate - Who Should Be the Next Fed Chair

The New York Times has a good debate over who President Obama should choose as the next chair of the Federal Reserve.  The participants in the debate reflect a wide range of perspectives that champion Yellen, Summers or a person with different expertise.

Eminent Domain Being Used to Save Homes

The New York Times has an interesting article on cities using eminent domain laws to take over houses to keep people from losing their homes.  In the program, cities buy the outstanding loans on houses for partial value (based on the current value of the house) and then lets the owners refinance based on the current value.  Basically, the owners of the loans are forced to take the loss.  The cities justify the action as saying that they are saving the homes from becoming blighted.  There are a lot of good policy arguments to be had over this article.

The Inverse Relationship of Bond Prices and Interest Rates

The New York Times has good article that explains the inverse relationship between bond prices and interest rates.  It also points out that, with an expected rise in interest rates over the next few years, many investors who have moved their money to the "safety" of bonds, stand to lose as bond prices drop.  The article also includes information (and a link) by Finra Investor Education Foundation about how little most people know about basic financial issues - like bond prices and interest rates.  The report was based on questions, like in the quiz below.  Take it yourself and find out how you do:

Future Battle Over Wealth Taxes

Tyler Cowen has a good column in the New York Times over the future prospect of wealth taxes and that the reality that some highly indebted countries are actually very wealthy, despite their current economic troubles.  This can explain why bond rates are so low on Japanese bonds.  It also talks about how Italy (in relation of debt to wealth) is wealthier than Germany - which has some implications about the future of eurozone "bailouts" and the demands of countries like Germany to demand wealth taxes to go along with bailouts.  However, as Cowen notes, this type of tax can have a big impact on future growth because it could discourage investment.

Review of the History of QE

Floyd Norris has a short history in the New York Times of the argument over Quantitative Easing and it shows how some economists got it really wrong what the price for this will be has yet to be seen.

Mankiw - Friendship beyond Economics

Greg Mankiw has a New York Times article about how friendship can go above and beyond economic and political differences.  A reminder of the relationship between Keynes and Hayek.  I wonder if Mankiw would say the same we of Krugman?

Tyler Cowen - Cookbook Economics

Tyler Cowen has an article in Foreign Policy about cookbooks and economics.  From A foodie like Cowen it should be an interesting read.