Russ Roberts and I talk. We start with credit default swaps, and that may be a bit hard to follow. Then we get into broader issues of what I call the housing industrial policy and the purpose of the various bailouts, starting back with Bear Stearns.
Nov 10 2008
One of the more interesting economist bloggers on the left side of the spectrum is Dean Baker. He had an interesting post the other day. (Hat tip to Sheldon Richman.) Baker wrote: The [Washington] Post tells us how the people who designed the bank bailout were committed to the free market. Interestingly, the key de...
Nov 10 2008
P. J. O.Rourke writes, The free market is just a measurement, a device to tell us what people are willing to pay for any given thing at any given moment. The free market is a bathroom scale. You may hate what you see when you step on the scale. "Jeeze, 230 pounds!" But you can't pass a law making yourself weigh 185. L...
Nov 10 2008
Russ Roberts and I talk. We start with credit default swaps, and that may be a bit hard to follow. Then we get into broader issues of what I call the housing industrial policy and the purpose of the various bailouts, starting back with Bear Stearns.
READER COMMENTS
scott clark
Nov 10 2008 at 9:34am
I almost wish this were a discussion of
Klingon Financial Markets. Ka’pla!
Andrew Cassel
Nov 13 2008 at 10:46am
Arnold, I was very intrigued with your discussion w/Russ of what caused the CDS market to implode. Burton Malkiel in today’s FT ( http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/016f4900-b124-11dd-8915-0000779fd18c.html )says an exchange would fix that market failure; I assume you disagree but would appreciate hearing your reasoning.
thanks
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