Econ, government teachers: Are you ready to explain this one?
And then this one:
“Fasten your seatbelts; it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
“Isn’t that how the last depression started?”
September 25, 2008
1 Comment | 
Business, China, Economics, Financial literacy, News, Newspapers | Tagged: Business, China, economy, News Media, Politics, Wall Street | 
Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Robert Reich: Prophet? Or just a very good observer?
September 21, 2008Is Robert Reich a prophet, an economic and employment Jonah sent to Nineveh-on-the-Potomac?
Read Reich’s remarks, about the economics conditions of most Americans, including people in Pennsylvania, and Barack Obama’s observation that some people left behind by our economy are bitter.
Especially read the final three paragraphs, where he warns we are headed into even more turbulent economic waters.
Now notice the date of that piece.
What is your definition of “prophet?”
4 Comments | Barack Obama, Campaigns, Economics, History, Obama 2008, Politics | Tagged: Barack Obama, Economics, Election 2008, Employment, History, Politics, Unemployment | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into technology
September 18, 2008Hewlett-Packard announced plans to cut thousands of jobs from tech consulting giant EDS, in Plano, Texas.
About 25,000 people will lose jobs in the next 36 months under plans from HP.
Leave a Comment » | Economics, Technology, Texas | Tagged: Economics, Employment, Recession, Technology, Unemployment | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Hitting the virtual midways
September 11, 2008It’s State Fair time in several states — Minnesota’s fair is in full swing, Texas’s fair is gearing up, for example — time to take a look at various carnivals and think about midway rides, no?
- Carnival of the Liberals #73, hosted by Redonkulous Redundancy — the post-Republican National Convention issue, with commentary about Republican vice president-nominee Sarah Palin. And more serious stuff, too.
- 188th Carnival of Education, hosted by The Core Knowledge — featuring an interesting section on history, geography and social studies. There is interesting material for my colleagues, too.
Where’s the new fried food pavilion?
3 Comments | Economics, Education, Education assessment, Education blogs, History, Politics, Public education, Teaching, Weblogs | Tagged: Campaign 2008, Education, Politics | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Frozen North economics: Where supply, demand and distribution are important problems
September 6, 2008Especially you economics teachers, look at this very carefully:
Six cans of juice, at a store on Baffin Island - photo from Tales from the Arctic
How much do you pay for juice at your local market?
“The High Cost of Northern Living” at Arctic Economics points to Tales from the Arctic and “Believe me now?”
How much per ounce?
Kennie (at Tales from the Arctic) features a bunch of unbelievable prices. Getting goods to towns in the far north of North America, in Canada and Alaska, is a major production. Transportation and handling kick prices up a bit.
We’ll find out how alert Sarah Palin is when somebody asks her the price of a gallon of milk . . .
More seriously, economics teachers might find some object lessons in these photos, and a good presentation on supply and demand, and the costs of distribution.
Milk at $8.50 a gallon? Even in Canadian currency, that burns.
I wonder: Do prices like these make economics any easier to teach to high school kids? Does the urgency of high prices make the subject more relevant?
Tip of the frozen scrub brush to Arctic Economics, of course.
6 Comments | Economics, Food history, Freedom - Economic, Geography - Economic, Geography - Physical, Maps, Personal finance, Transportation, Travel | Tagged: Alaska, Canada, Economics, geography, Market Basket, Travel | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
China-Olympics-sized stakes in science education
August 25, 2008Frank Rich, in Sunday’s New York Times:
We don’t have the time or resources to go off on more quixotic military missions or to indulge in culture wars. (In China, they’re too busy exploiting scientific advances for competitive advantage to reopen settled debates about Darwin.) Americans must band together for change before the new century leaves us completely behind.
It’s an aside in a longer piece of advice to Obama on issues for the rest of the campaign. It’s a Sputnik statement for this century, for anyone with the brains to pay attention.
Leave a Comment » | China, Creationism, Darwin, Economics, Education, Science, War on Education, War on Science | Tagged: Creationism, Economics, Education, Evolution, Foreigh Affairs, Science, Trade | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Dr. Doom
August 17, 2008Alone among economists, Nouriel Roubini of New York University accurately predicted the current economic woes of the United States.
Nouriel Roubini, NYU photo
Who knew? Do you know anything about what he predicts now?
Read this profile from The New York Times.
Roubini contributes to RGE Monitor.
Other resources:
1 Comment | Economics, Globalization, History, Politics | Tagged: Economics, Globalization, History, Politics | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Government spending
August 7, 2008The Pentagon is spending about $6 billion a month on the war in Iraq, or about $200 million a day, according to the CBO [Congressional Budget Office]. That is about the same as the gross domestic product of Nigeria.
By Martin Wolk
Chief economics correspondent
2 Comments | Economics, Government, Iraq, War, War on Terrorism | Tagged: Economics, Government Spending, Iraq, War | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
On economics, pay attention to Santayana, and Greenberg
August 5, 2008George Santayana is best known as a historian. He’s famous for his observation on the importance of studying history to understand it, and getting it right: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (See citation in right column of the blog.)
Steve Greenberg is a historian cartoonist whose work is published in the Ventura County (California) Star. He offers a Santayana-esque analysis of economics positions of presidential candidates.
Steve Greenberg, published in the Ventura County Star
Click on the thumbnail for a larger version.
Steve Greenberg, Ventura County Star, via Cagle Comics
Greenberg has compressed into 33 words and 5 images a rather complex argument in this year’s presidential campaign.
Is Greenberg right? Do you see why Boss Tweed feared Thomas Nast’s cartoons more than he feared the reporters and editorial writers?
This election campaign we may be able to get the best analysis and commentary from cartoonists. Same as always. Teachers: Are you stockpiling cartoons for use through the year in government, economics, and history?
Other resources:
Note to Cagle cartoons: I think I’m in fair use bounds on this. In any case, I wish you would create an option for bloggers, and an option for teachers who may reuse cartoons year after year. I’ve tried to contact you to secure rights for cartoons in the past, and I don’t get responses. Complain away in comments if you have a complaint, but let us know how we can expose cartoonists to broader audiences and use these materials in our classrooms for less than our entire teacher salary.
33 Comments | Campaigns, Cartoons, Economics, Elections, History, Political cartoons, Presidents | Tagged: Cartoons, Economics, History, John McCain, Political cartoons, presidential campaign, Steve Greenberg | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Celebrating darkness, ignorance, and calumny
August 1, 2008Quote of the moment:
Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it.
— Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, Stave 1
I thought of that line of Dickens’s when I read of this celebration of darkness, ignorance and calumny. Although, with the recent renewing of Limbaugh’s contract, it may no longer be true that his particular brand of darkness is cheap.
Still, it remains dark.
Scrooge meets Ignorance and Want, the products of his stinginess (drawing by John Leech, 1809-1870)
(More about the drawing below the fold)
3 Comments | Books, Economics, Famous quotes, Literature, Politics, Poverty, Quotes, Radio | Tagged: Darkness, ignorance, Literature, Politics, Quotes, Rush Limbaugh, Scrooge | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Exciting times dept.: New inflation control – no paper to print money
July 29, 2008This year is an exciting time to be teaching history, government or civics, or economics. So many events in national politics and in the world expose the workings of government, politics and history, that teachers should have smoking scissors by the time they finish the morning newspaper.
Image from The Guardian/EPA - A Zimbabwean $50 million note in April, not enough to buy a banana; worth less than $0.01 US now
Zimbabwe’s unbelievable inflation rates are textbook cases for economics and government teachers, aren’t they? Inflation has been running more than 1 million percent for some time. Reports I saw a few days ago said inflation is now at something like 2 million percent — in a story about a new currency being printed there, the Zimbabwean $100 billion note.
Authorities last week released a new $100 billion bank note. By Sunday it was not enough even to buy a scarce loaf of bread in what has become one of the world’s most expensive — and impoverished — countries.
Is that a cruel enough example to get the attention of high school economics students?
But the story has gotten even more bizarre. Even with a government making absolutely no effort to control inflation, supply and demand can put a crunch on affairs.
Zimbabwe has run out of paper upon which to print the money to pay government workers.
So the elaborate work by the despotic Robert Mugabe to keep his hold on the reins of power, the carefully planned murders of opposition political workers, the threats of violence if the vote didn’t go his way — all of that may come crashing down. Mugabe can’t print money to pay the thugs to terrorize the people. The thugs may turn on Mugabe.
The government is reported to have run out of paper to print money and is believed to be panicking over how to pay salaries for civil servants, especially soldiers and police who are the backbone of the Mugabe dictatorship. From AllAfrica.com, a report from SW Radio Africa:
Giesecke & Devrient, the European company that was providing the paper, was last month pressured to cut supplies by the German government, after protests were threatened. In addition, a company that provides the software licences for the design and printing of the banknotes, is reported to be considering withdrawing their contract.
The military has helped run the country for some years now and the Mugabe regime needs to sustain military and police operations in order to maintain political control. There is much consensus among observers that Mugabe’s recent decision to sign the Memorandum of Agreement with the two MDC formations was clearly based on increased economic pressure. One English pound this week is trading at Z$1.3 trillion.
Earlier in the week, Mugabe was out of the country trying to negotiate a power-sharing agreement with his opposition, Morgan Tsvangarai. What power will be left to share?
The software for the notes, which is supplied by a Hungarian-Austrian company called Jura JSP, is reportedly very technical. The UK Guardian newspaper quoted a ‘knowledgeable source’ at the Zimbabwe government’s Fidelity Printers, who said the software issue was a major problem and had created an air of panic. “They are in a panic because without the software they can’t print anything,” the source added.
Helmoed-Romer Heitman, the South Africa correspondent for Jane’s Defence Weekly (a global military security publication) said the situation faced by the regime is quite typical of many African countries that are falling apart. He said the result tends to be at least violent demonstrations, if not a mutiny by the military.
“Given the current situation in Zimbabwe, I am inclined to think that a lot of the military, certainly middle ranking officers and some seniors, are not all that enamoured of the party that is running the show”, said Heitman.
Oh, and that 2 million percent inflation?
With experts estimating that the inflation rate is currently at 15 million per cent, and pressure on those doing business with the Mugabe regime increasing, the economy has proved to be the straw that finally broke the camel’s back.
Observations: First, these are great examples to use in classes, stark contrasts of inflation out of control. Second, Mugabe is riding a tiger, finally, after holding power for several decades. He should study the words of Winston Churchill. Churchill wrote, in While England Slept:
“Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.”
If you read this blog regularly, you may wonder with me, is there a malaria problem in Zimbabwe? If so, how will the wackoes blame all of this on Rachel Carson?
Resources:
- Historical reference: In 2006, inflation was only 1,000% (where was the Bush administration on this issue?)
- Inflation went over 1 million percent earlier this year
- CIA World Factbook entry on Zimbabwe
Leave a Comment » | Africa, Economics, Education, Geography - Economic, Globalization, Government, History, Inflation, Politics | Tagged: Africa, Classroom Examples, Economics, Education, Government, History, Inflation, Politics | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
400 years of river history: NY celebrates Hudson, Champlain and Fulton in 2009
July 26, 2008Okay, it’s the 202nd anniversary of Robert Fulton’s historic, 32-hour steamboat trip from New York City to Albany, demonstrating the viability of steamboat travel for commerce on the Hudson. But for such a historic river, why not delay that fete for a couple of years and roll it into the 400th anniversary of Champlain’s exploration of the lake that now bears his name, and Henry Hudson’s discover of the mouth of the river to the south, the Hudson, whose mouth is home to New York City.
400 years of Hudson River history in 2009 - Hudson, Champlain, Fulton
And so 2009 marks the Quadricentennial Celebration on the Hudson, honoring Hudson, Fulton and Champlain.
Alas, the committee to coordinate the celebration along the length of the river was not put in place until February, so there is a scramble. Local celebrations will proceed, but the overall effort may fall short of the 1909 tricentennial, with replicas of Hudson’s ship, Half Moon, and Champlain’s boats, and Fulton’s steamer, and parades, and festivals, and . . .
Still, the history is notable, and the stories worth telling.
Most of my students in U.S. and world history over the past five years have been almost completely unaware of any of these stories. One kid was familiar with the Sons of Champlin, the rock band of Bill Champlin, because his father played the old vinyl records. Most students know nothing of the lore of Hudson, the mutiny and the old Dutch stories that have thunder caused by Hudson and his loyal crewman bowling in the clouds over the Catskills. They don’t even know the story of Rip van Winkle, since it’s not in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) list and so gets left out of even elementary school curricula. Is this an essential piece of culture that American children should know? American adults won’t know it, if we don’t teach it.
Henry Hudson, from a woodcut
Explorations and settlement of Quebec by Samuel de Champlain get overlooked in post-NCLB texts. Texts tend to make mention of the French settlement of Canada, but placing these explorations in the larger frame of the drive to find a route through or around North America to get to China, or the often-bitter contests between French, English, Spanish, Dutch and other European explorers and settlers gets lost. French-speaking Cajuns just show up in histories of Texas and the Southwest, with little acknowledgment given to the once-great French holdings in North America, nor the incredible migration of French from Acadia to Louisiana that gives the State of Louisiana such a distinctive culture today.
French explorer and settler Samuel de Champlain
Champlain’s explorations and settlement set up the conflict between England and France that would result in the French and Indian War in the U.S., and would not play out completely until after the Louisiana Purchase and War of 1812.
Fulton’s steamboat success ushered in the age of the modern, non-sail powered navies, and also highlights the role geography plays in the development of technology. The Hudson River is ideally suited for navigation from its mouth, north to present-day Albany. This is such a distance over essentially calm waters that sail would have been preferred, except that the winds on the Hudson were not so reliable as ocean winds. Steam solved the problem. Few other rivers in America would have offered such an opportunity for commercial development — so the Hudson River helped drive the age of steam.
New York City remains an economic powerhouse. New York Harbor remains one of the most active trading areas in the world. Robert Fulton helped propel New York ahead of Charleston, Baltimore and Boston — a role in New York history that earned him a place in for New York in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall. The steamboat monopoly Fulton helped establish was a key player in Gibbons v. Ogden, the landmark Supreme Court case in which the Court held that Congress has the power to regulate commerce between states — an upholding of the Commerce Clause against the old structures created under colonial rule and the Articles of Confederation.
Robert Fulton's statute in the U.S. Capitol - photo by Robert Lienhard
400 years of history along the Hudson, a river of great prominence in world history. History teachers should watch those festivities for new sources of information, new ideas for classroom exercises.
Resources:
- Albany, New York, Times-Union story on the Quadricentennial celebration planning
- Hudson River Valley Institute, notes on 1909 Tricentennial celebration
- Hudson River Valley Institute page on 2009 Quadricentennial
- Historic maps of the Hudson exploration
- The Life and Voyages of Henry Hudson (Ian Chadwick’s site)
- Biography of Hudson – Hudson River Maritime Museum
- Champlain, at the Virtual Museum of New France
- Robert Fulton, His life and its results, 1891 biography from Dodd, Mead & Co.
- Robert Fulton vs. John Fitch, history by Robert Lienhard, University of Houston
6 Comments | America's founding, Commerce Clause, Economics, Education, Geography - Economic, Geography - Physical, Heroes, History, Invention, Law, Natural resources, Politics, Science, Supreme Court cases, Technology, Transportation, Travel, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: Age of Exploration, Business, Champlain, geography, Henry Hudson, History, Law, Robert Fulton, Science, Steam Power, Technology | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Really useful economics blogs
July 25, 2008Still working on a simple list of economics blogs for the blogroll.
Of course, you’re probably aware of the trying-to-be-comprehensive listings of blogs at Acadamicblogs.org. Here’s the list of economics blogs. Tell us, Dear Reader, which of these blogs do you regularly read, which do you recommend, and which are missing from the list?
(I’ve already noticed that the high-faluting Becker-Posner Blog, and the always-interesting Michael Perelman’s Unsettling Economics are not on the list. The list strives to be comprehensive. There is a whole lotta blogs out there.)
Economic blogs, from AcademicBlogs.com; I have edited the list to include just the name of the blog with a link:
0-9
A-D
- Adam Smith
- Against Monopoly
- Aguanomics
- A Random Walk
- An Economist in Paradise
- Angry Bear
- American Job market
- Another Econ Hopeful
- Applied Economist
- artdiamondblog
- Aspiring Economist
- AtlanticBlog
- Austrian Addiction
- Austro-Athenian Empire
- The Austrian Economists
- Awkward Utopia
- The Beacon
- The Big Picture
- Blablabla économique
- The Blog of Diminishing Returns
- Calculated Risk
- Charles Kenny
- Beat the Press
- Ciencia de la Economía
- Chris Blattman
- Bluematter.
- Olivier Bouba-Olga (Fr)
- Brad DeLong’s Semi-Daily Journal
- Brown Man’s Burden
- Cafe Hayek
- Card Carrying Member
- Carpe Diem
- Cold Spring Shops
- Conservation Finance
- Core Economics
- Deane’s Dimension
- Different River
- Discursive Philosophical Thought
- Discuss Economics & Finance
- Division of Labour
- Dollars & Sense
E-H
- Economics at About.com
- Economics Geek
- Eclectecon
- Econ Bonus Question of the Week
- Econbrowser
- EconLog
- Economic Investigations
- Economic inequality in the USA
- Economic Objectorvism
- L’économie sans tabou (Fr)
- L’économiste libertarien
- Economist’s View
- EconWeekly
- Endogenous preferences
- Environmental Economics
- Environmental Economics & Sustainable Development
- El Econoscopio
- Research on new EU member states
- Eurozone Watch
- Exuberant Rationality
- Fairly Obvious Observations
- Federalist
- Fictionomics
- The Filter^ | Economics
- Finance Professor
- Financial Rounds
- Freakonomics
- Game Theorist
- Heretic at the Gates
- Homo Phileconomicus
- Heavy Lifting
- Inside the Economist’s Mind
I-L
- Ideas
- Institutional Economics
- James D. Miller
- John Irons
- Increasing Returns
- Inflation in the USA
- Knowledge Problem
- Kalimna
- Paul Krugman
- Andrew Leigh
- Peter Levin’s Rethinking Markets
- Leonardo Monasterio
- Libertés Réelles (Real Freedom)
- The Lowest Deep
M-P
- MaxSpeak, You Listen!
- Greg Mankiw
- Jeffrey Alan Miron
- Marginal Revolution
- MariettaEcon
- Market Power
- Mickey’s Musings
- Midas Oracle
- Models & Agents
- Ben Muse
- MyInvestBlog.Com
- Natural Capital
- Neutral Source
- Neuroeconomics
- New Economist
- No Widgets Here
- Notes for Monetary Enthusiasts
- “The Oregon Economics Blog”
- Oxonomics
- Organizations and Markets
- The Perfect Substitute
- Peter Gordon’s Blog
- Productivity Shock
- Public Offering
- purple motes
Q-T
- John Quiggin
- Eric Rasmusen
- Rational Choice
- Real economic growth in the USA
- Brad Setser
- Rogue Economist Rants
- Ruconomics
- Sabernomics
- Sex Drugs & Religion
- SCSU Scholars
- Teaching and Learning Economics With Technology
- The Emirates Economist
- The Sports Economist
- The Economy in a Can
- The yellow brick road
- Truck and Barter
U-Z
1 Comment | Economics, Weblogs | Tagged: blogging, Economics, Weblogs | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Russians leverage climate change for economic advantage: The Arctic Bridge
July 22, 2008In the U.S. we still have people throwing themselves in front of Zambonis to protest doing anything about global warming. In Russia, warming is taken as a fact.
And so Russians get a leg up on U.S. companies, in this case working to open an Arctic “bridge” for shipping goods from Russia to Canada and back.
Bookmark this site, Arctic Economics, you economics and geography teachers.
3 Comments | Business, Climate change, Economics, Free market economics, Geography - Economic, Geography - Physical, Global warming, Globalization, Natural resources, oceans, Science, Transportation, Travel | Tagged: Business, Climate change, Economics, geography, Global warming, Globalization, Russia, Trade Routes, Travel | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
“Adam Smith Lives!” is dead
July 21, 2008No updates in several months — the only thing I can conclude is that the blog, Adam Smith Lives!, is dead.
Gone from the blogroll.
I’m interested in finding good blogs on economics, world history, and government — Dear Reader, which ones have I overlooked?
7 Comments | Administrivia, Economics, Weblogs | Tagged: blogging, blogs, Economics, Weblogs | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 