Krugman on Hours

Krugman is annoying and boring to read, but is still a good (or at least respected) economist so I keep his blog on my RSS, and saw this article from a few days ago that brought up some interesting data points about hours worked and income (thankfully without editorial), which I figured would interest WSO:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/lifes…

 

Its the comments I find most interesting, there seems to be a general dislike that people with high skills actually have to do work. It almost seems that people despise the idea that the rich do in fact work.

Follow the shit your fellow monkeys say @shitWSOsays Life is hard, it's even harder when you're stupid - John Wayne
 

Wait, you find Krugman boring? Have you ever read any of his academic papers/books? The guy literally writes the most interesting papers simply because he doesn't make them boring by incessantly quoting statistics and models but he tells it using real life examples and stories which makes them a more interesting read. Rant over.

Edit: I haven't paid much attention to his blog, ^^I was only referring to his academic papers

 

Krugman is great, not a "good" economist, I do not believe nobel prizes (in economics, in economics!) are given to anyone. The fact that someone has different opinions than you means nothing about his writing stile of intellectual capacity, if you find him boring, do not read him and go watch a movie.

Btw, bring on the monkey shit as you want, but put Friedman or Lucas instead of Krugman and the arguments remains valid, you can differ with their views, but they are/were outstanding economists.

Valor is of no service, chance rules all, and the bravest often fall by the hands of cowards. - Tacitus Dr. Nick Riviera: Hey, don't worry. You don't have to make up stories here. Save that for court!
 

I wasn't disparaging Krugman's ability as an economist, I was commenting on his blog. His best work as an economist is in international economics, trade, and new economic geography; he also has some good papers on economic history. His blog focuses almost exclusively on macroeconomic policy and Keynesian theory, which is NOT his strong point.

 

a committee of nobel laureate economists actually did a study to find the most "partisan" economist.... krugman WAS once a great economist, but these days he is just an overqualified HuffPost wanna-be.

 
Best Response

Woodside, NY February 15th, 2011 3:19 pm

Woodsider:
We do keep hearing that the upper level managers and executives work many hours a week -- 60, 70 or more. If they were administrative assistants or secretaries (or paralegals or such) you would have actual paper/computer file output to measure. What proof do we have that those bankers really produce something tangible for all their hours? I'd like to see their salaries quoted in per hour rates.
I loved this comment. People have the impression that we work an absurd amount of hours without producing anything tangible. We produce an incredible amount of tangible "something," it's just the smart ones among us who realize that little of what we produce is actually a value-add. That being said, when we get paid an hourly rate comparable to the average McDonald's employee's, don't ask to see our salaries in per-hour rates.
I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 

Well, Smitty, I don't know his argument exactly, but I think if temperatures rise then we could start seeing a supply issue. Higher temperatures or perhaps higher volatility in temperatures could ruin crops. Obviously, this would contribute to higher prices, since it is a shock on supply.

 

I think it is pretty obvious there is global warming. The debate centers around what is causing global warming. Some folks think it's just a natural cycle and others believe it is man-made. I happen to think it is a combination of both things. However, I am not a scientist, so I honestly can't say that I am 100% firm on my opinion.

Oil and other commodities are rising in price because of demand for those product around the world. The BRICs are growing like crazy and have a large appetite for commodities to fuel that growth. Printing all of these dollars is also contributing to this problem.

Like all things in life, this is being caused by multiple factors. I know we like to simplify things a lot, but the reality is that the world is complex.

 

He argues commodities' price rise due to supply constraints and increased demand, and I agree with that view. The increased demand is given to emerging markets having more buying power and supply constrains because of failed harvest like that of wheat in eastern europe and russia. Regarding global warming, I dont think I can get you to believe in it if you are a denier, not I will spend my time trying to, but I am sure there is a lot of information out there. The failed crops were due to unexpected wheather events, global warming being a feasible explanation to those in my opinion.

My question would be, given the explanation that the inflation in commodities is due to QE, why do this increment in prices affect prices in other currencies? you should expect then no commodities inflation in other countries.

Valor is of no service, chance rules all, and the bravest often fall by the hands of cowards. - Tacitus Dr. Nick Riviera: Hey, don't worry. You don't have to make up stories here. Save that for court!
 

Global warming 100% is happening. How humans can destroy rain forest, pollute drinking water, cause acid rain, but all of a sudden say that there is no way we could effect climate is beyond me. I think global warming was a poor name for it. Climate change is much better.

http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=wb-wdi&met=sp_pop_totl&tdim=true&dl…

That graph just makes me so sad. It is probably off by at least 500MM people.

Human beings alter and affect everything we come in contact with. Climate is no different.

Climate is causing prices to increase, along with other things.

 

Global warming I don't buy into. I do buy the idea of environmental impact by abuse, and I think in our hyper-industrialized age it's naive to say that we can't or don't impact the world we live in with our collective daily actions.

I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 
drexelalum11:
Krugman is annoying and boring to read, but is still a good (or at least respected) economist

He's respected for his esoteric research which has little/nothing to do with his political views. Being a respected economist and a respected public intellectual are completely different things. Even economists who believe he rightly deserved the Nobel prize for his work in trade, often think he's ridiculous and a tool in his op-eds.

 

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Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions. -Niccolo Machiavelli

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