A conversation

Perfect: Master Yoda! Have u been following my discussion about interest rates in the social media? Y: Yes, my dear Padawan P: Don't call me that, it sounds silly Y: I know, young padawan P: Anyways, I totally buy your theory relating interest rates to slavery (or lack of thereof); there can be no other explanation! Those neoclassical morons! They know shit, and yet are making fun of me all the time! Y: Tomate hatred in your heart I sense, my pupil. beware of the dark neoclassical forces. they want you to respond, but do not!...

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Fake history e análise econômica

“You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.” (Daniel Patrick Moynihan) "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story" (Mark Twain) Yoshiaki Nakano cometeu coluna na semana passada argumentando que as elevadas taxas de juros observadas no Brasil teriam origem na economia cafeeira, que dominou o país de meados do século XIX...

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Imortal

Há algo comum entre Jason Vorhees, Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers e certas afirmações econômicas: não importa quantas vezes sejam mortos, seguem aparecendo, sem jamais se dar ao trabalho de explicar como renasceram. Uma destas ideias, divulgada com mais frequência do que recomendável, diz respeito à suposta alternativa portuguesa à austeridade fiscal e seu imenso sucesso,...

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Oak and Doutrinador on inequality

L.Oak's last piece in the "Leaf" at least is based on some serious study on inequality. But it lacks thrust, it is sort of boring and does not advance any interesting new thoughts (though that may be a plus in her case). My two cents: being obsessed with the income of the top 1% is wrong (I had breakfast with Aghion the other day and we were both kind of puzzled by the 1% mania that has taken hold). It would be better to shift the discussion to mechanisms because that is what matters. Why the 1% are doing so much better? Is it because they...

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O tempo não para

Se fosse pelo número em si, 0,2% de crescimento, teria até vergonha de comemorar, mas um olhar mais detalhado às entranhas das estatísticas do PIB no segundo trimestre dão um pouco mais de alento acerca do desempenho da economia no curto e médio prazos. Muito embora o crescimento tenha ficado bem aquém daquele verificado no primeiro trimestre (1,0%), observamos agora a...

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Interest rates and culture

Woke up this morning and promised not to be stunned by human stupiduty. I failed miserably. Master Nakano is the culprit. In his piece published in The Value, our Yoda comes up with a novel theory for Brazil's high interest rates: it is related to cultural factors. Forget risk, clogged transmission channels, crazy fiscal, indexation. Nakano's storyline is (roughly) as follows: brazucas planted coffee, which meant seazonal revenues. These were saved to allow for consumption smoothing thru the year. Because of the periodic nature of revenues, savers...

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System-GMM = same shit

Another seminar, another kid presenting results from system-GMM. And again eluding the "what is your ID strategy?" question with the same absurd reply: "But I am using system-GMM". I say: my dear, fuck u please. the kid puts on a puzzled fa...

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JosephS S.

what are their common traits? Both seek power at all costs; both will go after you in case you disagree; both are scheming and deceitful. In what do they differ? The one long ago dead had an excessive amount of hair. The other has no...

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Jurassic Park

Não pretendia comentar a proposta de privatização da Casa da Moeda, por me parecer um tópico de pouca importância (e é!), mas tive a triste oportunidade de ver nas redes sociais toda espécie de bobagens, inclusive de “economistas” heterodoxos-novo-desenvolvimentistas-keynesianos-sei-lá-o-que-mais e não resisti. Para colocar nos termos mais simples possíveis, a Casa da...

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"Stupidity Prize of the Week"

Which is not necessarily weekly. Anyways, we are proud to announce this week's winnerS. (Ties happen, as shit happens). Perfetto: for running a nice regression of GDP on its components and getting an R2 of  0.999. Goldsmith piggy : which is also running for the "Delusional Prize of the Week". Mister JO states in his facebook account that the recent neoclassical economists' rant against guilds (CORECON, COFECON) is due to sheer envy, as this comes after he was awarded the best book prize of the year by one of the former (forgot which)....

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Doutrinador

Sou o doutrinador. Sou mais belo que Alexandre (tenho cabelo). Estudei grego. Gosto de matemática. Não gosto de heterodoxo. Uma vez me perguntaram: "quem foi a pessoa que mais danos causou ao Brasil, desde 1503?"  Eu respondi: Luciano Coutin...

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