Pre-Xmas Reads (Dec. 21, 2014)

I have arrived on vacation and may finally get around to writing some posts (assuming internet access stabilizes). To start off, here are some things I’ve read on the plane and intend to read over the break.

Year in Review. Grantland

A brief history of pregnancy workplace rights. JSTOR Daily

Governing through unhappiness. Potlatch [on austerity]

The War Nerd: more proof the US defense industry has nothing to do with defending America. Pando [there are also a couple of articles in the January edition of Harper’s that have terrific insights on the defense industry’s posture towards Russia and Ukraine]

Also: Could the US even launch a nuclear missile if it wanted to? Daily Mail. [Answer: probably not; serious longstanding morale problems in the USAF nuclear command]

Reporters fail to capture implications of pension provisions. Columbia Journalism Review [on the recent budget deal in Congress]

Adair Turner understands better than Paul Krugman. Angry Bear [understands “the economic situation”; follow video link]

Overselling America’s infrastructure crisis. New Geography

My reading of the FT on China’s “turning away from the dollar”. Michael Pettis at Credit Writedowns

Foucault’s responsibility. Jacobin

$100,000 says my portfolio will beat Tony Robbins’. Barry Ritholtz, The Big Picture

Weekend long reads (Dec. 5, 2014)

Readers will notice that there hasn’t been much activity here since Thanksgiving. My absence is partly due to traveling I’ve had to do, being engrossed in my new book (The Power Broker by Robert Caro), and other academic obligations, which will continue next week. Nonetheless, I have provided some long reads here as they seem to one of the more popular types of posts. I hope to have the third part of the series on sectoral investment patterns up by the end of next week.

• ALIEN. Typeset in the Future
• The most important map you will ever see. Your Wild Life [Biogeography and Ebola]
• Also: Before & after: respiratory microbes among pilgrims to the Hajj. Body Horrors
• The three generations of black mayors in America. New Geography
• Possible headline for next Friday: “Best Year for Employment since the ’90s”. Calculated Risk [Quality matters as much as quantity: employment gains have been greatest in retail services, healthcare, resource extraction, and some professional sectors, while losses were greatest in education, the public sector, finance, and manufacturing. And, obviously, these have been concentrated spatially. This news remains, nonetheless, cause for celebration.]

Fracking tantrums

• What do banks do with all that “fracking” money? Liberty Street Economics (NY Fed blog)
• Why cratering oil may not crush shale producers. Market Watch
• A glut of oil? Econbrowser

Banking

• The secret history of the financial crisis. Project Syndicate
• Australia: haven for bank control frauds? Naked Capitalism
• Just released: household debt balances increase as deleveraging period continues. Liberty Street Economics [It is always important to look at recent, quarterly releases of data with skepticism]
• And then: The New York Fed declares the end of the Deleveraging. Pragmatic Capitalism [important context]

Research and academics

• Your friend FRED. Money and banking. [An economist’s best friend]
• How professionals think. Understanding Society
• The Skeptics Guide to Institutions – Part 4. The Growth Economics Blog. [A great series]