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Opinion
Is There Room for Agreement on the Merits and Limits of Efficient Lighting
Seeking constructive dialogue on the merits and limits of clean, efficient lighting.Automobiles
Wheelies: The Alternative Fuel Plunge Edition
Sales of alternative-fuel vehicle have fallen along with gasoline prices; Volkswagen recalls 1.1 million vehicles for a suspension defect.Opinion
The Democratic Panic
In hopes of preserving control of the United States Senate, Democratic candidates are keeping their distance from President Obama’s best policies, but that’s a risk.U.S.
Environmental Issues Become a Force in Political Advertising
From every angle, campaigns for Democratic and Republican candidates are targeting voters concerned about energy and climate change.World
To Celebrate Its Jewish History, Poland Presents ‘a Museum of Life’
An exhibition in Warsaw, occupying eight sprawling galleries, traces the history of Jews from their first appearance in Poland in the Middle Ages to the present day.Opinion
(Only) Two Rules for a Good Diet
A powerful personal food policy doesn’t have to rely on corporate benevolence or the government getting things right — thank goodness.N.Y. / Region
Baby on Way, Worker Gets Her Job Back
Fierman Produce Exchange said Angelica Valencia can return as a potato packer at the Bronx company.Opinion
Russia Today, Argentina Tomorrow
Latin America's populist leaders are degrading independent journalism.Science
Seeking Stars, Finding Creationism
Astronomy is still fending off charges of blasphemy. These days the opposition comes not from the Vatican, but from a people with very different religious beliefs.Health
Is It Really Dementia?
A number of conditions cause dementia-like symptoms, and doctors may have trouble diagnosing them. Still, the odds usually are low that an elderly family member can be made cognitively normal.World
More Jewish Settlers Move Into East Jerusalem Neighborhood
An earlier influx of settlers to the Silwan area had been condemned by the Obama administration as “provocative.”World
Even Beloved Figure Is Prey to Robbers in Pakistani City
Robbers targeted the home and headquarters of Abdul Sattar Edhi, taking more than $1 million and gold jewelry that had been donated to his foundation.U.S.
Los Angeles Changes a Rule to Dream of Sky-High Spires
The city’s Fire Department has agreed to drop a requirement for all skyscrapers to have flat tops, clearing the way for visions of a more inspiring skyline to rival New York or Chicago.
To Die at Home: Reporter’s Notebook
A journey taken with a woman and her dying father led Nina Bernstein to write an article that speaks to the challenges many readers also face.Business Day
Whole Foods Asks Shoppers to Consider a Value Proposition
The market chain is trying to reignite sales growth and fend off increased competition by promoting the social values it follows in stocking its shelves.World
India: Politician Is Granted Bail
Jayalalithaa Jayaram, the former chief minister of the state of Tamil Nadu who was sentenced to four years in prison for corruption last month, was granted bail pending her appeal.U.S.
Missouri: Panel Will Study Race and Poverty After Ferguson Shooting
Gov. Jay Nixon announced Tuesday that he will name a commission next month to study socioeconomic problems in the St. Louis area.Business Day
Unity on Eurozone Growth Eludes Germany and France
Meeting in Berlin, the French and German finance and economy ministers said only that they had agreed to come up with economic proposals by Dec. 1.Why To Worry About Deflation
David Wessel
has a very nice explainer in the WSJ — although I wonder how the editor
allowed his citation of a particular expert under point #2 to slip
through. One thing he doesn’t do, however, is make it clear that zero is
not a magic red line here — as even the IMF has made a point of emphasizing, too-low inflation has all the adverse effects of outright deflation, just to a lesser degree.
Most notably, the euro area currently has 0.8 percent core inflation, far below its 2 percent target, which is itself too low. This means that Europe is already in a lowflationary trap, qualitatively the same as a deflationary trap.
This Age of Derp
I
gather that some readers were puzzled by my use of the term “derp” with
regard to peddlers of inflation paranoia, even though I’ve used it
quite a lot. So maybe it’s time to revisit the concept; among other
things, once you understand the problem of derpitude, you understand why
I write the way I do (and why the Asnesses of this world whine so
much.)
Josh Barro
brought derp into economic discussion, and many of us immediately
realized that this was a term we’d been needing all along. As Noah Smith
explained, what it means — at least in this context — is a determined
belief in some economic doctrine that is completely unmovable by
evidence. And there’s a lot of that going around.
The inflation
controversy is a prime example. If you came into the global financial
crisis believing that a large expansion of the Federal Reserve’s balance
sheet must lead to terrible inflation, what you have in fact
encountered is this:
I’ve indicated the date of the debasement letter for reference.
So how do you respond?
We all get things wrong, and if we’re not engaged in derp, we learn
from the experience. But if you’re doing derp, you insist that you were
right, and continue to fulminate against money-printing exactly as you
did before.
The same thing happens
when we try to discuss the effects of tax cuts — belief in their
magical efficacy is utterly insensitive to evidence and experience.
Now, not every wrong
idea — or claim that I disagree with — is derp. I was pretty unhappy
with the claim that doom looms whenever debt crosses 90 percent of GDP,
and not too happy with the later claims that the relevant economists
never said such a thing; that’s what everyone from Paul Ryan to Olli
Rehn heard, and they were not warned off. But there has not, thankfully,
been a movement insisting that growth does too fall off a cliff at 90
percent, so this is not a derp thing.
But there is, as I
said, a lot of derp out there. And what that means, in turn, is that you
shouldn’t pretend that we’re having a real discussion when we aren’t.
In fact, it’s intellectually dishonest and a public disservice to
pretend that such a discussion is taking place. We can and indeed are
having a serious discussion about the effects of quantitative easing,
but people like Paul Ryan and Cliff Asness are not part of that
discussion, because no evidence could ever change their view. It’s not
economics, it’s just derp.
N.Y. / Region
Sports Betting in New Jersey Is Challenged
The four major professional sports leagues and the National Collegiate Athletic Association filed a lawsuit on Monday and will seek a temporary injunction to halt the plan.|
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