Ezra Klein

The video above pits Henry Waxman against Newt Gingrich is straight-up, no-holds-barred, citation warfare. (There are moments when I wish this blog had music, or at least exciting sound effects). The primary point of contention is a number you’re hearing a lot these days: $3,128. That’s the supposed yearly cost that cap and trade will […]

The New York Times has a front-pager on Tim Geithner’s schedule back when he was heading the New York Federal Reserve. What we learn is that Geithner spent a lot of time hanging out with bank presidents. He was even a candidate to helm Citibank (Geithner apparently had no interest in the job). As always, […]

If you look at the health care policies favored by liberals and the health care policies favored by conservatives, here’s the general difference: Conservatives believe the decision-maker in health care is the consumer. Liberals believe it’s the doctor. And so conservative policies try to change consumer behavior. Liberal policies try to change doctor behavior. That’s […]

Matt is right to say that a lot of what passed for “financial innovation” was in fact innovative efforts at regulatory arbitrage. One of the pieces of the crisis that I hadn’t understood until recently, for instance, was the role that Basel II banking regulations played in the growth of the structured securities market. In […]

Last week, I headed out to Missoula to give a talk on behest of Matt Singer’s Forward Montana. Perks to giving talks in Missoula: 1) They happen in bars. 2) Wearing jeans makes you seem dressed up. There’s literally a pitcher of scotch ale on the chair next to me in case I get thirsty […]

Nate Silver on blogging: For the most part we’re just trying to be interesting to people. I think we differ from a lot of blogs. We very rarely just say, okay, here is this that’s going on and here’s what Ezra Klein said and Ezra’s great, so you should read…. Instead, we actually – everything […]

This post lacks a nifty news peg, but I’ve been thinking a lot about Joshua Coval, Jakub Kurek, and Erik Stafford’s paper “The Economics of Structure Finance.” In particular, people talk about the “systemic risk” of big firms and massive banks. The banks, in other words, that are too big to fail, and whose very […]

Not to cop to a Sunday night spent catching up on DVR’d sitcoms, but Scrubs featured a pretty brilliant acoustic cover of Outkasts “Hey Ya,” which is, in turn, ripped from this even more brilliant “Hey Ya” cover by Mat Wettle of Obadiah Parker. All of which is to say, Happy Monday.

Mark Regnerus’s op-ed on the virtues of marrying young makes some interesting arguments that I’m loathe to offer half-baked commentary on. I prefer easy topics, like the financial crisis. I would, however, like to offer my congratulations to the environmental movement: We have literally reached a place where even articles on the optimal age for […]

You know the economic downturn has gotten bad when it’s slowing the expansion of the new organic supermarket that was supposed to move into my neighborhood. Can’t Congress do something!?