Infos zum Thema economics

Der oskar-prämierte Dokumentarfilm "Inside Job" hat die Debatte um einen Ethikkodex für Ökonomen wieder aufgeworfen. Der Autor zeigt, dass in diesem Bereich abseits der Bestrebungen der AAA in Deutschland bereits weitreichendere Initiativen gab und das eine Einhaltung der Normen guten wissenschaftlichen Arbeitens keine Frage ist, die sich auf den Fachbereich der VWL beschränkt.

The "top one per cent", which the Occupy movement fights, is not the homogeneous mass it is often reported to be but a micro cosmos in its own right, affected by envy and ambition by millionaires that want to become billionaires, or the "0.1 per cent".

A summary of Hayek's thoughts on the differences between facism, socialism and communism. In his few all these political systems commonly threaten the freedom of the individual and for this reason economic wealth.

The professor of economics discusses the contributions made by the Austrian School. He introduces recent books by Austrians, explains what we can learn from Mises and Hayek, and argues that economics is the sexiest subject. Notably, the professor does engage in any left vs. right debate but points out the core of the Austrian school without any (notable) political implications. Furthermore he shows a great deal of sensitivity in dealing with issues like the seriousness of economics as a "science" and its real life application.

The authors try to find a link between internet search activities and economic events targeting on the predictive value of search activities. They find a statistically significant connection between the search interest in mortgage financing and the corresponding interest rates. The article also includes a litte literature for review for comparable research.

Does religion affect suicide? This column presents new evidence from 19th century Prussia showing that suicide rates are much higher in Protestant than in Catholic areas, and that this reflects a causal effect of Protestantism. It also suggests that economic modelling can help understand why this is so.

Robert Shiller outlines the ideas of Neuroeconomics, the connection of neuronal science and economics. Starting at the ideas of Paul Samuelson he draws some research ideas based on the metaphor of economy as another network of transistors or nerves that are interconnected and communicate. Economic research in this respect should focus on how and why the economic "agents" interact.

Radford wants economists to have an ethnical code like doctors: "Do no harm". He criticizes the academics for getting lost in econometrics, teaching to much methodology and to few practical guidance. He concludes that economics made bascially no new "discoveries" since the days of Samuelson.