As U.S. home prices continue to fall (down a record 16.6 percent, according to the latest figures), it’s worth considering that in Baghdad, home prices have nearly doubled since last year.
That’s partly because the city has become much safer since 2007, as sectarian violence has receded in the Iraqi capital. While people are moving [...]

Alvin Felzenberg
Alvin Felzenberg, author of The Leaders We Deserved (and a Few We Didn’t), wasn’t satisfied with how vaguely, in his opinion, success and failure are defined in presidential evaluations.
So he attempted his own ranking system (which we’ve mentioned before on this blog), grading U.S. presidents based on three criteria: character, vision, and competence; and [...]

As the presidential race enters the home stretch, my most recent Wall Street Journal column assesses the likely outcomes. My conclusion probably comes as no surprise: “Barack Obama is the hot favorite to win.”
I begin by noting that prediction markets currently rate Obama an 85 percent chance to win. But I think that these may [...]

We’ve written about commitment devices before: tools that hold you to your promises, like putting a replica glob of human fat on your kitchen counter to remind you to keep to your diet, or signing a contract to have yourself fined each time you smoke a cigarette.
But what about a virtual wife who sends you [...]

Our resident quote bleggar Fred Shapiro, editor of the Yale Book of Quotations, is back with another request. If you have a bleg of your own — it needn’t have anything to do with quotations — send it along here.

In order to help ensure that future editions of the Yale Book of Quotations have good [...]

It wasn’t meant to be political.
In fact, Saturday night, while beautiful, was pretty conventional: two of my dear friends from graduate school were getting married. They are fellow economists who have spent 18 years together; they have supported each other through their careers, each has followed the other to different cities, and they [...]

Economics is sometimes referred to as the science of stating the obvious in a blatantly overcomplicated way.
Where better to apply this definition than in the realm of freestyle rapping? Take a look at this translated video. If it’s not the funniest thing you’ve seen today, then — well, you’ve had a very funny day. [...]

Sean Masaki Flynn
Last week, we solicited your questions for Sean Masaki Flynn, author of Economics for Dummies.
In his answers below, Flynn addresses the economics of education, the relationship between aikido and economics, the importance of understanding opportunity costs, and how good shoes and nice teeth signal reproductive fitness. (Disclosure: Flynn himself had braces.)
While [...]

The industrial organization of rebel groups. (Earlier)
Computer musicians can’t make you sweat.
The history of electoral college results flashing before your eyes. (Earlier)
From Voting America.

From Flickr user Global Jet.

The Economist published its annual graph showing total taxes as a percent of G.D.P. for a large number of rich countries.
Not surprisingly, there’s little year-to-year change — and the U.S. is near the bottom. We are a low-tax country; our average tax rate, counting all taxes, hovers above 30 [...]

Researchers at the Center for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University recently found that the death rate of rock and pop musicians at a given age is double the rate of the rest of the population, even 25 years after they first achieve fame — due, largely, to drug and alcohol abuse.
Rock ‘n’ [...]

Photo: Mika Hiironniemi
I have been struck by the absence of collective protest over the actions of those in the financial industry. Free market advocates have been rendered impotent; why aren’t they up in arms that their belief system has been forever invalidated? Leftists watch as our elected leaders hand over the oversight function to the [...]

Economist Ray Fisman has a fascinating piece in Slate about insider trading surrounding a 1950’s C.I.A. coup in Guatemala, and how some economists uncovered it.
Fisman is one of the authors of the excellent book Economic Gangsters, discussed by Justin Wolfers here.

So how significant is the “credit crunch”?
You can get whiplash reading dissenting views on the subject. Consider just this post from Marginal Revolution, a response to (inter alia) this post — from the same Marginal Revolution blog.
I will leave the macro implications of the credit crisis to the economists. But if you’re looking [...]

Who doesn’t like a day when stock markets around the world spike, including a U.S. jump of 10 percent?
Well, short sellers don’t like it, since they’re forced to buy back stock at a higher price than they planned. In fact, it was just such a short squeeze that produced one of the most extraordinary wrinkles [...]