Reading List

A number of people have asked me lately what I’m reading on economics and the financial markets right now.  Truth is, I’m always reading such things, and no short list can even come close to covering the variety of material I try to read, from the scholarly and serious (e.g., Posner, Becker, Mankiw, etc.) to the popular and light.  That said, I thought my other readers might appreciate a list of some of what I’ve been looking at on the internet in the last few weeks, at least.  Without commentary, opinion, analysis, or even a particular ordering (in fact, the first list was intentionally randomized), here it is.  I express no public opinion on the accuracy, validity, merit, or usefulness of anything below; these are just links I have found interesting – in some cases because I think the contents to which I’m linking are totally wrong or even bordering on insane… but I think I’ll decline to say which ones.  Read the material for yourself, if you’re interested – it’s more likely to be useful, that way, anyway.

Sites or people with lots of information in general, some good, some bad, some possibly crazy:

• Elliott Wave International.
• Karl Denninger.
• The Evil Speculator.
• Gerald Celente.
• Nouriel Roubini (a/k/a “Dr. Doom”) (see also here).
• Nassim Taleb.
• Greg Mankiw.
• Gary Becker and Judge Richard Posner.

Some interesting specific links:

• Alternative data on key economic metrics.
• A report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency showing where things were last fall.
• Flow of Funds report from the Federal Reserve.  The table on page 2 is especially interesting.  So is page 14, but page 15 is the best.  In Q3 2007, the federal government accounted for 14% of total borrowing in the United States; in most quarters it’s around that or lower.  In Q3 2008, it was 88.5%.  In other words, nearly all of the credit extended to anyone for an entire three month period was extended to the federal government.  Last year looks almost nothing like any other period in decades.
• Where we may really be in the housing bubble.
  
• The Challenge Before America.
• Denninger’s thoughts on pensions.
• The second bubble in housing?
• Optimism.
• The $2 trillion (in one go) bailout proposal.
• Bob Prechter on 1987 and the current market, back in 2007, complete with charts and graphs.
• All-time record-setting low rates from the Bank of England (which is 315 years old).
• SmartMoney.com on market timing and investing for 20- and 30-somethings.
• The shadow banking system (Wikipedia link, but just go through the article footnotes or search for that phrase and you’ll find ample substantive material on this one).