Assorted Links (9/13/2009)

Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading today (organized by topic):

Economics and the Financial Crisis

  • Talking Business: Lehman Had to Die So Global Finance Could Live, by Joe Nocera

New York Times: “The Lehman Brothers failure caused a panic that spurred Congress to approve the $700 billion bailout.”

New York Times: “In the aftermath of the financial crisis, many experts want formulas for risk that look at human behavior and how it can change rapidly.”

Health Care Reform

New York Times: “Hopes for a public insurance program are faltering in the face of opposition from the insurance and health care industries and conflicting signals from the White House.”

Science

  • Is Happiness Catching?, by Clive Thompson

New York Times: “Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler say your friends — and even your friends’ friends — can make you quit smoking, eat too much or get happy. A look inside the emerging science of social contagion.”