Assorted Links (1/4/2010)

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

Economics

  • Secrets of the Economist’s Trade: First, Purchase a Piggy Bank, by Justin Lahart

“Economists are often cheapskates.”

The Economy

  • Uncertainty and the Slow Recovery, by Gary Becker, Stephen Davis, and Kevin Murphy

“A recession is a terrible time to make major changes in the economic rules of the game.”

Financial Crisis

  • Error vs. Fraud, by Alex Pollock

“How do groups of intelligent, sophisticated bankers, investors, borrowers, entrepreneurs, and traders find themselves caught together in the recurring bubbles and busts?“

Highly Recommended

“It was a year of Hope — at first in the sense of “I feel hopeful!” and later in the sense of “I hope this year ends soon!””

Public Policy

  • Prohibition: A Cautionary Tale, by Thomas Fleming

“America’s experiment with banning alcohol created problems that persist to this day.”

Terrorism

  • Intelligence Is a Terrible Thing to Waste, by Gordon Crovitz

“President Obama doesn’t need an investigation to figure out how Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab got on a Detroit-bound plane.”