Stationary Bandit

Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe

The official numbers finally surpassed 100,000%.  I suspect the actual number is much higher.  It will be interesting to see if President Mugabe is re-elected next month or if he loses, will he give up power peacefully. 

Shleifer versus Stiglitz

Andrei Shleifer takes on Joseph Stiglitz in "The Age of Milton Friedman".  Here is my favorite paragraph:

One way to give the readers of this review an overall sense of this book is with an example. On p. 70, Stiglitz et al. chastise conservatives for objecting to fiscal deficits by making “arguments based on the hard- to-verify notion of confidence.” “Despite how frequently conservatives invoke the confidence argument, there is remarkably little empirical research on the matter (including research by the IMF which seems to rely on the confidence argument heavily).” Then, on p. 148, Stiglitz et al. attack George Bush’s budget deficits, equally severely. “What will happen, not just to the United States, but to the stability of the global financial system if foreigners lose confidence (emphasis added) in the strength of the dollar, if they worry that it will depreciate in value in the current years?” A reader might lose confidence in the rest of the book.