Author Archives: mkevane

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About mkevane

Economist at Santa Clara University and Director of Friends of African Village Libraries.

Quick presentation on the U.S. financial crisis

http://prezi.com/embed/tcqs22vdvkm1/?bgcolor=ffffff&lock_to_path=0&autoplay=0&autohide_ctrls=0&features=undefined&token=undefined&disabled_features=undefined

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Why the 2% inflation target?

Look at the FRED graph of inflation.  U.S. has only had inflation lower than 2% basically once (early 1960s) in last 50 years.  The economy has done pretty well in that whole time period.  So why mess with success?  I … Continue reading →

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Do you care about student teaching evaluations? Read the 2nd to last sentence (and the whole article)

From “Does Professor Quality Matter? Evidence from Random Assignment of Students to Professors” by Scott E. Carrell and James E. West. Results show that there are statistically significant and sizable differences in student achievement across introductory course professors in both … Continue reading →

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Pensions protected in Stockton bankruptcy though city workers agree to “voluntary” cuts

Stockton, California, won court approval of its plan to exit bankruptcy by paying bond investors pennies on the dollar while shielding public pensions, in a case watched by other cities facing heavy retiree costs.“This plan, I’m persuaded, is the best … Continue reading →

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How big was the Fed’s lending to banks during the financial crisis? Very big!

The amount of money the central bank parceled out was surprising even to Gary H. Stern, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis from 1985 to 2009, who says he “wasn’t aware of the magnitude.” It dwarfed the Treasury … Continue reading →

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Bad macroeconomic news out of Europe

The U.S. economy finally seems to be climbing out of the deep hole it entered during the global financial crisis. Unfortunately, Europe, the other epicenter of crisis, can’t say the same. Unemployment in the euro area is stalled at almost … Continue reading →

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Testing of the “exit” at the Federal Reserve

The Federal Reserve awarded $334.714 billion 213 billion pounds of eight-day term deposits to banks, a record amount, at a test auction held on Monday, it said in a statement on Tuesday.  The U.S. central bank allotted them to 90 … Continue reading →

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Ethics of everyday life

Will David Carr tell his readers how much money he made for his puff piece on Bill Cosby, and give that to a good charity? I was one of those who looked away. Having read the Philadelphia magazine story when … Continue reading →

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Paul Krugman on the Zero Lower Bound

What do I mean by saying that everything changes [at the so-called zero lower bound]? As I wrote way back when, in a rock-bottom economy “the usual rules of economic policy no longer apply: virtue becomes vice, caution is risky … Continue reading →

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Bad newspaper writing: NY Times on Texas textbooks

The article headline and first paragraph  tease us: Texas has approved textbooks for use in public school that say negative things about Muslims… Texas’ State Board of Education has approved new history textbooks, but only after defeating six and seeing … Continue reading →

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Beautiful words from Michel Kafando new President of Burkina Faso, but they ring hollow

These words sound so true and heartfelt, but they are coming from a man who chose not to go into exile and fight the terrible system he now decries.  Instead, he chose to represent that very same system and regime … Continue reading →

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E.C.B. sees significant risk of deflation in eurozone

Mario Draghi, the European Central Bank president, strongly signaled on Friday that he and his colleagues were preparing a new round of powerful monetary stimulus to jolt the flagging eurozone economy at a time when the risk of deflation is … Continue reading →

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Goldman Sachs say: We want to make a lot more money and do not care about the risk to the macroeconomy

A report released this week by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations found that banks had built up enormous holdings of commodities and infrastructure that allowed the banks to monitor and influence the price of these materials.One potential danger for … Continue reading →

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China lowers interest rates

China’s central bank on Friday announced a surprise cut to interest rates, in the clearest sign yet that policy makers are growing increasingly concerned the country’s economic slowdown.Despite numerous signs that growth has been flagging, China’s leadership for months has … Continue reading →

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Rapping in Moré from Burkina Faso, Joey Soldat – Burkin Bâ

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Truer words never spoken: Newton Ahmed Barry

In an interview with Radio Omega he tells it like it is.  And he is right.  When the top echelons of Blaise Compaoré’s regime effectuate a palace coup taking advantage of a popular uprising, how likely is it that the … Continue reading →

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Three months jail time for massive financial fraud in Iceland?

The former chief executive of Landsbanki of Iceland was sentenced to prison on Wednesday, the third of the top executives of the country’s three largest banks that the government has successfully prosecuted and jailed for misconduct during the financial crisis.  … Continue reading →

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Fed releases minutes from meeting 3 weeks ago: Not much new

Fed officials have described the statement as indicating that the central bank is most likely to begin raising short-term rates in mid-2015. The account of the October meeting, released after a standard three-week delay, said a couple of officials wanted … Continue reading →

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Why is it hard to operate a small non-profit in Burkina Faso?

The military takeover and civilian transition have left unclear who is in charge of rural communes, and hence public libraries.  But hopefully will be straightened out soon. Le lieutenant-colonel Isaac Zida assure la continuité de l’Etat jusqu’à la remise du … Continue reading →

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Tim Taylor’s nice discussion of ‘secular stagnation”

Basically, if population is getting older, and new investments (software) do not generate much employment and hence multiplier effects (and indeed induce people to work less, because what is better than checking your Facebook page all day long?) then GDP … Continue reading →

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