Thursday, May 19, 2011

My Favorite Blogs

We originally posted this last Thursday. But then blogger went down and we lost the post. As such, we're reposting this because there are some people who both NDD and I feel should be getting a wider readership and we would like to do our part to get it to them.

I don't think I've ever done this -- write a blog about what blogs we read on a regular basis. But I read a ton (which is one of the reasons I became a lawyer) so it seems appropriate to mention the blogs/analysts whose work I read on a regular basis as a grand hat tip.

Economists View: Professor Thoma posts a large amount of very thought provoking information on all things economic. More importantly, he does not post a few paragraphs, instead adding longer pieces that provide a fair amount of substance to a topic. I should also add he has been very helpful in making recommendations about economic books to read on certain areas.

DeLong: First -- he's a prolific writer, so there is almost always something of interest. But most importantly, he's one of the few economic writers who has actually read most economic thought (Say, Keynes, Mill etc..). In other words, he is pretty much the only person on the web who understands most of the arguments been advanced by all sides. At minimum this provides a great service to the web, but it also goes to show that there is a dearth of this type of understanding within the economics community. Finally -- fs there a topic that Brad DeLong does not know something about?

Carpe Diem: Dr. Perry posts some very pertinent fact based information regarding the economy. Ever the optimist, it's frankly good to have someone on the web who does see the good news that is around us (and yes, there is some). I should add -- there are times when he zooms into zombie like political commentary which I skip over.

Tim Duy's Fed Watch: I first learned about this site from Mark Thoma's site. Duy provides some great insight into what the Fed's public statements indicate about its internal thinking process. This is very informative, as I simply don't have the time to read all the public statements from the various Fed offices and presidents. Duy's writing is always sharp and very well organized.

StreetLight: Kash also posts at Angry Bear. Kash writes some of the best commentary on the web. His writing is lucid; his explanations clear. His recent analysis regarding the strength of US manufacturing was particularly good, although his work in general is top notch.

Afraid to Trade: Corey is without a doubt one of the best technical analysts on the web today. He never over plays his hand, but carefully weighs the chart data in a very even handed and fair manner. Additionally, he's a really nice guy who deserves all of his success.

Slope of Hope: Tim knight was one of the people (or perhaps the only person) behind the website Prophet.net -- which was literally the best technical website on the web. After he (or they) sold Prophet, he opened up this website. Tim posts charts and very good market analysis, along with individual trade ideas.

EconLog: I don't get the Libertarian perspective at all. But these guys explain it well. Their writing is clear and concise, beautifully organized and well-presented.

Sites to avoid: anything political that tries to write on economics. Just as an example from both sides of the aisle; the idiots at Powerline still argue that Thomas Sowell should be awarded a Presidential medal -- even though Sowell still argues for the application of Say's law despite this little event called the Great Depression making that argument more than moot. Daily Kos is dominated by the perma bear mentality which has completely missed the successful rebound of US manufacturing (which has accounted for about half of the growth during this recovery) and the recovery in its entirely.

Russ Winter is a another data hound, who has written some very good articles on China over the last about 6 months. He went behind a data wall a little bit ago, but has (thankfully) re-emerged.

A Dash of Insight -- run by Jeff Miller -- is another great site. First -- we thought we were the nerdiest blog on the net. Miller is very data driven and does a remarkable job of stripping out personal and political bias in his analysis. He is also very even-handed as he goes through the data, presenting a remarkable fresh view of the economy and the markets.

I'm adding this in a rush, so

Matt Trivisono

Dshort

Modeled Behavior