Notes:

Latest blog posts from Emirates Economist

Feta accompli?
a href="http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/9986"Foreign Policy blog/a: blockquoteLebanon plans to charge Israel with violating a food copyright by marketing provisions such as hummus and falafel as Israeli, Fadi Abboud, the president of the Lebanese Industrialists Association a... Read more...
Published a day ago

What are the chances Dubai will default?, II
Following on my post yesterday (a href="http://emirateseconomist.blogspot.com/2008/10/what-are-chances-dubai-will-default.html"What are the chances Dubai will default?/a), the Economist today has a href="http://www.economist.com/world/mideast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12381473"an article... Read more...
Published a day ago

What are the chances Dubai will default?
blockquote“Investors are now pricing in a real estate crash, that the banking sector is in trouble and that Dubai will default,” says Mohieddine Kronfol, managing director of Algebra Capital./blockquote br /This from a... Read more...
Published 2 days ago

McCain and Obama are economic isolationists
Both the candidates are Jekyll and Hyde, emphasizing working with allies on foreign policy, but playing the xenophobia card when it comes to economic exchange. a href="http://www.nationalinterest.org/Article.aspx?id=19990"Daniel Drezner in the span style="font-style:italic;"National... Read more...
Published 2 days ago

Frank loses me
In the a href="http://emirateseconomist.blogspot.com/2008/10/perils-of-chasing-mutual-fund-with.html"previous post/a I cited a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/business/05view.html?partner=permalinkexprod=permalink"Robert Frank's essay/a on the financial mess in yesterday's span... Read more...
Published 5 days ago

Perils of chasing the mutual fund with the highest recent return
Sunday's span style="font-style:italic;"Washington Post/span has regular feature where three investment experts are asked a specific question to guide personal finance. Many times there's variation in their answers. This Sunday -- last week being the week that was -- they all had the same... Read more...
Published 5 days ago

NYT on Dubai and the world financial mess
The New York Times sees some problems for Dubai, but on the whole thinks Dubai will get through these times with just a few scratches. Some excerpts:br /br /blockquoteas recession looms in the West, cracks are appearing in the oil-fueled boom that has made Dubai, with its futuristic skyscrapers... Read more...
Published 5 days ago

$38.5 million paid for CO2 permits
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative $38.5 million in its initial auction of pollution permits: blockquoteThe ten Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states participating in RGGI have designed the first market-based, mandatory cap-and-trade program in the U.S. to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The... Read more...
Published a week ago

Gas lines and runs
blockquoteBy imposing price limits, government makes an explicit choice in favor of gas lines, in order to keep the price of whatever gas is available within reach of lower-income consumers. That may be a popular decision, but it is hardly a market failure./blockquoteThat's Geoffrey S.W. Styles... Read more...
Published a week ago

Lynne Kiesling on recapitalization of banks
A a href="http://www.knowledgeproblem.com/archives/002690.html"consensus is emerging amongst economists/a about what should be done about the financial mess -- and it's not $700 billion plans to buy up debt. Read more...
Published a week ago

A second open letter from economists
a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2008/10/01/dueling-economists-experts-voice-support-for-bailout-bill/"Real Time Economics/a (reproduced in full):br /br /span style="font-style:italic;"Last week, a large group of prominent economists a... Read more...
Published a week ago

Did accounting rules fuel the crisis?
a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/livecoverage/2008/09/the_end_of_mark-to-market_acco.html?hpid=topnews"Washington Post/a: blockquoteSome economists are attributing much of the current financial crisis to something as mundane-seeming as accounting.br /br /The Securities and Exchange... Read more...
Published a week ago