By Anthony Luafalealo, on October 12th, 2008
Most of you already know this: Amateur Economists is not that old. It turned three months old, to be exact, on October 7. Since our first and second-month milestones went by quietly and uncelebrated, we decided to do things differently this month.
In celebration of our readers old, new, and yet-to-be (because this online magazine is nothing without its readers), we’ll be holding a number of e-interviews over the next few weeks with authors who write on topics that you care about: healthcare, the world economy, business, etc. We’ll post the e-interview in the blogs and invite you to submit your own questions to the author. He or she will be answering your questions for a week before we close it with a drawing for free copies of the author’s book that he or she is promoting.
Our first e-interview will be posted this week and will be with S.J. Robinson, author of The Price of Death. We’ll also post the drawing rules and details before then. Meanwhile, subscribe to our blogs via RSS or email or, if you prefer, add our homepage to your bookmarks to stay updated on the e-interview/drawing events in the upcoming weeks.
Also, and probably most importantly, we have a new name and web address: Citizen Economists at www.citizeneconomists.com. We’re still amateur economists (at least most of us are), and the spirit of the magazine hasn’t changed. So why the new name? I think “citizen economists” is a more fair description. It reflects the fact that most of us are non-economists and the fact that we are also citizen journalists. And it definitely reflects the openness of the magazine: we depend not only on articles from our regular contributors for news and commentary but also on comments that our readers leave behind. That’s what separates the independent media from the mainstream media: for us, news is a conversation among and between contributors and readers.
That being said, we have implemented a new comments policy. You can read about it in the About page. The bottom line is that all comments must be approved before being posted, and, if a comment is disrespectful in any way towards a contributor or reader, it will be deleted.
Thanks for reading Citizen Economists, and we’ll see you at our first e-interview this week!
By Anthony Luafalealo, on August 22nd, 2008
Amateur Economists is still less than 2 months old, but some major sites are beginning to notice.
News aggregators that currently index our content are Google News, Alltop, Healthcare 100, and Wikio.
The only site so far that has syndicated one of our articles is Seeking Alpha. However, we are working with a syndication company to have more of our articles syndicated, so bookmark us or, for greater convenience, subscribe to our newsfeed/email updates for future updates on this.
Other notable sites that have linked back to our articles are:
Additionally, we are also a member of the HITSphere.com network and the Freakonomics blogroll.
However, I’d like to take a few moments to talk about Alltop, the most recent aggregator we joined. They began including our content in the Economics category (or site) on Sunday, August 17. Their sites cover all the topics you can think of, from ADHD to Yoga. And they’re adding more everyday.
By visiting the Economics site, you can see that they display the 5 latest stories published by each website or blog along with links to the individual articles and the website/blog itself. Alltop sees itself “as a ‘digital magazine rack’ of the Internet. To be clear, Alltop sites are starting points—they are not destinations per se. The bottom line is that we are trying to enhance your online reading by both displaying stories from the sites that you’re already visiting and helping you discover sites that you didn’t know existed.”
Another neat feature of their site is that it allows you to hide the sites/blogs you don’t want to read, which can be very helpful since there are dozens of them in each Alltop site. If you can’t find your favorite site or blog on there, they are always open to new suggestions (see their About page). They are also working on adding more customizing features.
I encourage you to visit their site to find out more about them and other interesting sites and blogs you have yet to discover.
Finally, I’d also like to thank all of you for loyally reading Amateur Economists, some since the beginning on July 7. We’re happy to bring you the current events affecting the areas that economics has branched out to. We also enjoy your feedback, whether it be in the forums, in our feedback inbox, as comments in the blogs, or as pingbacks from your own blog. We also hope you enjoy our magazine and share about us with your family and friends. Feel free to use the “Bookmark & Share” link below each blog post and in the right-hand menu of each earticle to share your favorite articles/blogs via email or social networking sites.
By Anthony Luafalealo, on August 4th, 2008
The current issue of Blawg Review is up at the IP ADR Blog. Our articles on “Why We Are Too Rational to Stop Polluting, Part 2″ by Bhagwad Jal Park and “How Telemedicine Can Actually Work” by Dr. J.C. are included.
I actually submitted a different article to be reviewed, but it isn’t included. So, I’m not sure if the editors themselves chose the above articles or if another Amateur Economists reader or readers submitted them. Either way, thank you to everyone who made AE’s participation in this week’s BR possible. Thank you especially to hosts Victoria Pynchon and the other authors at the IP ADR Blog for an excellent job in hosting this week’s BR and for including our articles.
The theme this week is “virgins”:
…IP [intellectual property] is all about ‘the very first time,’ the ‘aha’ moment, the creative spark that gives rise to previously undreamed imaginings.
This is also the first time the IP ADR Blog is hosting BR.
Coincidentally, this is Amateur Economists‘ first time to be included in BR.
So, “virgins” is a very fitting theme, indeed.
Remember to check out this week’s Blawg Review. You can also visit past issues at its website.
By Anthony Luafalealo, on July 20th, 2008
For Wine Enthusiasts
I received a press release last week that may be of interest to those of you who are into wines. Hart Davis Hart Wine Co. will be auctioning off over 1,700 lots on September 19 and 20. Their top 10 lots include: 1990 Romanée-Conti, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti; 1982 Château Pétrus; and 1990 La Tâche, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. The auction will be at the company’s Chicago auction house, but you can also place your bid and follow the auction via phone, fax, or the Internet at www.hdhlive.com. Read the press release for more information.
Got an Economics Question?
Economics is on everyone’s minds these days, from the upcoming election to the increasing price of gas to bank failures to the falling value of the dollar. So you must have a few economics-related questions that you want answers to. Well, we have the best source for you: our resident economist Stephan Zimmermann. Stephan is a former department chair for economics and taught at various colleges and universities at both graduate and undergraduate levels. Send your questions to Stephan by reading his post “Got an Economics Question?” and submit your questions in the comments section there.
Poll Results
Amateur Economists‘ first poll results are in. The question, “How much has your home’s value decreased in the last 12 months?” ran from July 7 – July 16 and received 163 responses. Here is a breakdown of the results in descending order:
- None of the above. My home’s value has actually increased. – 30% (49 votes)
- 0%-10% – 23% (39 votes)
- I don’t know. – 20% (34 votes)
- 10%-20% – 15% (25 votes)
- 25% or more – 7% (12 votes)
- 20%-25% – 5% (8 votes)
First, the disclaimer: this isn’t a scientific poll. It was displayed on the homepage, and voting was open to all visitors during the above dates, although respondents could only vote once. (Check out the current poll on the homepage.)
I recommend reading Cheryl Grey’s article “Seeking a Shallow Bottom: The U.S. Economy Going into the Second Half of 2008″ to help put the results in perspective. For example, major losses in house values only affect California and Nevada, according to a government news release. Also, some regions may be experiencing house devaluations as a direct result of more people moving out of those regions than moving in.
So how accurately do the government’s findings reflect your situation? Live outside of California and Nevada and your house’s devaluation is in the double-digits? Or is the declining housing market limited only to a few states and not as widespread as many believe?
Final disclaimer: your responses here may lead to more scientific results than the poll.
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