Efficient markets: fact and fiction

In this clip Michael D. Goldberg talks about the efficient market hypothesis, a talk given at the King’s Institute for the inaugural conference of the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET), a group financed by legendary investor George Soros.

This video has a behavioural slant to it, and there is a strong focus on irrationality, herding, and other behavioural aspects of the markets.

Personally I’m not convinced that we can turn our back on the efficiency of the markets, nor that we can necessarily undo or limit the inherent weakness in any market, any blockade or regulatory restriction has a tendency to fall victim to circumvention of various sorts. However, there are growing bodies of work that point out the weaknesses of markets, and in this area the behaviourists are streets ahead of the curve in understanding the key points of market movements that are difficult to comprehend because they don’t act the way we think that they would or should.

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Free markest create jobs, not governments

In this clip John Stossel talks about the free market being a job creator as opposed to Governments, he covers points similar to those that Milton Friedman covered in his documentary ‘Free to Choose’, and the truth of the matter is that governments are highly inefficient in creating growth, they have a place in prevention of disaster but managing the economy too closely is an error, sadly it is a popular one.

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Fred Harrison talks about the property tax

I called Fred Harrison in connection with a book review I had done for the national broker associations magazine ‘The Professional Insurance Broker’, I wanted to send him on a copy, what was meant to be a quick hello/goodbye turned into a fascinating chat on the topic of property taxes.

Something that we are seeing more of lately is a debate where the public sector are demonized – often for merely existing – and portrayed as being ‘wasteful’ and bloated. Bob Frank in the US said something to me before that stuck in my head, that ‘the serious waste occurs in the private sector, the public sector don’t go around buying hummers and other pointless trophies, the ‘waste’ in the public sector however, is found in the way that they budget and perform versus the private sector’.

I think that is profound, the public sector don’t waste in the same manner and it is important to remember that in any …

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Economic models explained

Today’s post is poking fun at various ‘isms’ and we thought it might provide some light humour given the usual serious tone of our articles, just to reiterate, this is for laughs, for those readers who have made accusations in the past that we have no sense of humour…. Your right! This is a copy/paste from an email forward!

How do you explain economic models when starting with nothing more than two cows? SOCIALISM You have 2 cows. You give one to your neighbour.

COMMUNISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both and sells you some milk.

NAZISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both and shoots you.

BUREAUCRATISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then throws the milk away…

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and …

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A simple way to understand Liberty & the Free Market

This is a simple video, and yet a compelling one about some of the fundamental rights of people and of our right to self determination. How does this tie into mortgages or economics? Simply put it shows that the government of a country don’t have the right to force the state to underwrite banks, in fact, it only rewards bad behavior and the end result is that we all pay for a business issue which we did not create, if a bank lends you money it does so by choice, when in reverse (such as our state bailout plan) we were never given any right or choice as to how it would work, or if it was even a good idea. The guarantee was given first and conditions attached last, ill thought out and moral hazard is merely the beginning of it all.

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A simple way to understand Liberty & the Free Market

This is a simple video, and yet a compelling one about some of the fundamental rights of people and of our right to self determination. How does this tie into mortgages or economics? Simply put it shows that the government of a country don’t have the right to force the state to underwrite banks, in fact, it only rewards bad behavior and the end result is that we all pay for a business issue which we did not create, if a bank lends you money it does so by choice, when in reverse (such as our state bailout plan) we were never given any right or choice as to how it would work, or if it was even a good idea. The guarantee was given first and conditions attached last, ill thought out and moral hazard is merely the beginning of it all.

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