B-List

Are we at the start of a bear market, heading to a global recession?
Or is the recent run on stock markets a necessary correction?  it
may be too early to tell.  Meanwhile, here are some interesting
items about recent economic research...

1. "So We Thought. But Then Again..."
  <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/business/13view.html?_r=2&ref=business
     &oref=slogin>
"Harry S Truman once said he wanted to talk to a one-armed economist,
 'so that the guy could never make a statement and then say: on the
 other hand.' Yet economic knowledge continues to progress in unexpected
 ways. Here are a few of the things we learned in the last 12 months."

2. "The Year in Research (Odd Numbers - Portfolio.com)"
  <http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/odd-numbers/2007/12/26/the-year-in-
     research>
A roundup of Economic research from last year, including a link to "a
convincing argument for higher taxes for the tall and rebates for the
short".

3. "Don't jump! Advice for goalkeepers from economic psychology"
  <http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2007/11/is-this-why-
     goalkeepers-are-so-bad-at.html>
"You have to feel sorry for goalkeepers. While strikers take all the
 glory for scoring goals, keepers only tend to get noticed when they
 make mistakes. Well now a little bit of goalkeeping help is at hand
 from an unlikely source: economic psychology."

4. "Dieting for Dollars"
  <http://opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110011081>
"An economist explains his weight-loss plan."

5. "The Future of Marriage"
  <http://www.cato-unbound.org/2008/01/14/stephanie-coontz/the-future-
     of-marriage>
Looks at the "institution" of marriage: past, present and future.
Includes an interesting (and not so romantic) assessment of the
historical role of marriage:
"Because of marriage's vital economic and political functions, few
 societies in history believed that individuals should freely choose
 their own marriage partners, especially on such fragile grounds as
 love. Indeed, for millennia, marriage was much more about regulating
 economic, political, and gender hierarchies than nourishing the well-
 being of adults and their children."