Online social networks are one of the success stories of the Internet era. Facebook Inc. has roughly 1.15 billion monthly active users and its market capitalization of $131 billion is close to double the valuation of Goldman Sachs and approximately equal to the valuation of BP. An example of a direct value that users of online social networks […]
Economics should not be mechanistic
We shouldn’t be mechanistic, but sometimes we become a bit like that. Sometimes we talk about “envy” that economists feel toward physics, a science without shocks, without exceptions. We often wish economics were like that. Or at least this is what the public, politicians and the media want from us. What will happen, they ask […]
Economists: adventures and misadventures
Economists have been in great demand since the beginning of the crisis. This, by the way, was a welcome change, since in the preceding years, those that are now called ‘The Great Moderation’, people did not know what to do with us. We went on, year after year, drawing the same diagrams on the blackboard, […]
The Bitcoin
The bitcoin is the new fashion. The Economist explains how it works here, discusses its future here, Paul Krugman talks about it in his blog for the New York Times here, and El País has translated his comments here. To evaluate a currency or a candidate for currency, the first thing you have to do is ask if […]
The Legend of Margaret Thatcher
A few days ago, I wrote an “urgent” post following the death of Margaret Thatcher on my blog (in Spanish). In it, I said that I would talk about her again. After waiting a prudent amount of time, I am writing this post taking into account various things that have been said about her – […]