One of the more interesting question post-meltdown (do we even still call it that? we really need a name for the ‘financial events of 2007-2008′) is whether structured finance is, for all intents and purposes, dead. Structured finance is the general term that includes the securitization of debt. These vehicles go by names like Asset-backed …
Why do online movie viewing sites seem to trend towards crapitude? I thought the Roku player (which seamlessly streams Netflix to your TV) was about our best purchase of 2008. In mid-2009, we have watched many of the ‘best’ movies online already. And the latest 10 movies in the ‘new arrivals’? 1. Witch Hunt 2. …
Over on his backstage, Piste1eh needs a hobby. It reminds me that in 2000 or so, I was close to finishing graduate school, but still so far away. I also realized that sociology had begun to overtake my life – I had few interests outside of school, and little time to pursue those few interests …
Congress is starting to ask questions about the ways Goldman Sachs measures risk, considering their supposed switch from an investment bank to a bank holding company. And they should. Plus, I think I was wrong about GS paying its profit-makers.
Three thoughtful posts from Martha, Daniel, and Yuval comment on the NYT article about Goldman Sachs’ high-speed trading unit. The rather critical article suggests that high-speed trading is the latest way to exploit innovation at the expense of everyone else, to the tune of $21 Billion in 2008. This issue is not new as such, …
In what has become something of a tradition for me, I am taking August off from the news. No more newspapers, no political blogs, no following the latest developments of this, that, and the other. I am frankly looking forward to the lowering of my blood pressure, the clearing of an artificially-cranked-up news cycle, and …
From an excellent practical handbook on writing, Howard Becker’s Writing for Social Scientists: Scholars learn to fear the literature in graduate school. I remember Professor Louis Wirth, one of the distinguished members of the Chicago school, putting Erving Goffman, then a fellow graduate student of mine, in his place with the literature gambit. It was …
Ezra Klein and Eric Klinenberg look remarkably similar to me. Maybe it’s just me. Sadly, I never think I look like anyone. Just me.
I’m sure everyone with a blog has funny search terms people use to find their site. Apparently, people find mine by searching for ‘goldman sachs is corrupt’, sometimes ‘housing cmos’, ‘art markets,’ every once in a while masculinity. And then there’s the person who is searching for ‘Asshole Levin’. I think I gotta start being …