I must have been either very busy or very lazy (most likely the latter) lately that I don't serve anything in the Cafe or realize that a truly excellent and readable book on development economics has been around since April 2011. The title is More Than Good Intentions by Dean Karlan and Jacob Appel.
I just read the Introduction, but because I need to work on something else now -- like reading Karlan's article on Observing Unobservables -- , I'll be back soon for more review. I may also write about the current state of economics education in our universities which share a theme with a report on how (the plan for filming) James Bond in the country was turned down by those in power due to some deep ignorance.
In the meantime, we will play jazz in this cafe. This time, Fall by Miles Davis Quintet (youtube).
Showing posts with label Jazz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jazz. Show all posts
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Thanksgiving Random Notes
Gee, it's been for awhile that I don't serve anything here. I am a lousy barista, indeed.
So where are we? Well, apparently we, the baristas, here don't seem to believe that a revolution in economics would happen real soon -- which doesn't mean that the field has gone nowhere since the last time you open the textbook. Come to academic seminars, open NBER web or AEA web, and you'll know what I mean.
Psychology/behavioral approach is moving to the mainstream now, to take one direction of progress in micro, and many are talking about (funny shape of) aggregate demand in near zero short term nominal interest rate in macro.
But we're now near Thanksgiving break, so all those seemingly important serving shall wait.
Well, maybe holiday mood and good behavioral economics shall not be contradicted, thanks to Daniel Kahneman.
His latest book, "Thinking, Fast and Slow", is delightful and well-written -- so well that actually you can read it while waiting for your train, cooking the Turkey, or attending the royal wedding (well, maybe not). For such a heavy academic content, it's not an easy to write in popular lingo yet retain the depth of knowledge. Kahneman did it. You don't need to know psychology or economics (god forbid) to digest Kahneman's thought in this book.
In short: you should buy it.
The other thing that you can do during holiday is probably going to your typical movie theater and watch The Muppets and not-so typical theater for Being Elmo.
Happy Thanksgiving, folks
So where are we? Well, apparently we, the baristas, here don't seem to believe that a revolution in economics would happen real soon -- which doesn't mean that the field has gone nowhere since the last time you open the textbook. Come to academic seminars, open NBER web or AEA web, and you'll know what I mean.
Psychology/behavioral approach is moving to the mainstream now, to take one direction of progress in micro, and many are talking about (funny shape of) aggregate demand in near zero short term nominal interest rate in macro.
But we're now near Thanksgiving break, so all those seemingly important serving shall wait.
Well, maybe holiday mood and good behavioral economics shall not be contradicted, thanks to Daniel Kahneman.
His latest book, "Thinking, Fast and Slow", is delightful and well-written -- so well that actually you can read it while waiting for your train, cooking the Turkey, or attending the royal wedding (well, maybe not). For such a heavy academic content, it's not an easy to write in popular lingo yet retain the depth of knowledge. Kahneman did it. You don't need to know psychology or economics (god forbid) to digest Kahneman's thought in this book.
In short: you should buy it.
The other thing that you can do during holiday is probably going to your typical movie theater and watch The Muppets and not-so typical theater for Being Elmo.
Happy Thanksgiving, folks
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
How to Kill Jakarta Traffic Jam, Economically Speaking (Part 1)
I am now reading an excellent book by Edward Glaeser of Harvard, Triumph of The City . It's about (great) life in cities and it brings me to the work of Gilles Duranton and Matthew Turner as well as William Vickrey.
Let us imagine a typical situation many of us face in Jabotabek. Every morning you ponder if you would drive your car to work. While taking a shower, you make a mental calculation on the benefit of driving your car (for example, comfort) and the cost of it (gas, time, car depreciation, etc). If the net is still higher than taking taxi, bus, or KRL train, off you hit the road by car.
You may feel good about yourself because you think you've done proper marginal benefit and cost analysis? Alas, it's not the case. You miss important point: your decision makes other drivers' cost of driving increase.
As now the road is one car more crowded, time to drive is longer. Your private cost and benefit analysis does not take into account social cost of having one more car, your car, on the road.
Econ 101 calls this a negative externality. It is more evident when we use resources with zero or artificially low price, such as road. Multiply such (private) miscalculation with hundred thousands of Jabotabek car owners, we have all too familiar traffic jam we see every morning in the city.
Jakarta's traffic jam can be maddening indeed. Out of your frustration, you may demand for building more roads. After all, it's just about supply for roads that doesn't meet the demand, so you think.
Alas, this might be not feasible for two reasons. First, there is space limitation in already crowded Jakarta. Second, even if technology can overcome this constraint (tunnels or fly-over, for example), we'll soon come across Duranton and Turner (2010) and their fundamental law of traffic congestion.
The law says that more roads will proportionately increases car's kilometer traveled. Why? Because it increases the current residents' as well as previously-beyond-road-network residents' car use. It also brings more travel intensive production activities in the city. As a result: more roads, same traffic jam.
OK, what about, you say, more public transportation in Jakarta?
It will reduce traffic jam only if substantial number of car owners shift to public transportation. But, you know that if I leave my car at home and take bus, road will be less congested and travel by car will be more pleasant.
The catch-22 is that I know it well, too. As a result, nobody gives up his/her car. After all, who wants to takes trouble by taking bus only to allow more pleasant travel of other car owners? Public transportation will just reach more non-car owners previously outside public transportation network to enter Jakarta.
We again may end up with more public transportation, same traffic jam.
So, what’s the solution? To know it, we need to see the late William Vickrey and his work on road congestion problem. But it has to wait for another blog posting.
Stay tuned.
Let us imagine a typical situation many of us face in Jabotabek. Every morning you ponder if you would drive your car to work. While taking a shower, you make a mental calculation on the benefit of driving your car (for example, comfort) and the cost of it (gas, time, car depreciation, etc). If the net is still higher than taking taxi, bus, or KRL train, off you hit the road by car.
You may feel good about yourself because you think you've done proper marginal benefit and cost analysis? Alas, it's not the case. You miss important point: your decision makes other drivers' cost of driving increase.
As now the road is one car more crowded, time to drive is longer. Your private cost and benefit analysis does not take into account social cost of having one more car, your car, on the road.
Econ 101 calls this a negative externality. It is more evident when we use resources with zero or artificially low price, such as road. Multiply such (private) miscalculation with hundred thousands of Jabotabek car owners, we have all too familiar traffic jam we see every morning in the city.
Jakarta's traffic jam can be maddening indeed. Out of your frustration, you may demand for building more roads. After all, it's just about supply for roads that doesn't meet the demand, so you think.
Alas, this might be not feasible for two reasons. First, there is space limitation in already crowded Jakarta. Second, even if technology can overcome this constraint (tunnels or fly-over, for example), we'll soon come across Duranton and Turner (2010) and their fundamental law of traffic congestion.
The law says that more roads will proportionately increases car's kilometer traveled. Why? Because it increases the current residents' as well as previously-beyond-road-network residents' car use. It also brings more travel intensive production activities in the city. As a result: more roads, same traffic jam.
OK, what about, you say, more public transportation in Jakarta?
It will reduce traffic jam only if substantial number of car owners shift to public transportation. But, you know that if I leave my car at home and take bus, road will be less congested and travel by car will be more pleasant.
The catch-22 is that I know it well, too. As a result, nobody gives up his/her car. After all, who wants to takes trouble by taking bus only to allow more pleasant travel of other car owners? Public transportation will just reach more non-car owners previously outside public transportation network to enter Jakarta.
We again may end up with more public transportation, same traffic jam.
So, what’s the solution? To know it, we need to see the late William Vickrey and his work on road congestion problem. But it has to wait for another blog posting.
Stay tuned.
Monday, October 04, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Reading the Nationalism-o-meter
On the way to Metro station this morning, I asked Sisil why Indonesians in twitland and fb became suddenly very nationalistic on Aug 17 -- and we don't.
She thought it's a wrong question. It is not that these people's nationalism-o-meter increases these days, but the urge to update twitter/fb status. The latter motive will pick up anything closer to home in one particular day -- any mass psyche deemed relevant on the day, like nationalism in every Aug 17 or religious revivalism in every Ramadan.
I concur.
She thought it's a wrong question. It is not that these people's nationalism-o-meter increases these days, but the urge to update twitter/fb status. The latter motive will pick up anything closer to home in one particular day -- any mass psyche deemed relevant on the day, like nationalism in every Aug 17 or religious revivalism in every Ramadan.
I concur.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
In Defense of Mall
So my two professors went to Manila this summer. One of them was amazed on how cool the malls over there, and the other offered an interesting interpretation: it's in many ways a form of private government.
Here is the reason.
Operating such huge (and usually integrated with business and residential complex) mall needs sophisticated technology and management. And it has to be efficient. With thousands of human resources involved as well as state of the art logistic, it needs high skills and knowledge to run the complex.
Now enter the common explanation for under-development in developing countries: lack of skills and "modern" culture.
These malls show that these line of reasoning doesn't add up. The businesspersons running the mall can deliver not only private goods (you know, from branded bags to broccoli to two bedrooms apartment) but also public goods, like open to public parks, between-the-shops-aisles for window shopping, or the water fountain dancing New York New York (to the dismay of barista Aco).
They are like government -- while the real government is busy doing something else. And the key is, I think, incentives that works, and it is profit motive.
I think it's a right observation. The mushrooming malls as well as those clustering real estates somehow also shows that government has failed, and, to some extent, private actors stepped in. And the blaming for lack of "modern culture" among the people seems to be unfounded.
Here is the reason.
Operating such huge (and usually integrated with business and residential complex) mall needs sophisticated technology and management. And it has to be efficient. With thousands of human resources involved as well as state of the art logistic, it needs high skills and knowledge to run the complex.
Now enter the common explanation for under-development in developing countries: lack of skills and "modern" culture.
These malls show that these line of reasoning doesn't add up. The businesspersons running the mall can deliver not only private goods (you know, from branded bags to broccoli to two bedrooms apartment) but also public goods, like open to public parks, between-the-shops-aisles for window shopping, or the water fountain dancing New York New York (to the dismay of barista Aco).
They are like government -- while the real government is busy doing something else. And the key is, I think, incentives that works, and it is profit motive.
I think it's a right observation. The mushrooming malls as well as those clustering real estates somehow also shows that government has failed, and, to some extent, private actors stepped in. And the blaming for lack of "modern culture" among the people seems to be unfounded.
Monday, July 26, 2010
A Short Trip Note
So I managed to stroll around the area much of The Warhol Economy describes. It's a cute neighborhood or cluster that makes the city magnet of the young creative people -- and of course a perfect place for a great coffee time talking about, for example, what Varvatos doing at the ex-place of CGBG?
But that's just one face of the City-- and I heard the truly striving creativity has been somehow moved across the tunnel to Williamsburg. The rent has just been unaffordable.
The other part is a place where probably has the world's highest the density of neon ad-lights per metre square. A classic tourist trap. But you may want to go there at 5.30 am to get different feel.
There when the neon light mixed with the early sunshine between skyscrapers and the Good Morning America does not event start yet, you may catch the glimpse of how NYC made of -- well, some of it. Trash collector truck, street vendor who sells coffee and the Times in that early hours, the City finest, and limousine driver in front of ABC studio --probably waiting for Sheryl Crow.
"Life in here is very regimented", said a parking attendant, "I want to move to South Carolina"
I guess he already said it twenty years ago, but somehow he's still there in the city that never sleeps -- even when Lehman Brothers across the street is no longer there.
But that's just one face of the City-- and I heard the truly striving creativity has been somehow moved across the tunnel to Williamsburg. The rent has just been unaffordable.
The other part is a place where probably has the world's highest the density of neon ad-lights per metre square. A classic tourist trap. But you may want to go there at 5.30 am to get different feel.
There when the neon light mixed with the early sunshine between skyscrapers and the Good Morning America does not event start yet, you may catch the glimpse of how NYC made of -- well, some of it. Trash collector truck, street vendor who sells coffee and the Times in that early hours, the City finest, and limousine driver in front of ABC studio --probably waiting for Sheryl Crow.
"Life in here is very regimented", said a parking attendant, "I want to move to South Carolina"
I guess he already said it twenty years ago, but somehow he's still there in the city that never sleeps -- even when Lehman Brothers across the street is no longer there.
Friday, July 09, 2010
Nothing, really
Hi, I am at the public library -- a great shelter to avoid scorching heat. Not much to tell lately. Everyone is into the World Cup -- the FIFA's World Cup as those TV anchors here call the event. Probably talking about the World Cup is of little use and value added because everyone has already had her/his own related info needed. This is four-yearly event when everyone can entitle themselves pundit, and everyone else don't care about such punditry nor the biases.
So really, this is a posting about nothing (to follow the abstract of a funny paper by Dixit)
So really, this is a posting about nothing (to follow the abstract of a funny paper by Dixit)
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Is Economics Hard?
Recently, there has been a discussion in the blogsphere, sparked by a short essay of Kartik Athreya: Economics is Hard, Don't Let Bloggers Tell You Otherwise.
Well, economics is hard, at least for me, and I believe for the baristas here too, who have spent days and nights trying to understand one chapter of, say, a standard micro or macro grad textbook.
Then, why the baristas here seemingly make economics fun?
Because it is indeed fun, and we want to share the fun to you all, including the non-economics students, by skipping most of those technicalities and jargons. We at the Cafe want to convey a simple message that you can use economics to see things differently. The most politically motivated purpose is probably just to warn you against ill-informed press corps.
I have no illusion that hanging out in the Cafe would substitute for a proper formal economic education -- but it is equally annoying to see some people believe he/she has mastered economics simply by reading one or two popular books by Stiglitz or Krugman. This is why sometimes we launch a sharp-tongued attack against his/her arguments (note: the argument, not personal)
Is econ hard? Yes. So are anthropology, political science, English literature, biology, and any serious attempt to understand things rationally and systematically.
Well, economics is hard, at least for me, and I believe for the baristas here too, who have spent days and nights trying to understand one chapter of, say, a standard micro or macro grad textbook.
Then, why the baristas here seemingly make economics fun?
Because it is indeed fun, and we want to share the fun to you all, including the non-economics students, by skipping most of those technicalities and jargons. We at the Cafe want to convey a simple message that you can use economics to see things differently. The most politically motivated purpose is probably just to warn you against ill-informed press corps.
I have no illusion that hanging out in the Cafe would substitute for a proper formal economic education -- but it is equally annoying to see some people believe he/she has mastered economics simply by reading one or two popular books by Stiglitz or Krugman. This is why sometimes we launch a sharp-tongued attack against his/her arguments (note: the argument, not personal)
Is econ hard? Yes. So are anthropology, political science, English literature, biology, and any serious attempt to understand things rationally and systematically.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Supposedly Summer Reading List
OK, most of you will be glued to TV watching the World Cup. Aco has been deriving some lemmas regarding optimal direction for penalty kick, taken from Levitt paper. I know, you may think we economists have funny way in seeing things, including football, but, sorry, just live with that, OK? You will get used to, as many of you already did.
In the meantime though, the Cafe is preparing to buy books for your summer perusal. Here is the list
1. Fault Lines, by Raghuram Rajan
2. The Company of Strangers: A Natural History of Economic Life, by Paul Seabright
3. The Upside of Irrationality, The Unexpected Benefit of Defying Logic at Work and at Home, by Dan Ariely
4. Zombie Anthology -- ask Ujang for detail
5. Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolves, by Frans de Waal
And, oh, I start to, -whaddayacallit?-, tweeting.
In the meantime though, the Cafe is preparing to buy books for your summer perusal. Here is the list
1. Fault Lines, by Raghuram Rajan
2. The Company of Strangers: A Natural History of Economic Life, by Paul Seabright
3. The Upside of Irrationality, The Unexpected Benefit of Defying Logic at Work and at Home, by Dan Ariely
4. Zombie Anthology -- ask Ujang for detail
5. Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolves, by Frans de Waal
And, oh, I start to, -whaddayacallit?-, tweeting.
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
What 15 bn IDR Can Make
If I had 15 billion IDR (1.62 mn USD) at my disposal, I'd buy a new espresso machine.
With that, I can make a new brewing called espresso aspiratiano a.k.a pork-barrel, sold exclusively to Indonesian lawmakers.
With that, I can make a new brewing called espresso aspiratiano a.k.a pork-barrel, sold exclusively to Indonesian lawmakers.
Saturday, June 05, 2010
There Is Something About Bagel
I was sitting in a bagel shop this bright mid-morning with Lintar. Overlooking an intersection in a typical suburb scene, you can always tell some of people's psyche from traffic and city landscape -- the way Sartre did on New York city some decades ago. Or, you can do it by observing simple things like a cup of coffee and donut, like what Umar Kayam did on the same city.
And if you come to think about it, I guess 95 percent of our life and thinking is spent for things that are trivial and, quite simply, light, in Kunderan sense. Like bagel with sun-dried tomato shmear -- or a lone old man sitting behind me with his iPad on, reading probably today's WaPo's gripping stories on retaliative killings in the southeast neighborhood.
All these make the idea of politics is getting harder to comprehend. It gets me thinking why people with vast resources in his/her hand are interested in politics. After all, a bagel and a cup of coffee cost you about two bucks and they can make your day.
Maybe, for them, it is a game worth playing and winning. But for what? Is evading tax a good game? Is crushing many people's hopes for a long-awaited reform a game worth playing?
Those politics and the following rhetoric also tend to suffocate. I am recently reading the biography of Marx (Karl, not Groucho, nor Richard). Putting him into perspective as a human being, albeit brilliant, really lifts up the heaviness of Marxist ideology. With politics, the complexity of a human's mind is wrapped into talking points and, in many cases, guns. Of course, this is not just the case for Marx, but also for many others brilliant minds whose thoughts are evolved into political movement.
Enough said. Moral of the story is that, perhaps, even Noam Chomsky and Gary Becker need to sometimes just have good bagel and coffee.
In the meantime, let the Cafe playjazz rock and roll to you, now. This time, double LP of Exile on Main St. by The Rolling Stones.
And if you come to think about it, I guess 95 percent of our life and thinking is spent for things that are trivial and, quite simply, light, in Kunderan sense. Like bagel with sun-dried tomato shmear -- or a lone old man sitting behind me with his iPad on, reading probably today's WaPo's gripping stories on retaliative killings in the southeast neighborhood.
All these make the idea of politics is getting harder to comprehend. It gets me thinking why people with vast resources in his/her hand are interested in politics. After all, a bagel and a cup of coffee cost you about two bucks and they can make your day.
Maybe, for them, it is a game worth playing and winning. But for what? Is evading tax a good game? Is crushing many people's hopes for a long-awaited reform a game worth playing?
Those politics and the following rhetoric also tend to suffocate. I am recently reading the biography of Marx (Karl, not Groucho, nor Richard). Putting him into perspective as a human being, albeit brilliant, really lifts up the heaviness of Marxist ideology. With politics, the complexity of a human's mind is wrapped into talking points and, in many cases, guns. Of course, this is not just the case for Marx, but also for many others brilliant minds whose thoughts are evolved into political movement.
Enough said. Moral of the story is that, perhaps, even Noam Chomsky and Gary Becker need to sometimes just have good bagel and coffee.
In the meantime, let the Cafe play
Saturday, May 29, 2010
A Short Note
It's been quite awhile. We, the baristas, are busy doing something else -- like twittering or discussing Indonesian public debt somewhere else. Kate, I believe, is planning to visit DC this summer. She wants to see The Phillips Collection.
Maybe it is time for Naryo to start delivering his kind of brew. But he said that he is not yet confident about it and still needs some time to master his skill on wit and rhetoric (and conspiracy theory) under tutelage of our friend Haryo Aswicahyono.
We'll be back with another economic serving soonish. I know Ape is working on something about the monopolistic nature of medical doctors' market in Indonesia.
In the meantime, why don't you spend some time in this long weekend pondering this Oxford University's All Souls College essay exam?
Maybe it is time for Naryo to start delivering his kind of brew. But he said that he is not yet confident about it and still needs some time to master his skill on wit and rhetoric (and conspiracy theory) under tutelage of our friend Haryo Aswicahyono.
We'll be back with another economic serving soonish. I know Ape is working on something about the monopolistic nature of medical doctors' market in Indonesia.
In the meantime, why don't you spend some time in this long weekend pondering this Oxford University's All Souls College essay exam?
Saturday, May 01, 2010
Don't Tell Kate
that three of her five full-time baristas just have had a rendezvous in a bistro and rather obscured cafe far away from Salemba.
It's labor day, for crying out loud.
It's labor day, for crying out loud.
Friday, March 12, 2010
On Good Coffee, Jazz, and Economic Data
Let us discuss those things this Cafe loves to talk about.
First, coffee. Finally New York City took their coffee seriously. This is actually a problem for almost all of American cities, that is, low per capita good coffee places. Come on, if you think Illy is the best coffee you can get, then you're in a serious need for better taste caffeine.
Unlike their counterparts in Europe, America needs much more good coffee -- and bread, I must add.
Second, jazz. Brad Mehldau is about to issue a new album, Highway Rider (HT: Sisil). It looks promising and you can listen to some of the sample here. Mr. Mehldau is one of Cafe Salemba's favorites for contemporary jazz --along with Joshua Redman and Branford Marsalis, to mention some. Of course we also listen to Vampire Weekend and Arctic Monkey, while on Lady Gaga, there's been a wide disagreement amongst us.
In this new album, apparently Mr. Mehldau is back to his old style as in Largo album. He seems indeed really good in expressing the melancholy of journey in life.
Third, economic data. Google launched visualization of the World Development Indicators subset (HT: Tyler Cowen). Any serious development economist must have been familiar with this data set at one point or another. The visualization is fun too. You can now see how good (or bad) Indonesia is, relative to other countries, using a real data --not an appeal to emotion.
First, coffee. Finally New York City took their coffee seriously. This is actually a problem for almost all of American cities, that is, low per capita good coffee places. Come on, if you think Illy is the best coffee you can get, then you're in a serious need for better taste caffeine.
Unlike their counterparts in Europe, America needs much more good coffee -- and bread, I must add.
Second, jazz. Brad Mehldau is about to issue a new album, Highway Rider (HT: Sisil). It looks promising and you can listen to some of the sample here. Mr. Mehldau is one of Cafe Salemba's favorites for contemporary jazz --along with Joshua Redman and Branford Marsalis, to mention some. Of course we also listen to Vampire Weekend and Arctic Monkey, while on Lady Gaga, there's been a wide disagreement amongst us.
In this new album, apparently Mr. Mehldau is back to his old style as in Largo album. He seems indeed really good in expressing the melancholy of journey in life.
Third, economic data. Google launched visualization of the World Development Indicators subset (HT: Tyler Cowen). Any serious development economist must have been familiar with this data set at one point or another. The visualization is fun too. You can now see how good (or bad) Indonesia is, relative to other countries, using a real data --not an appeal to emotion.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
(Not) the Java Jazz
I've overheard that the Java Jazz Festival 2010 was disappointing.
Well, I am not sure if it's true. But anyway, you still have us, the Cafe, keep playing the jazz as we know it.
Here some for you, a real cool (and touching) piece from Dave Brubeck's Allstars Quintet, The Jazz Ambassadors of US Army Field Band, and The Four Sons of Dave Brubeck, played the medley of Unsquare Dance, Kathy's Waltz, Take Five, Blue Rondo ala Turk, and Happy Birthday, honoring Dave Brubeck at the Kennedy Center, December 2009.
And John and Toni who, again? :-D
Well, I am not sure if it's true. But anyway, you still have us, the Cafe, keep playing the jazz as we know it.
Here some for you, a real cool (and touching) piece from Dave Brubeck's Allstars Quintet, The Jazz Ambassadors of US Army Field Band, and The Four Sons of Dave Brubeck, played the medley of Unsquare Dance, Kathy's Waltz, Take Five, Blue Rondo ala Turk, and Happy Birthday, honoring Dave Brubeck at the Kennedy Center, December 2009.
And John and Toni who, again? :-D
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Happy Birthday, Village Vanguard
Yesterday, the Village Vanguard had its 75th anniversary.
To celebrate, Cafe Salemba plays some memorable live recordings from that mecca of jazz. Here is the line-up and you can listen to the youtube link we put on the song's title:
1. Sonny Rollins' Old Devil Moon, from the album A Night at the Village Vanguard, 1957
2. Bill Evans' Alice in Wonderland, from Sunday at the Village Vanguard, 1961
3. John Coltrane's Spiritual from Live! at Village Vanguard, 1961
4. Brad Mehldau's Monk's Dream from The Art of the Trio 2, Live at the Village Vanguard, 1997 (sorry, no youtube link found)
Enjoy and please don't spill the coffee over the last AER you just read.
To celebrate, Cafe Salemba plays some memorable live recordings from that mecca of jazz. Here is the line-up and you can listen to the youtube link we put on the song's title:
1. Sonny Rollins' Old Devil Moon, from the album A Night at the Village Vanguard, 1957
2. Bill Evans' Alice in Wonderland, from Sunday at the Village Vanguard, 1961
3. John Coltrane's Spiritual from Live! at Village Vanguard, 1961
4. Brad Mehldau's Monk's Dream from The Art of the Trio 2, Live at the Village Vanguard, 1997 (sorry, no youtube link found)
Enjoy and please don't spill the coffee over the last AER you just read.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Econometrics Agony
Agony is when ManU/Liverpool/Chelsea/Arsenal lose to one and another --depends on what team you root for.
But for ones who ever do econometrics exercise for their paper, few beat the definition of agony in a short haiku by Keisuke Hirano that appeared in the highly recommended Angrist and Pischke's Mostly Harmless Econometrics.
But for ones who ever do econometrics exercise for their paper, few beat the definition of agony in a short haiku by Keisuke Hirano that appeared in the highly recommended Angrist and Pischke's Mostly Harmless Econometrics.
T-stat looks too goodOK, it's not as depressing as infamous Hemingway's six-word story ("For sale: baby shoes, never worn."); but trust me, if you ever work with regression and robustness test, you would share the pain.
Try clustered standard errors --
Significance gone
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
What To Do Against Big Boys
OK, I haven't had time to have coffee at the legendary murkycoffee at Clarendon and now they had closed the cafe down and moved to near Chinatown. But this op-ed by its former owner Nick Cho, is worth to ponder.
But if Starbucks brings one of these new concepts to Washington, I'll be among the first in line. To me, Starbucks is only a problem if the quality of their coffee gets worse, and this new spinoff might help it get better. (If they want to compete with the likes of Victrola and other great third-wave coffee bars, it's going to have to get a lot better.)Bottom line: competition is good. And if you have the right taste of (real) espresso, burger as good as Ray's Hell Burger, or rigorous research methodology; you shouldn't worry about Starbucks, McD, or any "imperialist" field of science.
I hope the coffee wars help nudge the caliber of all coffee upward. Just because you're not a corporate behemoth doesn't mean you serve delicious brew. The dirty little secret of most independent coffee shops is that they don't know how or don't care to serve high-quality coffee. They believe that furnishing their shops with comfy chairs and knowing the names of their customers' dogs is all that matters.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Banality of Serial Bombings
The latest bombing incidence in Jakarta made me think to reread some economic literature on (rational) suicide bomber, --there are some out there--, but somehow I don't feel like doing it. The serial bombings is still always a disgusting and damned act, but it is now becoming banal, in a sense that it is no longer a surprise, fails to spread excessive fear, and somehow beats the dead horse.
So let the police does their CSI homework, may they identify and capture those bastards as they did in the previous incidents, and life goes on. To show that we are not easy to be scared off, the cafe still to play some jazz. Here are three Miles Davis' albums in a row: Kind of Blue, Sketches of Spain, and Miles Davis Live at Carnegie Hall.
Keep jazzin', folks.
So let the police does their CSI homework, may they identify and capture those bastards as they did in the previous incidents, and life goes on. To show that we are not easy to be scared off, the cafe still to play some jazz. Here are three Miles Davis' albums in a row: Kind of Blue, Sketches of Spain, and Miles Davis Live at Carnegie Hall.
Keep jazzin', folks.
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