OLIVER LANDMANN

This is fantastic news - hard to think of a more qualified economist to step into the shoes of Hyun Song Shin at the BIS. Congratulations, @helene_rey!

RIP Chris Sims. I was enormously influenced by Chris. My own, perhaps idiosyncratic take: His main contribution came at a time when macroeconomists had constructed the first wave of big macroeconometric models. They were constructed piece by piece, a consumption block, an investment block, and so on. Each piece looked reasonable, but when assembled together, the implied macro dynamics were all wrong. What Chris did was to turn things around, namely argue that one had to start from the actual macro dynamics, the so called VARs, and show how, with minimal identification conditions (leading to "structural" VARs), they could be used to suggest the dynamic effects of various shocks, dynamics that the structural models had to replicate. To say that his approach was influential would be to understate its influence. Today, a model that did not fit the VAR evidence, would be simply dismissed.

R.I.P. Christopher Sims (21 Oct. 1942 - 14 March 2026) - a giant in macroeconomics and one of the finest human beings I have ever met -

@TimKriegerFR Nichts gelernt und nichts vergessen.

Correlation is not causation. Wo kein Konflikt ist, braucht man auch nicht zwingend eine Armee. Deswegen haben wir die Bundeswehr ja wehruntüchtig gemacht, weil wir halt ganz, ganz doll glauben wollten, da komme nichts mehr an Konfliktlagen. Und dann kam Genosse Putin ums Eck.

Olivier: To understand the attitude of orthodox German economics in this matter, think of a big, deep, liquid market for booze in a world of alcoholics.

Empty promise, based on multiple false beliefs. No amount of MAGA applause can change the sober fact that his tariffs hurt his beloved people.

Because the Republican party has always believed that the president can decide who is on the boards of private companies

"El mejor amigo de los autoritarios" por Adam Zyglis @washingtonpost

The Presidents of the United Staates and Canada both visited Davos this week. One of them delivered a memorable speech.

@TimKriegerFR @paulkrugman Das Problem wurde in der Zwischenzeit gelöst.

Wenn selbst @paulkrugman sprachlos ist, fast jedenfalls... paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-stupides…

When a talk show leaves the talking to a cello. Magic. youtu.be/BJVC4WGYcZ8?si…

This steadfast Chairman will be sorely missed once a Trump toady will have been installed in his place.

Putin schickt tausende über tausende Russen in den Tod und kann doch noch immer Pokrowsk nicht vollständig kontrollieren und hat Kupjansk wieder verloren. Aber mit Drohnen in Wohnhäuser friedliche Familien in Kyjiw ermorden, dass kann er. Kriegsverbrecher.

With the latest mass shooting at Brown University, this might be a good time to mention that Bill Clinton’s assault weapons ban reduced mass shooting deaths by 43% - but after George W Bush & Republicans let it expire, mass shooting deaths spiked by 239%. It's the fucking guns.

If the autists should ever carry the day, we have been warned of the consequences.

Is the Belgien PM just too lazy to think things through or is he a genuine Russian asset? We may soon find out.

Passendes Motto für die Rentenabstimmung im Bundestag:

@schieritz So klar, wie man es sich nur wünschen könnte: Nehmen wir doch jetzt noch einen kräftigen Schluck aus der Pulle, bevor uns eine Kommission berät, wie wir den Entzug angehen könnten.

Er erklärt es seht gut und man kann es auch verstehen, wenn man will

„Man muss nicht viel über Industriepolitik wissen, um sie beurteilen zu können.“ Naja, mehr Wissen ist meistens besser als weniger. elibrary.duncker-humblot.com/pdfjs/web/view….

Das Bizarre an dieser Aussage ist, dass hinter dem Innovationsvorsprung der USA nicht nur, aber auch ein gerüttelt Maß an gezielter Industriepolitik steht.