New Blog Contest: Best Blog Entry on Inter-Ethnical Matters in Transylvania

As announced, I restate below the second part of the my previous post. Looking forward for a big number of enthusiastic participants!

Sebi Buhai (in collaboration with Dan, Lolka and Tihi, my colleagues from PhoenixTransylvania, who do not yet know about this, but I am sure will have nothing against it :-) ) is launching a new (smaller scale) blog contest. And absolutely all the material prizes Sebi won at the Clujblogfest will be used as funds for this new blog contest (more details follow below). So what is this about? This blog contest will be under the logo of PhoenixTransilvania and will reward the best blog entry (essay) on any ethnical aspects in Transylvania, from any perspective (more details follow below). The candidate blog entries have to be submitted between the 7th of May and the 7th of June (they could have been written before or within this time range) and all that needs to be done, logistically, to this end, is to submit the address of that blog entry as comment to this post or to the previous post I had on this new contest or to the blog entry that will soon introduce the contest also on PhoenixTransylvania. There won't be any "popular" vote, but solely the decision of a jury composed of myself, Dan, Lolka and Tihi. The first three places will be decided and the decision will be argumented in a post from the jury members, by June 15th, or as soon as possible thereafter. All three best entries will be also published, with the name of their authors, on PhoenixTransilvania. Some further, more detailed, information follows. Please send your questions/suggestions as comments to this post (or the previous post introducing this contest or the post on PhoenixTransilvania soon announcing this competition).

Details:

• the candidate blog entry cannot be longer than 2000 words and can be as short as you want it to be (strong preference for short and concise entries)
• the theme of the blog entry can be anything linked to ethnicity in Transylvania and this includes (but does not exhaust the entire list of possibilities!) the normative perspective (how you'd like things to be); the historical perspective; the very personal perspective; the socio/economic/political perspective; very concrete topics; connection to ethnical relations in other parts of the world etc. Think of your own topics, maybe you can come up with something extremely original!
• the entries can be written in English or Romanian, with English preferred (but the language of the post will not play a crucial part in the evaluation): the reason for preferring English is because we'd like to "market" the eventually winning texts also outside the country. Foreigners can thus also participate (though, obviously, they might need some link to Transylvania- not necessarily entailing that they should have been or be living here-; I know a few potential participants, already). Needless to say, all potential candidates have to understand the rules in English- don't worry: if you've got this far, you're fine :-).
• the judgment on the quality of the submission will be mainly based on the following factors: topic relevance, originality, creativity, organization and coherence, expression and communication style, language use, usage and interpretation of references, conclusion. The jury (Sebi, Dan, Tihi, Lolka) may take the liberty to also consult other specialists if they think it necessary. The final decision, regarding the best three, will be argumented in a small essay to be posted on the blog(s).
• in case you'd really like to participate but you do not yet have a blog and you do not know/do not want to start one, contact me, we'll figure something out. In any case all essays will be posted online somewhere, by the deadline
• I'd like to use this as an incentive to raise some interest around the inter-ethnical issues in Transylvania and, also, to raise the civic attitude in general. Not to mention that this is a test of whether incentives matter in such contexts :-).
• about the prizes of this new contest (so far; if anybody wants to supplement them in a way or another, nobody will mind:-)): the 3rd prize will be my third prize won at the Clujblogfest for the "most informative blog" category; the 2nd prize will be one of my second prizes won at either the "best analysis blog" or "best personal blog"; the 1st prize will be the other of the 2nd prizes mentioned before, supplemented with my share of the third prize that we won with PhoenixTransylvania at the "best collective blog" (and maybe my colleagues in PhoenixTransilvania will like to sponsor with their shares as well here, but that is not mandatory, of course :-)). Given that the Clujblogfest had quite some interesting sponsors, I am sure you will appreciate the prizes!
• what is not certain, but the idea is here already: I'll also try to arrange some space in Cluj-Napoca somewhere so that the three winners can actually present their essays in front of a (small, but very interested) audience and discuss and debate them afterwards and- needless to say :-)- dinner, drinks and possibly accomodation for the contest winners- are all on me, though you'd have to make it to Cluj-Napoca on your own, somehow . The date for this is to be decided later, together with the three would-be winners.
• everybody is encouraged to participate ( in particular feel free to advertise this among pupils and students as well) and all possible views are welcome, as long as you do your best in discussing and argumenting them
• submission starts May 7 and ends June 7th, 24h GMT+2 (Romanian time). Entries might have been written already or, more likely, should be written before the deadline above. The submission per se will consist in sending the address of your candidate post as comment to one of my (Sebi's) posts on my blog or on PhoenixTransylvania (a post will also appear there, soon).
• all submitted entries require a list of all eventually used references and the proper citation of all these in the text (this is not going to be counted in the 2000 words limit). Any detected plagiarism will be made public and the entry consequently disqualified.
• should there be no submission whatsoever or should the jury decide that none of the eventual entries are worth a prize, the prizes will remain in the hands of the-now-sponsor of this contest, Sebi: so don't let that happen! :-). After all, think of it as contributing an opinion to our discussions (or future discussions!) on PhoenixTransylvania
• Success, everybody!

Update: now the announcement is also on PhoenixTransylvania.

This blog is more popular than I thought. And a new blog contest!

Popularity is not at all something I am after (though I could start considering my running for the Romanian Presidency in the future- after all, so far, all you need for that is to be very popular:-)), as I immediately made clear when I was nominated to this "Clujblogfest", a blog "competition" in my native city, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. At that moment I announced, publicly, my desire to withdraw from the blog contest, but, to my enormous surprise, that was not possible: once nominated, you participate whether you want or not. This is but one of the absurdities of this blogfest (no role for a competent jury whatsoever and, respectively, no properly defined, narrow enough, categories in the contest are the two major problems). My opinion is that any such contest promotes excessive popularity and not necessarily (or not, period, this is happening in Romania...) quality... And that's when and where I suddenly lost (and would always lose) any interest in something that, had it been done/were it done properly, could have been/could be a very interesting and more than welcome endeavour.... But there'll be a next time: next time I am sure this will come out much better. The first thing one needs to do for that to happen is to throw away this old format, inherited unchanged (incredibly enough, there was no learning whatsoever!) from the first edition, the national one, of the same contest (edition which, by the way, also rewarded some blogs that cannot induce anything but nausea; at least we're insulated from such feelings in this second one and this is not because I am biased pro my blogger colleagues from Cluj...).

Nevertheless- and here you discover another side of my very complex personality :-)- when placed into such a situation (even- or, I should say, especially- when- involuntarily, arbitrarily), I function contingent on the rule "whatever you do, don't be bored" . In fact I acknowledge that some epsilon amount of "electoral lobbying" has been going on (starting once the preliminary results , published about half-way into the voting period, showed that Sebi's blog was doing far better than most had predicted, including yours truly :-)) and that I've even received the voluntary services of a few enthusiastic- far more enthusiastic, and crucially, with far more time to spend on this than myself- "campaign managers", and all within the rules of the game! But anyways, to cut this saga short, many thanks to all my voters, the final results are here (and I'll emphasize below what exactly this blog won, so that you don't have to skim through all that list, unless you really have time to). I add the (ex-post) hope that most votes for my blog were based on more than just friendship, partisanship or whatever else that would have little to do (notwithstanding that they could be correlated) with the one and only attribute that should matter in this context: quality (and never mind, for now, that, given the way the categories were defined, "quality" itself can be cumbersome to assess). Also, sincere congratulations to all winners and participants at this Clujblogfest, after all we've been through this together :-).

But all this talk and no concrete results presented so far :-). So what on Earth did this blog win (keep however in mind the criticisms from above, on the definition of the blog categories, I will not repeat them) ? Here we go, quite some prizes actually:

• 2nd place in the category "best blog of socio-economic-political analysis" (subtitled, my free translation here, "best blog that gives us food for thought"...) with 74 votes (which make 38% of the total number of votes for this category). The winner had 78 votes (40%).
• 2nd place in the category "best personal blog" (subtitled "best blog 'the world is mine'") with 58 votes (20%). The winner had 73 votes (26%).
• 3rd place in the category "most informative blog" (subtitled- ad litteram translation- "best blog that gets you out of the fog") with 52 votes (16%). The first two places had 134 (41%) and 66 (20%) votes, respectively.
• In addition, this blogger also won, together with the rest of the team, composed of Dan, Lolka and Tihi, aka the (in)famous PhoenixTransylvania (the first inter-ethnic blog from Transylvania), the 3rd place for the "best collective blog" (subtitled "best blog team") with 25 votes (10%), with the first two places receiving 123 votes (49%) and 44 votes (18%), respectively. Again, a surprising prize and ex ante certainly undesired; however, you will see in a bit why, ex post, this prize will become quite useful, as all the other prizes mentioned above :-). Hence, my priors were not the best. I admit.

Let me also mention, finally, that this blog also received (but these are out of the "podium"): the 5th place in the "best blog" category (subtitled "the most popular and most appreciated" blog), with 59 votes (9%), where the winner had 167 votes (24%); and it even managed to get 3 votes (2%) in the "worst blog" category (subtitled "the blog that makes you break the monitor"), where the "winner" had 39 votes (23%).

Anyways, to the really important part of this post. Part which I will repeat in a new post as well. I was stating above that, a posteriori, all these prizes might actually bring quite some utility. And I mean a social, not an individual one (I wouldn't care about the latter under the circumstances). Hence, economically speaking, participating did not turn out such a bad move, after all. Why is that? Well, look what will happen with the prizes that this blog (and this blogger) won and just admit that this is a great idea :-). Here we go:

New Blog Contest: Best Blog Entry on Inter-Ethnical Matters in Transylvania

Sebi Buhai (in collaboration with Dan, Lolka and Tihi, my colleagues from PhoenixTransylvania, who do not yet know about this, but I am sure will have nothing against it :-) ) is launching a new (smaller scale) blog contest. And absolutely all the material prizes Sebi won at the clujblogfest will be used as funds for this new blog contest (more details follow below). So what is this about? This blog contest will be under the logo of PhoenixTransilvania and will reward the best blog entry (essay) on any ethnical aspects in Transylvania, from any perspective (more details follow below). The candidate blog entries have to be submitted between the 7th of May and the 7th of June (they could have been written before or within this time range) and all that needs to be done, logistically, to this end, is to submit the address of that blog entry as comment to this post or to my future post on the blog contest or to the blog entry that will soon introduce the contest also on PhoenixTransylvania. There won't be any "popular" vote, but solely the decision of a jury composed of myself, Dan, Lolka and Tihi. The first three places will be decided and the decision will be argumented in a post from the jury members, by June 15th, or as soon as possible thereafter. All three best entries will be also published, with the name of their authors, on PhoenixTransilvania. Some further, more detailed, information follows. Please send your questions/suggestions as comments to this post (or the future post repeating this info or the post on PhoenixTransilvania announcing this competition).

Details:

• the candidate blog entry cannot be longer than 2000 words and can be as short as you want it to be (strong preference for short and concise entries)
• the theme of the blog entry can be anything linked to ethnicity in Transylvania and this includes (but does not exhaust the entire list of possibilities!) the normative perspective (how you'd like things to be); the historical perspective; the very personal perspective; the socio/economic/political perspective; very concrete topics; connection to ethnical relations in other parts of the world etc. Think of your own topics, maybe you can come up with something extremely original!
• the entries can be written in English or Romanian, with English preferred (but the language of the post will not play a crucial part in the evaluation): the reason for preferring English is because we'd like to "market" the eventually winning texts also outside the country. Foreigners can thus also participate (though, obviously, they might need some link to Transylvania- not necessarily entailing that they should have been or be living here-; I know a few potential participants, already). Needless to say, all potential candidates have to understand the rules in English- don't worry: if you've got this far, you're fine :-).
• the judgment on the quality of the submission will be mainly based on the following factors: topic relevance, originality, creativity, organization and coherence, expression and communication style, language use, usage and interpretation of references, conclusion. The jury (Sebi, Dan, Tihi, Lolka) may take the liberty to also consult other specialists if they think it necessary. The final decision, regarding the best three, will be argumented in a small essay to be posted on the blog(s).
• in case you'd really like to participate but you do not yet have a blog and you do not know/do not want to start one, contact me, we'll figure something out. In any case all essays will be posted online somewhere, by the deadline
• I'd like to use this as an incentive to raise some interest around the inter-ethnical issues in Transylvania and, also, to raise the civic attitude in general. Not to mention that this is a test of whether incentives matter in such contexts :-).
• about the prizes of this new contest (so far; if anybody wants to supplement them in a way or another, nobody will mind:-)): the 3rd prize will be my third prize won at the Clujblogfest for the "most informative blog" category; the 2nd prize will be one of my second prizes won at either the "best analysis blog" or "best personal blog"; the 1st prize will be the other of the 2nd prizes mentioned before, supplemented with my share of the third prize that we won with PhoenixTransylvania at the "best collective blog" (and maybe my colleagues in PhoenixTransilvania will like to sponsor with their shares as well here, but that is not mandatory, of course :-)). Given that the Clujblogfest had quite some interesting sponsors, I am sure you will appreciate the prizes!
• what is not certain, but the idea is here already: I'll also try to arrange some space in Cluj-Napoca somewhere so that the three winners can actually present their essays in front of a (small, but very interested) audience and discuss and debate them afterwards and- needless to say :-)- dinner, drinks and possibly accomodation for the contest winners- are all on me, though you'd have to make it to Cluj-Napoca on your own, somehow . The date for this is to be decided later, together with the three would-be winners.
• everybody is encouraged to participate ( in particular feel free to advertise this among pupils and students as well) and all possible views are welcome, as long as you do your best in discussing and argumenting them
• submission starts May 7 and ends June 7th, 24h GMT+2 (Romanian time). Entries might have been written already or, more likely, should be written before the deadline above. The submission per se will consist in sending the address of your candidate post as comment to one of my (Sebi's) posts on my blog or on PhoenixTransylvania (a post will also appear there, soon).
• all submitted entries require a list of all eventually used references and the proper citation of all these in the text (this is not going to be counted in the 2000 words limit). Any detected plagiarism will be made public and the entry disqualified.
• should there be no submission whatsoever or should the jury decide that none of the eventual entries are worth a prize, the prizes will remain in the hands of the-now-sponsor of this contest, Sebi: so don't let that happen! :-). After all, think of it as contributing an opinion to our discussions (or future discussions!) on PhoenixTransylvania
• Success, everybody!

Putin despre scriitorii romani si atractia spre extrema dreapta

Dan indica (si comenteaza excelent) pe blogul lui articolul, vechi de cativa ani buni, "Scrisoare catre prietenii mei romani", al lui Tamás Gáspár Miklós. Desigur unele lucruri s-au schimbat din 2000 si pana acum, intre timp am mai aflat lucruri noi etc., dar articolul ramane actual in mare parte si, desi inregistrez niste dezacorduri cand e vorba de anumite detalii, in mare nu pot decat sa fiu de acord cu autorul si sa recomand tuturor acest excelent articol. Ar fi doua lucruri despre care as scrie putin aici, dupa citirea articolului.

• O prima nota va fi foarte scurta pentru ca nu am citit inca sursa respectiva. Ea este legata de fragmentul "Cum pot eu - care sînt maghiar ardelean - să fiu prieten cu adepţii şi admiratorii morfologiei culturale promovate de Lucian Blaga, din moment ce este cît se poate de clar că singurul scop adevărat al Trilogiei este să demonstreze că maghiarii sînt străinii de esenţă, indiferent de natura acesteia?" Ziceam ca va fi o nota scurta pentru ca nu am citit inca "Trilogia culturala" a lui Blaga, dar avand un epsilon de background in istoria morfologiei culturale si controversele iscate de aceasta (cea mai cunoscuta si implicit cea mai criticata opera din acest curent fiind probabil "Der Untergang des Abendlandes", a lui Oswald Spengler), categoric imi propun sa citesc aceasta parte a operei filozofice a lui Lucian Blaga cu prima ocazie: fragmentul lui Tamás si aplicatia sa vis-à-vis de etniile din Transilvania m-au facut extrem de curios. Dupa cunostintele mele, la ora aceasta nici un antropolog serios nu mai caracterizeaza conceptul de morfologie culturala altfel decat naivitate academica; caveat lector insa, asta nu inseamna ca metodologia morfologica nu mai este inca folosita in antropologie/studii culturale in alte discipline.

• O a doua nota si-ar dori o posibila completare la lista de autori importanti care au avut inclinari extrem-nationaliste si a caror "activitate"/aderare in acest sens inca nu este acceptata (am mai spus si cu alta ocazie ca nu pot intelege aceasta reticenta, aceasta negare, aceasta opozitie, a "intelectualitatii" romanesti, cand e vorba de aceste lucruri, pentru ca evident asta nu le-ar reduce autorilor respectivi deloc din faima de scriitori, filozofi etc: dar cand vorbim de omul in cauza, e cazul sa ii cunoastem toate laturile, mai ales cand e vorba de convingeri clare, bine articulate etc.; dupa mine tine de o cutuma a romanilor a nu putea accepta faptul ca acel declarat 'erou', 'mare roman' , 'simbol national' etc.- toate acestea fiind evident endogene, dar explica cuiva...-, poate avea si defecte; asa ceva ar fi un sacrilegiu la noi, chit ca tine de normalitate in orice alta parte). Tamás scrie urmatoarele randuri excelente: "Pînă în ziua de azi, intelectualitatea revoluţiei româneşti este preocupată de exegeza spirituală a Gărzii de Fier. Nimeni nu pune la îndoială faptul că Nae Ionescu, Mircea Eliade, Emil Cioran sau Constantin Noica sînt autori importanţi; şi eu am citit cu plăcere inclusiv cele mai detestabile eşecuri ale lui Carl Schmitt sau Céline, nu sînt un pudic din punct de vedere intelectual, dar acest lucru nu înseamnă că nu ştiu cine sînt duşmanii democraţiei constituţional-liberale, duşmanii libertăţii, egalităţii şi fraternităţii. " Ei bine, din aceasta lista - si din toate discutiile anterioare pe aceasta tema de care am cunostinta- imi pare sa lipseasca Camil Petrescu. Ori iata, pentru cei care nu l-au citit inca, un fragment (sunt mai multe fragmente relevante in acest sens) din "Jurnalul" lui Mihail Sebastian (atat de hulit la publicare, dupa cum si Tamás scrie; cand l-am terminat de citit, cu multe luni in urma, am scris postul acesta) , care spune destul de multe despre caracterul lui Camil Petrescu ca om, ca persoana, ca membru al societatii, ca roman, dincolo de marele scriitor pe care l-am citit si l-am apreciat de altfel cu totii (pentru mine a fost un soc, drept sa spun, poate la fel de mare cum trebuie- si cum de altfel se simte- ca a fost si pentru Mihail Sebastian):

Joi, 25 [iunie 1936]

Camil Petrescu, intalnit azi-dimineata la "Capsa", era indignat pe mine fiindca incercasem sa spun ca procesul de la Craiova, al antifascistilor, se desfasoara in conditii salbatice.

- Astia nici n-ar trebui judecati. Trimisi direct la inchisoare. Zece ani, douazeci de ani, fara judecata. Nu sa le dea ocazia sa faca propanganda comunista la proces, prin martori si prin avocati.

Iesind de la "Capsa", am facut cativa pasi pe strada si mi-a explicat din nou atitudinea lui fata de ultimele batai antisemite.

- E regretabil, draga, dar tot ovreii poarta raspunderea.

- De ce, Camil?

- Pentru ca sunt prea multi.

- Dar ungurii nu sunt si mai multi?

- Poate, dar cel putin sunt masati la un loc, in aceeasi regiune. (N-am inteles argumentul, dar n-am vrut sa insist. La ce bun sa reeditez lunga mea convorbire cu el, din ianuarie 1934. Sunt edificat asupra lui- si tot ce poate face este sa ma deprime, in nici un caz sa ma surprinda.)

In continuare, mi-a spus:

- Draga, ovreii provoaca. Au o atitudine echivoca. Se amesteca in lucruri care nu-i privesc. Sunt prea nationalisti.

- Ar trebui sa te decizi, Camil. Sunt nationalisti sau sunt comunisti?

- Ei, stii ca-mi placi? Suntem intre noi, draga, si ma mir ca mai pui astfel de intrebari. Comunismul ce altceva este decat imperialismul evreilor?

Spune asta Camil Petrescu. Camil Petrescu este una dintre cele mai frumoase inteligente din Romania. Camil Petrescu este una din cele mai delicate sensibilitati din Romania. Cum ar putea Romania sa traiasca vreodata o revolutie?

Ultimul rand al lui Mihail Sebastian redat mai sus, intrebarea retorica, se leaga oarecum si de paragraful lui Tamás despre Revolutia din '89, paragraf pe care si Dan l-a evidentiat de altfel in blog-postul sau. Randul lui Sebastian a fost scris in 1936: cate s-au schimbat si cate nu s-au schimbat de atunci? Si cine ar trebui sa analizeze toate aceste lucruri? Cand vom deveni responsabili, cand ne vom asuma istoria?

On why you need Maths for Economics and in general

Some young but very ambitious students (yeah, yeah, some of you are reading this post on my blog right now :-)) have been asking me why would they need to know Maths if they want to become economists (in industry or academia) and what Maths courses are most suitable for them and how much Maths would they actually use in practice anyway...

These are very interesting and very pertinent questions and obviously they were asked and answered before. By many, many times. I'll thefore select a few such answers for you, among those that I largely agree with. To start up, I am very lucky to be able to refer all of you to Greg Mankiw's detailed answers to the questions directly relating Maths to your further careers as economists. First, why do aspiring economists need Maths and second, which Maths courses are a minimum that you should plan to take. By the way, for those of you interested in doing a PhD in Economics, I'd take professor Mankiw's advice very seriously: "if you are thinking about a PhD program in economics, you are advised to take math courses until it hurts" :-).

And if you want something to complement the above - and, at the same time, a more general perspective on why a Maths education might be useful - I also recommend you to read Gian-Carlo Rota's "10 lessons of an MIT education" (it's not the MIT part that's important for my purpose here :-)) and I am referring in this case (there are also things among these 10 lessons that I do not fully agree with, but it's not time to voice my discontent with that :-)) particularly to his Lesson number 10, here's the relevant part: "Mathematics is still the queen of the sciences [...] When an undergraduate asks me whether he or she should major in mathematics rather than in another field that I will simply call X, my answer is the following: "If you major in mathematics, you can switch to X anytime you want to, but not the other way around."

For the last part of the questions above, on how much Maths would you actually use in practice beyond absurd requirements of some crazed professors :-): that largely depends on what you will actually do, whether you'll be working as an academic or as a consultant of some sort etc (Greg Mankiw already had a bit on this, at the links mentioned above). But that aside, a good Maths training will give you something potentially more important, whatever you'll be doing: it will enable you to think logically in whatever situations you will face (and that is what I'd call the 'qualitative' bonus of having done Maths), plus it will give you a technical basis and will allow you to rely on your own skills for most day-to-day computing, accounting, investing, issues (and that is what I'd label the 'quantitative' methodology advantage that comes with having learnt Maths): à propos, I recall here a pertinent citation attributed to Anatole France: "People who don't count won't count"... Furthermore, and this is more important than many think, once you did it properly and you understood it (in Maths you do not memorize- if you try that, you don't stand a chance- you need to understand, you need to get used to it...), you will always be able to know how and where to look for particular bits, whenever you need to apply them again (that was contained also within Rota's rules, if you read carefully, in his Lesson 3: By and large, "knowing how" matters more than "knowing what." ).

Traducatori, analisti, profesionisti. De Romania

Citesc pe hotnews un post al lui Emil Stoica. Bun, omul are o initiativa binevenita aducand in atentia publicului profesionalismul traducatorilor de la Antena 3 (btw, couldn't care less about the latter; nu cred ca am urmarit vreodata Antena 3, whatever that is...) si comentariile sale sunt pertinente, desi cam "pierde" si 'mnealui pe drum parti esentiale si mai scoate din context pe ici pe colo (iarasi prin/din partile esentiale...), desi contextul da mai mult decat culoare in cazul de fata... Si nu ca asta ar fi hiba majora, dar- crucial- cade dumnealui insusi in acelasi pacat al traducatorilor mioritici (si stiind foarte bine despre ce e vorba, e dublu vinovat); nimic extraordinar in Romania: "analistii" nostri "analizeaza" si "traduc" (citeste "va traduc") fara a indica sursa (si asta e valabil dincolo de exemplul din context; de multe ori putem vorbi chiar de plagiat), insultandu-i, la urma urmei, pe cititori. Pe langa asta, evidemment, toti trebuie luati drept experti pentru ca au fost descrisi astfel de alti experti care la randul lor au ajuns experti in acelasi mod s.a.m.d. (Nu am idee cine e Emil Stoica si ce reputatie are, care ii este cv-ul etc., dar acestea sunt secundare aici: orice analist care se respecta ar indica imediat sursa analizata, pe langa comentariile proprii... Deci- nici nu ar mai trebui mentionat- judec pe text, asa cum ar fi cazul sa se judece intotdeauna, imi lipsesc informatiile de background pentru a face orice inferenta despre abilitatea generala de 'analist' a domnului Stoica- si sper, pentru dumnealui, ca avem de-a face cu o cadere temporara...toti le avem, pana la urma :-)- in cazul domnului Stoica lucrurile stau putin altfel insa, pentru ca job-ul lui ca scriitor la hotnews implica o responsabilitate deloc infima fata de expectantele sutelor- miilor?- de cititori- deci nu iti poti permite prea multe esecuri...ah, sa nu uit aici, chestia cu "tema" de la urma postului e cireasa de pe tort si un q.e.d. care sper sa nu se poata generaliza... ). In orice caz, felicitari cititorului care se ridica mult deasupra "analistilor" prin comentariul urmator:

Comentariul lui V.Florean: 27 aprilie 2007
Domnilor, lasati disputa pe marginea prezentarii articolului din “The Economist” si mai bine publicati traducerea articolului in extenso. Romanii sunt mai inteligenti decat “facatorii de opinie” si vor sti sa traga singuri concluziile.

Poate nu ar fi o idee deplasata ca domn Comanescu sa-l roage pe acest cititor de mai sus sa devina "analist" la Hotnews: apare mai rasarit decat o mare parte din cei care freaca menta acolo (mai putin cativa despre care am mai vorbit aici si respectiv aici; NB: si acesti doi autori despre care am avut pareri pozitive au fost evident judecati pe textele remarcate cu ocaziile respective: nu i-am putut urmari indeajuns pentru extrapolari vis-à-vis de abilitatile lor generale). Ah, si à propos de Iulian Comanescu himself, ce sa mai zici cand scrie asa ceva:

Comentariul lui Iulian Comanescu: 28 aprilie 2007
Rugamintea mea e sa folosim mai putin cuvinte ca “nerusinare” aici. Ne pretindem profesionisti sau interesati de media in profunzime, nu?
Emil dragă, P. Vlad are dreptate, ne poţi da originalul din The Economist? Poate aflăm mai mult.

[evidentierea prin aldine in comentariul lui Comanescu imi apartine]

Adica, monsieur Comanescu, dvs. ca mare si "profund" analist media (vezi insa treaba cu "ne pretindem" de mai sus, o iau drept un moment de extrema sinceritate :-)- ca sa nu mai vorbesc de tendinta- absurda!- de patronizing, prezenta la Comanescu in foarte multe articole si comentarii ale sale, desi cata vreme "interlecutorii" dumnealui n-au nimic impotriva, no problem...) and the like ("the like" necesar aici pentru ca, din cand in cand, domn Comanescu mai "analizeaza" si treburi unde dumnealui este 'the guru', unde dumnealui are categoric avantajul comparativ al expertului- si i se acorda amplu spatiu editorial in Ev. Zilei pentru asta, ceea ce spune multe si despre profesionalismul- si discernamantul- celor de la Ev. Zilei) nu aveti idee cum sa accesati The Economist? Cineva trebuie sa "va dea" 'originalul'? Ati urmarit disputa Stoica-Antena 3 fara sa fi citit in prealabil articolul? LOL. Ca tot am ajuns aici, nu ar strica sa faceti The Economist lectura obligatorie pentru echipa Hotnews-ului: inter alia, ati putea invata de la ei ceva despre profesionism, profesionalism si profesionalitate (si nu e vorba de cele pretinse...). Articolul din The Economist (aparut online pe 26 Aprilie) pe marginea caruia se cearta ca orbii unii si altii- toti elite intre traducatori si analisti- nu face exceptie: e impartial, concis, bine scris, pune punctul pe i (punct caruia, à propos, ii mai zice si 'tittle' in engleza, in caz ca vreunul dintre traducatori ar gasi cuvantul si ar intentiona sa-l traduca apoi in romana...).

Funniest moment of the week. No, wait, of the month!

Lovely Nicole is emailing me this link. And she thinks she's really "got it now", she believes she finally "understands all about men", she's convinced she's just had her Eureka! moment :-). Well, that's pretty funny, but guess what, I'd bet that the text above was written by a male and not by a woman (who tried some homosexual experience in order to have such an epiphany :-)), as its author claims. It's simply too direct, nada (at least a) Freudian detour or anything like that. Which implies that the (latent) intention comes forward as subtle as a Russian tank- though it's not fully rational, but I won't get into details. Still funny, though :-). And ok, true to some extent, I confess. BUT: there's much more to it than just that and, Nicole my dear, I'd contend that there is enormous heterogeneity among "guys", maybe more than among women, but, agree, that's an empirical issue at the very end of the day... Anyways, here's a relevant excerpt from Nicole's "Bible" linked above (& I have to say that I agree 100% with its conclusion, never mind the reasoning till there :-) )

So guys, I have seen into your world, and I can say now, you definitely have it tougher than we do. I feel your pain. And ladies, if you're reading this, go easy on them. If you want to get it on, just let them know. They're killing themselves trying to figure it out. And that's just getting in the way of some potentially good fucking.

PS. Nicole, did you actually try... you know...with another woman? Wow, my imagination goes wild already :-). You can tell me in private...

Bine scris! Alina Mungiu-Pippidi: "Patru morti si o deconspirare"

Nu cu multa vreme in urma remarcam un articol "cvasi-excelent" al Alinei Mungiu-Pippidi. Ma bucur sa observ ca autoarea a recidivat: citesc astazi in Romania Libera un articol de (fara gluma!) nota 10! Articolul vorbeste de la sine, deci nu am alte comentarii. Poate doar sa mentionez ca sejurul in afara Romaniei se pare ca ii prieste de minune doamnei Mungiu-Pippidi (vezi finalul: "Simpatica saptamana, din care am lipsit din tara cinci zile, dar daca le lipseam si pe celelalte doua nu mi-ar fi parut rau." ): distantandu-se putin de nebunia mioritica de fiecare zi (incep sa inteleg ca e contagioasa...), incepe sa observe perfect cum stau lucrurile in realitate :-).

Quote for the week 22nd to 28th of April '07

There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don’t know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president.

Kurt Vonnegut

Quote of the previous week.

Creationisti semidocti si (posibile) influente in invatamant

Un post excelent al lui Tihi, care ma scuteste de la prea multe comentarii pe aceeasi frecventa.

Deci voi face doar doua observatii complementare celor scrise de Tihi mai sus:

• Nu cred ca e vorba de "prostie" per se (vedeti mostra de umor grotesc de care vorbeste si Tihamer: chiar am urmarit, in mai multe reprize, toata jumatatea de ora- in plus e plin de asemenea esantioane pe YouTube; a propos, nu e vorba de a te enerva, eventual de a compatimi actorii din context, if anything...). Oamenii care participa la "conferinta maraton" de aici nu sunt nescoliti, pana la urma exista chiar si doctori in stiinte, profesori universitari, medici, printre ei (cel putin conform titlului afisat pe ecran). Desigur (si fara a ma surprinde absolut deloc :-)) nici unul nu a vorbit despre realizarile sale din domeniul pe care ar trebui sa il reprezinte, in care ar trebui sa aiba avantajul comparativ, ci despre cum ar trebui sa se foloseasca Biblia, cea mai cea carte de stiinta, in invatamantul de orice nivel, indiferent de disciplina... si aberatiile inrudite. E vorba de un grup de semidocti (cu un invitat special din strainatate: da, sunt destui in afara si inca multi, iarasi suntem doar copycats, si in cele mai rele, tot copycats :-)) si imi aduc aminte imediat de excelentul citat din "Eseurile Lingvistice Antitotalitare" ale lui Ionel Funeriu, citat care surprinde perfect adevaratul caracter al personajelor din clip. Reiau aici doar un foarte scurt fragment: "... semidoctul se crede intotdeauna instruit, sau, cel putin, se comporta ca si cum ar fi astfel. Pe un individ care nu stie ceva important, nu-l numesc automat semidoct, ci-i spun, dupa imprejurari, fie naiv sau necultivat, fie ignorant ori stupid, fie chiar prost. Nu zic despre un nescolit ca e semidoct, cata vreme el nu-si da aere de erudit. Ii voi spune insa ca-i semidoct unui farsor care-si aroga calitati intelectuale."

• In mod normal nimeni nu ar acorda atentie (si ma gandesc la implementarea in practica) unor asemenea elucubratii, indiferent de agitatia autorilor lor, dar din pacate s-a creat un canal de influenta, sa ii zic asa, absolut de neimaginat: recent adoptata lege a cultelor (489/2006). Am mai scris despre contradictiile si (cel putin la citirea legii 'at face value') aberatiile din aceasta lege. In cazul de fata relevanta este discutia referitoare la predarea religiei in scoala si dreptul la libera alegere, unde erau destule pasaje interpretabile (si altele de-a dreptul imposibile!). Drept la libera alegere pe care tot mai multi par sa il ignore in Romania (si e in regula cata vreme decizia e personala si te priveste- urla la luna daca vrei!- insa incepe sa ma doara capul cand se incearca aplicarea 'regulii' intregii societati; ba chiar fac urat daca se incearca constrangerea mea, personala, intr-un fel sau altul :-)). Si nu ma refer la semidoctii de mai sus, acestia sunt marginali, din toate punctele de vedere. Din fericire insa, am incredere in discernamantul elevilor si studentilor din noile generatii: spre deosebire de incuiatii (destul de multi: exemplele din clip vorbesc de la sine) din generatiile precedente, unii dintre cei noi sunt mult mai deschisi, iar un mic procentaj dintre ei (in crestere, insa!) are chiar si ceea ce as numi "considerable exposure". Think for yourselves! And make sure nobody denies you the "free to choose" right!

Movie scene for week 22nd to 28th of April: "Are you a dreamer?", from "Waking Life"

This week goes perfectly with one of my favourite scenes from one of my favourite movies ever, Waking Life. As you might recall, this movie is in my (current) very top 5 and it has high chances of hanging up there for a long while... I also dedicated an entire post to this movie some time ago. The scene I selected for today is "Are you a dreamer?" (after all, a leitmotif in 'Waking Life') and I also wrote down for you the whole dialogue/monologue between (the voices of) the main character - Wiley Wiggins and "the man in the train" - David Martinez:

Hey.

Hey.

You a dreamer?

Yeah.

I haven't seen too many around lately. Things have been tough lately for dreamers. They say dreaming is dead... that no one does it anymore. It's not dead, it's just that it's been forgotten. Removed from our language. Nobody teaches it, so no one knows it exists. The dreamer's banished to obscurity. I'm trying to change all that, and I hope you are too. By dreaming, every day. Dreaming with our hands and dreaming with our minds. Our planet is facing the greatest problems it's ever faced, ever. So whatever you do, don't be bored. This is absolutely the most exciting time we could have possibly hoped to be alive! And things are just starting.

[my emphasis in bold: make it your motto]

More: the music in the background is in perfect harmony with the text: "In dreams" by Roy Orbison. You can also listen to the full version.

Movie scene of the previous week.

"Economia à la Romania" sau "Economia Stiinta Umanista"

Tin neaparat sa-i mentionez pe cei (unii) de la Academia de Stiinte Economice (ASE) care castiga detasat noua etapa a concursului "cum mai ajunge lumea pe blogul meu", categoria "aberatii": in mod repetat si foarte insistent (de cel putin trei-patru ori in ultima luna, dar povestea e deja veche, de cateva luni) respectivii studenti sau profesori sau whatever ajung la mine pe blog cautand pe Google expresia (si reproduc ad litteram) "economia stiinta umanista". Ultimele coordonate ale acestor escapade, chiar de astazi, sunt Host name cache.ase.ro, IP address 86.55.176.81. Probabil treaba asta e corelata cu faptul ca efectiv nu mai este loc la ASE de atatea publicatii in cele mai bune jurnale stiintifice pe economie si categoric intreg academe-ul economic mondial ii considera top of the crop... Ca sa nu mai vorbim de aplicarea "umanista" (as in: si nu "profesionista") a principiilor economice in practica, unde Romania (inca) exceleaza etc.

Now, to get serious, here's what I've got to say on the matter (si poate cineva are urechi sa asculte...): economia ca disciplina o fi ea si "umanista", daca vrem neaparat :-), dar numele disciplinei ar trebui atunci alterat, varianta pe care o propun- are si rima!- fiind "economia à la Romania". Parerea mea e total diferita. Si am sa ma repet, daca tot am ocazia :-). Paragraful urmator e rezumatul unei prezentari de la un colocviu stiintific (adresat insa unei audiente generale) desfasurat la resedinta ambasadorului roman Theodor Paleologu, in Copenhaga, cu ceva vreme in urma. Am scris mai in detaliu despre acel colocviu aici, iar prezentarea mea in format PDF (desi e mai greu de urmarit fara prezentator, dar daca aveti vreo intrebare: shoot!) poate fi consultata aici.

Teza acestei prezentări este că economia este o ‹ştiinţă››, în toată puterea cuvântului. Voi încerca demonstrarea acestei teze printr-o trecere în revista a modus operandi folosit în cercetarea economică, punând în evidenţă asemănarea acestuia cu metodologia aplicată in ştiinţele naturale, şi diferenţele sale vis à vis de practica celorlalte discipline sociale. Argumentele vor fi însoţite de scurte exemple sugestive de cercetare, din subdomenii economice care îmi sunt familiare. Similar oricărei ştiinţe naturale, economia se bazează pe elaborarea unor ipoteze falsificabile şi pe validarea acestora prin procedee statistice. Trei caracteristici de baza ale cercetării economice contribuie atât la localizarea disciplinei pe axa ştiinţe fizice—ştiinţe sociale, cât si la ‹‹imperialismul economiei›› în rândul ştiinţelor sociale, i.e., utilizarea extensivă a metodologiei economice pentru a investiga probleme existente sau pentru a ridica întrebări inedite, din afara setului economic ‹‹tradiţional››. Aceşti piloni ai economiei ca ştiinţă sunt: construcţia bazată pe agenţi raţionali care îşi maximizează utilitatea; interesul în starea sistemului (social) în echilibru; şi focalizarea analizei pe eficienţă. Voi discuta aplicarea inferenţei economice în modelarea unor fenomene cum ar fi: acumularea capitalului uman, interacţiunea agenţilor în cadrul familiei, dinamica pieţei muncii şi interacţiunea strategica angajat-angajator, organizarea şi managementul interior al firmelor, comportamentul discriminatoriu şi interacţiunea grupurilor sociale.

We're all Friedmanians now! And we're all from Transylvania...

This is a very concise, very well written and largely accesible (to non-economists as well) text of Robert Barro on Milton Friedman and (part of) his work. To join my other blog entries on Milton Friedman. Here's the intro excerpt, meant as an appetizer:

When my son Jason was an economics Ph.D. student at Harvard in the 1990s, he said: “I have observed that only two economists can push you around, Milton Friedman and Gary Becker.” I agreed but argued that it was a good thing. Everyone needed heroes, and Gary had only Milton. Milton had no one, except Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, but Reagan did not really qualify as an economist. Arthur Burns may once have been the economist hero—as an instructor at Rutgers, he apparently helped to persuade the undergraduate Milton not to be an actuary. However, Burns’s exalted status ended in 1971 when he went over to the dark side by endorsing Richard Nixon’s outrageous price controls. Milton tells me that Frank Knight was also his “god,” presumably between 1932 and 1935 when Milton was a graduate student at the University of Chicago and after 1946, when Milton joined the Chicago faculty.

And below there's another fragment from this text that I'd like to emphasize, since I really had no clue about this until now (and for obvious, very objective, reasons that have to do with the fact that I myself am from Transylvania :-)). As it turns out, both Barro and Friedman have Hungarian parental origins and not only that, but, amazingly, Barro's father's origins are in Transylvania. And I wouldn't be surprised if many more current (it is clear that there'll be a few more in the future! :-)) top world economists had their origins somewhere in Transylvania (as some of you might know, there are a bunch of top scientists from various natural sciences, that are originally from Transylvania: one famous exemple that immediately springs to my mind is Albert-László Barabási). So the Vampire Empire should be also famous for other things than the vampires :-). But still, don't get too excited and take it with a humorous note (if you didn't catch that meaning by now): I'm the least likely to believe, a priori, in genetic explanations, ancestry influence and all that, though there's an open empirical question here :-).

I cannot resist noting some intriguing personal linkages between Milton and me. First, we both have Hungarian parental origins from territory that is now part of the Ukraine. (My mother was from Munkacs, now Mukacevo; Milton’s parents were from Beregszasz or Berehovo.) Second, I have the name Friedmann in my ancestry, although from my father’s origins in Transylvania.

Thanks to Greg Mankiw for the link to Barro's paper.

Song of the day: "Nunta" (The Wedding), by Pavel Stratan

Today's superlative song (with a very well done videoclip as well; the whole concept is just great), "Nunta" ("The Wedding"), by Pavel Stratan, is dedicated to my good old friend Sandu (a live performance of "Nunta" is here ). With my thanks for the invitation and my (already) apologies for not being able to make it, but with the knowledge that if times were less pressing, I wouldn't have missed it for anything in the world! I'll come back with more precise and better targeted wishes just before the great event that's gonna mark the rest of your life :-)

You can check out the official site of Pavel Stratan (only in Romanian) and a very short wiki bios in English. I have to say that I really like this artist, he brought an absolutely original touch, a fusion of various styles, very difficult to pin down to one genre, one type (if anything, he is the "storyteller" in Romanian music, but that cannot be a/the catch-all term either)- and he's simply got a huge amount of talent. I further think we haven't yet seen the best of Pavel Stratan, so I am very optimistic in what regards his evolution as a musician from now on. I already wrote a bit about Pavel Stratan and about why I'd like his music to be promoted in Romania instead of the omnipresent and very popular nonsense. I also ranked his "Eu beu" ("I drink") videoclip in my top 10 (among the clips I had talked about). A couple of other good pieces (but YouTube is really not doing well at the "Pavel Stratan clips" chapter...) from Pavel Stratan, next to the two already mentioned, are the following: "M-am nascut de ziua mea" ("I was born on my birthday"), "Cucu o murit" (The cuckoo died). Lyrics (but not yet clips...) for most of his songs can be found on his website. And finally, his daughter, Cleopatra (3 years old!), is also, already, a famous singer! Just watch her perform in her most famous song, "Ghita", or together with her father in "Noapte buna" (Good Night). Enjoy!

PS. This is the second Romanian artist (well, to be very precise he is from the Republic of Moldova, but he became a musical star in Romania) I mention in my "song of the day" blog category, after Florin Chilian (post in Romanian). See also a post about other Romanian musicians, mentioned en passant and not always very positively (& read also a post on what is not music whatsoever, but just insanely awful noise, despite some claims to the contrary and unbelievable popularity) :-). But stay tuned, there'll be plenty of occasions to write about what I consider good or promising Romanian music (or music by Romanian artists).

Inca unul care gandeste pe Hotnews

Primul a fost Doc. Al doilea e Mihai Morar. Evident cu doua capete - si restul nimic - Hotnews-ul nu prea poate misca, dar sa vedem, poate poate mai descopar pe cineva, poate poate li se mai alatura cineva... In orice caz excelente observatii ale lui Mihai Morar vis-à-vis de stilul lui Alex Balanescu (despre care am scris si eu de cateva ori pe blog, de exemplu aici); inter alia, chiar imi place partea cu "balanescu nu e la fel de cool precum edvin marton ( cel care la sala palatului a cantat intr-un tricou pe care scria paganini, incrustat cu cristale swarowski). insa balanescu e mai stylish. iar intre cool si stylish eu intotdeuna aleg al doilea atribut." (evidentierea prin bold imi apartine). Excelent pana aici, un om care stie ce vorbeste: important e sa stam pe "stylish" si in continuare. Si ma apuca o ciuda enorma ca nu am putut fi prezent la concert, vezi relatarea ex-post a lui Mihai Morar (in Romania nu l-am prins niciodata pe Alex Balanescu, in schimb asta s-a intamplat la Londra de doua ori). Ad majora!

PS. Cineva foarte foarte stylish, intotdeauna, e Yo-Yo Ma, a propos de artisti "stylish"...

Song of the day: Quimby's "The Ballad of Jerry"

My good old friend Daniel is in the top league inasmuch musical tastes are concerned (meaning, he's got tastes similar to mine, of course, you shouldn't think further than that, excellence is already guaranteed :-))- and that goes particularly for (Hungarian) classical or "underground" genres (pretty much the same, ain't it? :-)), although he is doing a PhD in Harvard in another field than music :-). Inter alia, I got to first listen to 'Anima Sound System', live, at the Sziget 1999 festival, because of Daniel: and as I made it clear in an older post on this blog, I never regretted getting to know them. Quite recently (why only now?!- that makes me feel horribly ignorant...) he's recommended to me this excellent underground Hungarian band, Quimby, and I testify that, after listening to all their pieces I could find online, I find this band awesome! Here's the bit I found in English on their biography, informative enough for a start:

"Quimby is one of the most known underground music artists in Hungary. The group was born in 1991. In the beginning their music was mostly influenced by artists like Tom Waits. Later they made their own style, making their music more particular."

Check out Quimby's official website or another site with more information (unfortunately only in Hungarian, for now...). You can follow the link on their official website to a collection of representative videoclips, both from their early (Tom Waits- like) and from their most recent period (clips in .wmv format). Most these videoclips were also on YouTube at some point, but right now quite a few of them seem to have been removed due to copyright claims (the eternal and most annoying story about clips from YouTube!). Hence, I'll place links to the .vmv files in what follows, but you can also check out some of the clips from YouTube here - certainly it goes faster with playing them in YouTube rather than downloading them via the site first.

Despite the fact that Tom Waits's influence is omnipresent in their early work, I still like a lot some of those pieces, particularly several from the "Jerrycan Dance" album of 1995. I think that Quimby adds an original touch and several of those pieces are true masterpieces. One of my favourites and my choice as song of the day is "The Ballad of Jerry" (lyrics here), which has a superb melodic line (you won't find this clip at all on YouTube, unfortunately, so you do need to download the .vmv file if you want to listen to it); this song apparently used to be quite a hit among adolescents (and other 'underground' party lovers, of any age) in Hungary, back in the 90's. Other pieces that I consider excellent (and, btw, all of them have very good videoclips- at some point I should make the new top of videoclips, after the one I've posted a while ago), in chronological order of the albums, are: "Finale", "Party in my bones", both also from the 1995 album, as the song of the day; "Rések" (sensational instrumental part!), from the 1996 "Majom-tangó" album; "Hol volt hol nem volt", "Parafenomén", both from the 1997 "Diligramm" album; "Androidő", from the 1999 album "Ékszerelmére"; "Most múlik pontosan" (very interesting, both as song- with the reservation that I cannot fully follow the lyrics- and as videoclip; a 100% change from their previous work, I'd say, but a succesful change), "Autó egy szerpentinen" (also very interesting, a clear break with the earlier style, again excellent diversification, I'd say), both from their (most recent) 2005 album "Kilégzés". In any case I shall definitely try to get hold of all Quimby's albums. Enjoy!

Funny moment with Fama and French...

After 15 years of sharing the credit for groundbreaking research with Ken French, Eugene Fama is on a mission to expose his former colleague, and himself. The result is an alarming behind-the-scenes look at how academic careers are made and broken.

"I hired Ken French in 1990 when he was a driving instructor in Winnetka. Chicago was pressuring me to partner with another researcher; I couldn't stand the idea so I hired a stooge. The man has never contributed a single idea to my research, and yet his name is constantly mentioned in the same breath as mine. On top of it all, the American Finance Association has nominated him as president-elect! That's a travesty and I won't have it."
[...]


The rest of the article. I got the link via Greg Mankiw's blog. By the way, this is far better than Mankiw's own April Fool's moment, which was a good one already :-). If you know anything about Economics and Finance, you must agree that this one here is a candidate for the absolutely perfect joke within the Economics academe :-).

And now, to get to more serious things :-), since I bet on a John Bates Clark winner for this year and... I lost (though I am not at all dissapointed!), I also already bet on Eugene Fama being one of the Nobel Prize Laureates in Economics (well, to be completely correct: "Bank of Sweden Prize in Economics in the Memory of Alfred Nobel" Laureates) this year (possibly together with Michael Jensen and/or Kenneth French). I think this year could well be Corporate Finance's turn to get the attention of the Nobel committee...

Econlinks for 22-04-'07

• Susan Athey is the new winner of the John Bates Clark Medal. I had her on my potential list of winners, of course, but I really put Ed Glaeser highest on that list since he was at the age limit of the candidates for the medal (40), while Susan Athey could have also been nominated in 2 years from now, in principle. So I lost that bet :-). I think Susan Athey totally deserves this prestigious award. What is special about this year's prize is that Athey is the first woman to receive the medal and possibly one of the youngest winners, as well.
• an entry on what sociologists learned about economists. Looks pretty interesting, I'll follow up on those links. And rather negative, but that's no news from our sociologist colleagues...
• a nice article in the Economist (from a few editions ago) about the 'frowning clown' that both Democrats and Republicans are terribly afraid of, Stephen Colbert. It comes at the right time, since I've just posted an entry on a hillarious "hot Stephen" clip (this previous one about the 10 commandments, that the Economist article linked above also mentions, was equally funny- I talked about it here, but the corresponding YouTube was removed... ).
• The NY Times has published today a very interesting guide to "affordable Europe". 15 major cities are overviewed. The intention is excellent (and very welcome!), but at first sight I find the guide quite rough, missing a lot of information (for the cities from that list where I've been living for quite a while, like Amsterdam or London). Unless Americans really have different tastes, there are much better places (equally cheap) where to go in these cities...

And this is my 300th blog post! That calls for celebration. Though I'll probably postpone a proper celebration for the next weekend.

Update, May 11th, '07: I've just discovered that Steven Levitt has a different idea (well, speculation) of who might have been the runners up for the John Bates Clark Medal (all Chicago economists, of course :-)).

Art moments: Photo-realist painting & Bio-design

For today very briefly about two of my favourite modern artists, active in completely different domains, and their fascinating work: Bert Monroy, a "photo-realist" painter, and respectively, Luigi Colani, a bio-designer.

• Bert Monroy's motto:

"As a photo-realist painter, I have often been asked why I don’t just take a photograph. Good question, when you consider my paintings look like photographs. Well, for one thing, I’m not a photographer. To me, it is not the destination that is important—it is the journey. The incredible challenge of recreating reality is my motivation".

Since I'll be in Chicago for a conference at the beginning of May, perhaps there'll be a chance for me to actually see the place the artist is creating in "Damen": by all acounts, this is impressive!

• Luigi Colani's motto:

"Whenever we talk about biodesign we should simply bear in mind just how amazingly superior a spider’s web is to any load-bearing structure man has made – and then derive from this insight that we should look to the superiority of nature for the solutions. If we want to tackle a new task in the studio, then it’s best to go outside first and look at what millenia-old answers there may already be to the problem."

Colani's work is currently displayed at London's Design Museum. And I really hate the fact that it seems impossible for me to make it to London before June 17 until when his "Translating Nature" exhibition runs... Here's a glimpse of what I'll miss.

Ce mai citesc in ultima vreme

...cand prind putin timp liber (foarte rar, din pacate; sper sa se imbunatateasca situatia in cateva luni...). In momentul de fata citesc si sunt entuziasmat de (pana acum, sunt pe la jumatate si cred ca devorez si restul in maxim doua zile- sau doua nopti, e mai sigur ca voi gasi timp- e prea interesanta sa o las din mana) cartea recenta a lui Adrian Gavrilescu, "Noii precupeti. Intelectualii publici din Romania de dupa 1989", publicata la editura Compania, in 2006.

Intr-un fel subiectul si stilul cartii (si chiar parte din concluzii) imi amintesc de cartea lui Sorin Adam Matei, "Boierii mintii" (publicata tot la editura Compania), despre care am scris putin, cu alta ocazie, pe portalul online RLIV (a propos, ce am scris atunci ca introducere mi se pare relevant si pentru postul recent al lui Dan Anghel si discutiile care i-au urmat, in context 'strict' politic de data asta- si ma refer in particular la eterna cautare a "omului providential", caruia sa-i fie incredintata soarta turmei...), dar asemanarile se opresc destul de devreme, pentru ca Gavrilescu abordeaza problema intelectualui public intr-un context mai larg, inter alia plasand foarte bine discutiile vis-a-vis de intelectualul roman intr-un spatiu global, vest-european sau american (elocvent aici este, de exemplu, titlul unui subcapitol: "Balanta intre Bucuresti si Harvard"). Voi reveni cu niste impresii finale si mult mai detaliate dupa ce termin de citit cartea, deocamdata doar cateva opinii "de inceput".

Structura cartii, in particular ordinea capitolelor si tematica abordata in subcapitole, mi se pare excelent aleasa. Adrian Gavrilescu incepe prin a incerca sa raspunda intrebarii generale (si face o treaba foarte buna, zic eu): "Ce sunt si la ce folosesc intelectualii?", pentru a ne purta mai incolo catre cazuri specifice (mai ales plaiului mioritic, cu foarte multe exemple concrete), diferite roluri si functii ale conceptului de 'intelectual public' : "Intelectualii publici in rolul 'analistilor politici'", "Intelectualii publici scriu carti si conduc edituri", "Intelectualii publici scriu in reviste si cronicheaza pe sticla", "Intelectualilor publici le place televiziunea ca invitati sau realizatori", "Intelectualii publici concep sondaje si scriu editoriale" si, o sectiune magistrala ca incheiere, cel putin ca titlu, "Intelectualii publici- mod de intrebuintare" (involuntar, ma duce cu gandul imediat la superba carte- categoric una dintre preferatele mele, din toate timpurile si toate genurile- a lui Georges Pérec, "La vie mode d'emploi") . Ce imi mai place in mod deosebit la Gavrilescu, din nou, ca prime impresii, e ca l-a citit si ii face referinta si lui Richard Posner: "Public Intellectuals: A Study of Decline" (obligatoriu de citat intr-un asemenea context!), ceea ce mi se pare absolut de laudat, avand in vedere cati stiu (si cati scriu inteligent) despre Richard Posner si lucrarile sale, in Romania. Deci, excelent pentru inceput, sper ca impresia mea sa ramana aceeasi si dupa ce termin cartea. In incheierea acestei - pana la urma- introduceri, am selectat cateva fragmente interesante din primul capitol al "Noilor precupeti", pasaje care vorbesc de la sine:

De ce avem nevoie de intelectuali? Desigur, pentru a ne informa despre subiectele "fierbinti" ale caror evolutii ne intereseaza, dar si pentru a ne distra la spectacolul mediatic organizat cu prilejul promovarii lor. Ne folosim de ei mai ales pentru a risipi indoielile care ne macina, caci avem tendinta de a cauta confirmarea, sustinerea, solidaritatea, si nu "provocarea crezurilor" care ne ghideaza existenta. Din acest punct de vedere, intelectualii publici sunt extrem de influenti pentru ca "simplifica radical realitatea sociala" si ne ajuta sa ne asezam confortabil in propria viziune asupra societatii, fara a simti nevoia sa modificam ceva.

Insasi strategia de mentinere in topul preferintelor consumatorilor de intelectuali (in contextul pietei media, care cere un comportament concurential) depinde de ingeniozitatea in a face predictii. Se spune ca intelectualii publici americani nu se aventureaza in previziuni "indraznete" pana cand nu isi cladesc o reputatie robusta pe fundatia unei serioase activitati universitare. Reputatia functioneaza ca o plasa de siguranta atunci cand intelectualii emit judecati care se dovedesc a fi elucubratii. Intrand in aceasta zona, intelectualii beneficiaza de clementa unei audiente care nu crede in deviatii si, cu atat mai putin, in pedepse. Publicul iarta si apreciaza divertismentul intelectual. Judecatile televizate sau scrise sunt uitate rapid, epuizandu-si rolul dupa ce s-a strans ecoul evenimentelor comentate.

Ce-ar fi de facut pentru a imbunatati performantele vietii intelectuale si a ridica standardul gustului public in materie de intelectuali? Richard Posner nu a reusit sa propuna decat solutii ce stau sub semnul unui idealism naiv, limita pe care si-o asuma cu onestitate. Viziunile progresiste merita insa sa fie mentionate, pentru ca au un caracter original, refuza contemplatia in favoarea inovatiei si pot fi eventual testate in spatiul american sau aiurea.

[urmeaza discutia lui Gavrilescu asupra unor solutii propuse de Posner- si de altii- despre care insa poate mult mai mult cu o alta ocazie; topicul acesta ar merita un post separat]

Movie scene of week 15th to 21st of April '07: The final fight scene from "Snatch"

A classic. Simply perfect as movie scene for this (just ending) week. There is only one masterstroke that can knock out every hapless opponent as soon as the master decides that it's high time to get over with it - and that KO punch belongs to the 'pikey': Mickey O'Neil destroying Horace "Good Night" Anderson in the final fight scene of Guy Ritchie's superb Snatch (recall that this is one of my all time favourite movies, currently within my top 25).

Movie scene for the previous week.

Quote for week 15th to 21st of April '07

The best argument against democracy is a five minute talk with the average voter.

Winston Churchill

Quote of the previous week.

Hot Stephen Colbert and cool QJE

These days are very busy, but I can't pass on this one. Stephen Colbert has the best comic moment of the months! Among other things, he is so hot that he was on the cover of the Quarterly Journal of Economics (that's the best part of the clip :-), Greg Mankiw rightly picks on that part) but, particularly, even Paulina Porizkova admits that - now, is there anything else to desire ? :-)

Movie scene for the week 8th to 14th of April '07: Sean Maguire's 'monologue' from "Good Will Hunting"

"Good Will Hunting" is one incredible movie (remember my movie top 1-25: this one can easily slide in there and is for sure in my current top 30- stay tuned for that, as soon as I'll get some time, I'll post further my top 25-100...). Inter alia, I believe Matt Damon is playing one of his best roles ever as Will Hunting (only matched so far, in my view, by his playing the main role in "The Talented Mr. Ripley" - but there are still movies with him that I must see). But the movie scene of the week is really not one of the many excellent ones that centre on Will Hunting, but one which gets the best out of Sean Maguire, superlatively played by (the usually superlative...) Robin Williams (rewarded with a well deserved Oscar for the acting here). And I chose this scene, one of my favourites both from this movie and in general, because it emphasizes wonderfully my idea of "lack of exposure" (that many people I know suffer from, without being aware of it...). Valid even in the case of pure geniuses, though it's clear that not many can beat Will Hunting :-). Enjoy!

See movie scene of the previous week.

Econlinks for 13-04-'07

• An interesting editorial in the NYTimes by Hal Varian, on the fashion industry and its laissez-faire attitude inasmuch copyrights are concerned. With conclusions valid for other industries as well... Link via Greg Mankiw's blog.
• On the future of books: a very informative article from The Economist, 22nd of March (subscription required). The introductory paragraphs read:

IN SECRET locations and using secret methods, human beings are scanning lots and lots of books for Google, the world's largest web-search company. That humans are involved is beyond doubt (fingers are visible in the corners of many pages on books.google.com) although this is uncharacteristic of Google, which has a fetish for purist technology.

Google will not divulge exact numbers, but Daniel Clancy, the project's lead engineer, gives enough guidance for an educated guess: Google's contract with one university library, Berkeley's, stipulates that it must digitise 3,000 books a day. The minimum for the other 12 universities involved may be lower, but the rate for participating publishers is higher. So a conservative estimate has Google digitising at least 10m books a year. The total number of titles in existence is estimated to be about 65m.

• Can private property rights co-exist with socialism? Gary Becker and Richard Posner show that de facto this has been (to a considerable extent) the case in countries like China for quite a while already (although even the 'socialism' was de facto something else...), while now private property has been legalized there de jure, as well. The English translation of this recent law (adopted on March 16 this year, will become effective October 1st) can be downloaded here (as PDF).
• online flirting auction: I'm curious how much of a proxy is "flirting" here :-). But anyways, economics at work...Got the link via Tyler Cowen at MR.

Pas de Deux of Sexuality

All known, all known, but very concise and well presented in yesterday's NYTimes. Best thing I've read this week! Interesting excerpts:

“I’m not even sure females have a sexual orientation. But they have sexual preferences. Women are very picky, and most choose to have sex with men"

"[...]the systems for sexual orientation and arousal make men go out and find people to have sex with, whereas women are more focused on accepting or rejecting those who seek sex with them"

"Sexual orientation, at least for men, seems to be settled before birth. [...] scientists working on these questions are convinced that the antecedents of sexual orientation in males are happening early in life, probably before birth[...] whereas for females, some are probably born to become gay, but clearly some get there quite late in life"

my favourite (though this evolution is far slower than one may think :-)):

"It’s popular among male academics to say that females preferred smarter guys [...]. Such genes will be quickly selected in males because new beneficial mutations will be quickly apparent"

and of course the very predictable ending:

"Who can doubt it? It is indeed desire that makes the world go round."

Quote of the week 8th to 14th of April '07

Esta noche te cruzan

verdes, rojas, azules, rapidísimas

luces extrañas por los ojos.

¿Será tu alma?

¿Son luces de tu alma, si te miro?

Letras son, nombres claros

al revés, en tus ojos.

Son nombres: Universum,

se iluminan, se apagan, con latidos

de luz de corazón. Universum.

Miro; ya sé; ya leo:

Universum cinema, ocho cilindros,

saldo de blanco junto a las estrellas.

Te quiero así inocente, toda ajena,

palpitante

en lo que está fuera de ti, tus ojos

proclamando las vívidas

verdades de colores de la noche.

Las compraremos todas

cuando se abran las tiendas, ahora mismo

-Universum cinema-, cuando bese

las luces de tu alma, sí, las luces,

anuncios luminosos de la vida

en la noche, en tus ojos.

Pedro Salinas, "Amsterdam"

Quote for the previous week.

Song of the day: "Via con me" by Paolo Conte

Paolo Conte is not a musician but a living legend and what he does is not music but true art. Even this intro should very much be redundant, but for those of you that really but really do not know Paolo Conte (sacrilege!), here's his official website and his English wiki entry, respectively. I wrote previously about my supreme top 5 of Italian musicians and mentioned de Gregori as one name there: Maestro Paolo Conte is certainly part of that top!

It is very difficult for me to choose a "one" song of the day from this great composer, pianist and singer, since I adore most of his pieces (this is not a joke!). And there are not a few: see here a discography of this prolific artist (his latest is putting together the pieces from the 2005 concert in the Arena di Verona: I can only imagine the great atmosphere with Conte singing and playing there: Arena di Verona is a miraculous place, as I had the chance to experience before). How can one not love masterpieces such as "Sotto le stele del jazz" (a great live performance from A'dam!) or "Lo zio" or "Diavolo rosso" or "Molto lontano" (with a superb videoclip!) or "Genova per noi" or Sparring Partner (here live, but the sound quality not so good; here a more 'static' version, but with good sound quality; here as soundtrack of Ozon's "5x2" - great sequence! - movie which is very high on my lost of must-see movies) or... and I have to stop somewhere because of space and time constraints (and certainly because, no matter how much I'd like that, YouTube is not really unlimited in resources)... One more thing, though: as you well know (or should know...) many very famous Italian songs (made popular by others) were actually written by Paolo Conte; such an example is "Azzurro" (written by a very young Conte), which is best know in Adriano Celentano's version, but just check Conte's own amazing "jazzy" version of that (personally I find this latter one superior to Celentano's, despite the fact that I also like the "official" one a lot- and so does Paolo Conte himself). Therefore, as you see, very difficult to choose the one piece I prefer for today (and for the last couple of days): in the end, the decision is function of my current moods. So, here we go: the song of the day is the addictive "Via con me" (superb live version from Amsterdam here; see also a more rare version here, with a perfect intro from an interview with the artist- that intro already says a lot about who Paolo Conte is!). Check out the lyrics.

Magnifico, Maestro Conte!

Econlinks for 09-04-'07

• YouTube's favourite clips: an interesting report on what are the de facto most popular clips and why Viacom (and others with similar interests) might have less leverage than they think they have
• Mercer's top 50 highest quality of life cities for '07. I am happy with position 13 for Amsterdam and I guess Dan Anghel will be quite happy with Lyon on 36... Apparently however, nothing compares to living in Switzerland, Zurich or Geneva to be more precise. I shall think about it :-).
• Here's a wiki list of companies' names etymologies. The most 'shocking' for me (read: had really no clue about this!) is Audi: Latin translation of the German name 'Horch'. The founder August Horch left the company after five years, but still wanted to manufacture cars. Since the original 'Horch' company was still there, he called his new company Audi, the Latin form of his last name. In English it is: "hark!"
• Edmund Phelps again with a very interesting article in the WSJ (last time I talked about a previous article of his also there) about entrepreneurship and why this is central to any economy and the corrolary "why European economies lag behind the U.S. ". I think he is missing the bit about the Scandinavian countries, but for the rest I tend to agree: entreprenorial culture is at the very heart of the differential in dynamism...

Movie scene of the week: 'Tango dance' from 'Scent of a Woman'

I'll start this blog category today. And I count on YouTube providing me with all the material I want :-). So, each week I'll choose a movie scene (always one of my favourite movie scenes, obviously!) which will always be in a direct or indirect way representative of my perceptions of things, life in general and the like, for that specific week (same spirit as my 'quote of the week' category). Obviously this implies that this particular blog category will be one of the most subjective blog categories. But whatever, this is a very personal blog after all :-).

So, the first movie scene, for the first week, is one scene that would score in my top 5 of all movie scenes ever. Recall that I've ranked my favourite movies, from 1 to 25 for now; evidemment, that is a completely different ranking than actually ranking the movie scenes! Thus, although Scent of a Woman "only" enters my top 30 (and that was a preview: stay tuned, I'll continue with my top 25 to 100 as soon as possible), this one scene from that superb movie enters my top 5. This is the tango scene with Frank Slade (Al Pacino; absolutely deserving not just the one he got, but 10 Oscars for that role!) and Donna (Gabrielle Anwar), on the perfect (here, instrumental only) sound of Gardel's tango masterpiece 'Por Una Cabeza" (see here a beautiful clip with Carlos Gardel himself singing!). Whoo-ah!!!