Marginal Revolution

Are you Brian Donnelly?

The financial collapse of Iceland.

Economic topology, the video version.

Via Josh Hall, here is econjobrumors.com.

Abandoned house goes for $1.75 on eBay.

Economic experiments, using people with "personality disorders."

The sting of capital market segmentation

Greg Mankiw shows that real interest rates are rising on inflation-adjusted government bonds.  Paul Krugman shows that short-term Treasury yields are down.  The state of California cannot get short-term financing.  There is simply no one willing to lend.  Yet I would have no trouble buying a second home and getting another mortgage at a reasonable rate of interest and I am hardly a rich man.

Credit market segmentation is always there but it doesn't usually matter this much.  The parts of the credit market that are paralyzed by fear are the major problem right now.  And until that problem is cleared up, we will witness a step-by-step disembowelment of the American economy. 

The clock is ticking.  We need very rapidly to get to the point where natural lenders are willing to lend and "cross-market arbitrage" is no longer a dirty word.

The Money Meltdown

A new blog to track the financial crisis.  It provides a good overview of mainstream sources and general background.  By the way, they point to this IMF paper on previous international crises.

Hat tip to Fimoculous blog.

No, No, No!

Fannie Mae said it will set aside the loan of a woman who shot herself as sheriff's deputies tried to evict her from her foreclosed home....

"We're going to forgive whatever outstanding balance she had on the loan and give her the house," Faith said. "Given the circumstances, we think it's appropriate."

In other words, the taxpayers are now subsidizing self-injury.

The countercyclical asset, a continuing series

Nicer than tasers:

Mr. Borg, past president of the North American Securities Administrators Association, adds that in past market downturns he saw people turn to chinchillas, worm farms and super-breeds of rabbits. Emus, too, were big. "Eventually, people got tired of them and just let them go," he says. "To this day, you'll be in West Texas and a big emu running wild will just come up next to your car."

Here is the link and thanks to John De Palma for the pointer.  The National Alpaca Registry is doing well:

Peggy Parks, a 49-year-old auditor in Johnstown, Pa., turned to an unusual farm animal. "I've lost a fortune in stocks, and my 401(k) is falling through the floor. I feel comfortable in alpacas," she says. She invested $56,000 in a small herd that she believes has a better outlook than most mutual funds because of the animals' breeding potential.