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Assorted links
1. Why teenagers read better than you.
2. EconomicperspectivesfromKansasCity, a new blog, with an influence from Hyman Minsky.
3. Timelines for the crisis, from the New York Fed.
4. Why do they keep on making Eddie Murphy movies?
5. The culture that is French (African).
Posted by Tyler Cowen on June 25, 2009 at 10:18 AM in Web/Tech | Permalink
Comments
Eddie Murphy, oy. Some of his RottenTomatoes ratings are atrocious, which is why I won't see many of his movies (I respect RT's numbers but am not a total purist).
For example:
The Adventures of Pluto Nash - 6%
Norbit - 9%
Meet Dave - 19%
The movies where he has rated well were either 1) animated, 2) old, or 3) good, but not because of Eddie Murphy.
Posted by: John Farragut at Jun 25, 2009 10:32:06 AM
Why is everyone linking to the NY Fed timeline? The St Louis Fed timeline is much better. For one thing, it includes links to things like press releases if you want more information.
Posted by: a student at Jun 25, 2009 10:33:37 AM
1) He is well known.
2) He is black and the studios try to capture the black market.
3) He once made some decent movies.
4) Studios don't understand funny AT ALL.
Posted by: Doc Merlin at Jun 25, 2009 10:37:43 AM
Better readers may not be the right term. Maybe more intense but there is no information in the article that paints them as better.
Posted by: johnson at Jun 25, 2009 11:15:14 AM
a student,
The NY Fed timelines do have links to press releases, news stories, and data -- just click on any of the events.
Posted by: a reader at Jun 25, 2009 11:15:24 AM
The first article is nothing but a bunch of theorizing and guesswork, and it does not contain a single piece of hard data whatsoever to back up the main theory (namely that teenagers are _better readers_, rather than "read more"/"spend more time reading" or something along the same lines).
Posted by: US at Jun 25, 2009 11:38:19 AM
"Why teenagers read better than you" is a question suggesting, in this context, a studied answer and not blog post musings.
Posted by: Walt at Jun 25, 2009 11:46:37 AM
I agree that the article's title was misleading since really the article was about the intensity in which teens/YAs read. Having just exited being a teenager, I would say the reading I used to do would have been more 'intense' and 'fervent' - however, I think that mostly stems from the fact that most (but not all, by far) YA books do not have the same depth and are read mostly for entertainment and escape purposes rather than for an appreciation of literature. Therefore, it was much easier to just plow through a ton of YA books, because 1) the language is simple 2) the story is simple. YA books (e.g. Twilight) are like eating a big of chips, really easy and quick to chow down (plus sometimes you feel guilty afterwards). But the books I read now tend to be more like a meal where if I just gorged myself on it I would end up sick and unable to truly enjoy the variety of food or the company. However, this is not to say that there aren't YA books that defy this boundary between complex-adult and simple-child - because there are certainly adult books that are fluff, and YA books that are great lit.
Posted by: reader at Jun 25, 2009 11:58:40 AM
Other than the Shrek movies, has Murphy appeared (actual or voice) in anything really good since Trading Places or 48 Hrs? Bowfinger was pretty funny, but I am not sure I would call it a good movie.
Posted by: Yancey Ward at Jun 25, 2009 12:01:13 PM
I did read intensely as a teen, but I read even more intensely now. I wouldn't be surprised if Tyler is the same. It has nothing to do with age; it has to do with how willing you are to let down your defenses and participate deeply in life. Your interest in the book ties directly to what is going on in your non-book life.
Posted by: Joshua Allen at Jun 25, 2009 12:25:02 PM
Young adult books are not read exclusively by young people. For example, the "Harry Potter" books are marketed as young adult, but I would bet at least half of its readers are adults. It seems silly to conclude that teenagers read more intensely because young adult books sell the best. This article lacks data to make any meaningful conclusion.
Posted by: Wayne at Jun 25, 2009 12:39:27 PM
I'll muse a bit. If you plot the incidents of reading in fevered bursts along my lifetime they would probably cluster around year 14, with a long tail.
As to why, some thoughts:
Exposure to new ideas is stimulating and adolescence is the epitome of exposure.
Reading was big enough to block out unpleasant circumstances.
I was broke and reading was cheap amusement.
Posted by: Walt at Jun 25, 2009 12:45:31 PM
I doubt teenagers are better at reading after you control for parenting small children + working full time. Single 20 and 30 somethings are more likely to be better readers.
The vast majority of movie ideas have either failed before or are remakes. No one makes any of them without believing that they can succeed where others have failed.
Posted by: DK at Jun 25, 2009 12:52:00 PM
Randall Wray is excellent. I am a huge fan of his and Warren Mosler's work.
Much of the "crazy" monetary stuff that I say - like "Tyler, you don't understand the money creation process. Really. You (and your commenters here) don't understand that federal deficits are necessary in a fiat currency regime due to accounting identities." are based on ideas I got from from Randall Wray.
Posted by: mickslam at Jun 25, 2009 1:20:49 PM
Who should star in a biopic of Richard Pryor?
Posted by: efp at Jun 25, 2009 1:42:45 PM
It seems the UMKC blog is more infatuated with James K. Galbraith than Minsky.
William K. Black (the "liar loans" guy) is quite shrill. He was on the Bill Moyers show a while back and, unfortunately, Moyers did not press Black's ad hoc conclusions regarding the origin of subprime loans and the increasing default rate. Black's argument was that executives had an incentive to put people in homes they could not afford and knew they would default on.
The Post-Keynesian view has always been rather... interesting... to me (especially with their view of the endogenity of the money supply), and it should be intriguing to read their blog posts in the coming months.
Posted by: Lance at Jun 25, 2009 2:14:36 PM
Why do they keep making Jack Black movies? Why do they keep making Adam Sandler movies? Yes, it makes no sense.
Posted by: David C at Jun 25, 2009 4:13:44 PM
Here's a much better question: why do they keep making Woody Allen movies?
As for YA, I'd offer up a reason: they're more appealing than so-called adult books. Just like the films in the best animated category are more appealing than the films in the best picture category.
Posted by: Ted Craig at Jun 25, 2009 4:34:06 PM
Why do they keep making Jack Black movies? Why do they keep making Adam Sandler movies? Yes, it makes no sense
Sandler's last comedic movie that didn't make over $100 million (yes, "you don't mess with the zohan" somehow made $100 mil) was Little Nicky, back in 2000. I can guess why they keep letting him make movies.
Posted by: Careless at Jun 25, 2009 4:35:08 PM
The center of gravity of spanish-speaking literature shifted drastically to Latin America in the 50s-80s. Latin American writers (Borges, Vargas Llosa, Garcia Marquez, Cortazar, Neruda, Paz, etc.) revolutionized the literature in the spanish language. From the post in the last link, I see that it is likely the most influential writers in French will come from Africa.
Posted by: londenio at Jun 25, 2009 5:09:03 PM
Why teenagers read better than you.
From the linked post:
"Cynics might say his publishers encouraged him as young adult books are so profitable, but, 'if it were a mercinary decision,' Mieville explained, he’d just write ten more Bas Lag sequels."
Wonder what he'd do "if it were a mercenary decision"?
mercenary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercenary
mercinary: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mercinary%20position
cz teenagers is smarter?
Posted by: anon at Jun 25, 2009 10:49:19 PM
I was a rather voracious reader in my earlier days, but I don't remember ever actually reading any so-called young adult novels outside of a school context, since I'd started browsing at the adult-level bookshelves in fourth grade or so.
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