Showing posts with label Blog Updates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blog Updates. Show all posts

Saturday, November 12, 2011

New Posts?

If you have noticed that there have not been any new posts in quite some time, you are correct.  It has been a busy time and I have fallen woefully behind. 

At the top of the distraction list is the birth of my third child (girl).  She is doing fine, but sleep has become something of a rare commodity in the household. 

Additionally, I have completely changed my approach to my Money and Banking class this semester.  I decided to use Rothbard's The Mystery of Banking as the primary text and the regular textbook as the secondary source.  I think that this experiment has been wildly successful.  The students are enjoying the class, and they are actually reading the book!  I asked one student if he managed to read Chapter 7.  He said that not only did he finish Chapter 7, but that he was reading ahead and was now starting Chapter 13!  It's even more amazing when its realized that we don't have economics majors at Mount Olive College!  The downside of all of this is that the class is a "new prep" and has been a major consumer of my time for most of this semester.

Anyway, the NCSU Austrian Readings Groups have still been continuing and I will write up and post the results of the discussions.  So there will be a #4, #5 and #6 to look forward to.

Next semester, we have agreed to open up the Readings Group.  The members of the group will get to pick a week and a topic, article, paper they are working on, etc. and present it to the group and lead the discussion.  I am looking forward to it.

As an aside, I recently finished reading Mises' Theory and History.  I have always been fearful of that book knowing that it's a book on methodology and that I could be quickly overwhelmed.  I could not have been more wrong.  In fact, I found the book very readable.  There were parts where one had to think about Mises' argument, but overall it was an enjoyable read.  I am somewhat ashamed of my earlier fears.  So note to self, never avoid reading Mises!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Austrian Economics Forum Fall 2011 #0--Prequel

Well we are getting closer to that time of the year again, the Austrian economics reading group at NC State University!  Yes more readings in Austrian economics!  Who doesn't look forward to this?  (Crazy people, that's who.)

For the Fall semester, we have 6 scheduled meetings starting on 4:30pm September 2, 2011 at Nelson Hall, Rm 3220. 

The group, the Austrian Economics Forum, has decided to read and discuss Kirzner's classic Competition and Entrepreneurship.  It was first published in 1973, the year that Mises died, the year before Hayek won the Nobel Prize and the IHS conference in South Royalton, Vermont.  It has been a centerpiece of the Austrian revival of the the last 35+ years.

Since the book has 6 chapters and we have 6 meetings, we will do one chapter per meeting.  I welcome you to the discussion.  I will post, as best I can, a summary of the discussion and my thoughts as well.  If you want to continue the discussion or bring up new points from the readings, please post them here and I will encourage the members of the AEF to comment and reply. 

I am looking forward to this series of readings and to your comments.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Cwik Interview on Mises.Org

In yet another shamless promotion of myself, my interview by the Mises Institute has been posted to their web site.  I think they have done a nice job.

They started with some easy questions, but then there were some that I had to do some thinking about. 

The link is here:  http://blog.mises.org/14889/faculty-spotlight-interview-paul-cwik/

I hope you enjoy it.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Adding to the Blog

As I learn more about the capabilities of this tool, I will add to this site.  You may have noticed a few additions.  On the left-side, I have added links to the lectures I presented at FEE this past summer.  Clicking on a link will take you to the page with the audio and PowerPoint presentations.  Below that are links to the popular posts and down further is a listing of subjects that the posts cover.

On the right-side, I have added two pages.  The first is the Economic Distress Index.  If one clicks on it, you can either look at the entire graph from 1967 or just the last 14 years.  There are also links to the data.  There is also a link to an explanation of the index.

The second is a graph of yield curve inversions.  Again, you can look at the entire graph from 1953 or just look at the last 10 years.  Yield curve inversions are one of the best predictors of an on-coming recession.

My goal is to continue to improve this blog and post articles that tend to examine economic problems from an Austrian perspective. 

You are, as always, very welcome to post comments as you wish.