The Wisdom of Economics Bloggers

The Wisdom of Economics Bloggers

Economic growth is a process of innovation and technological change. In the wake of the Internet revolution of the 1990s, blogging emerged as a booming phenomenon that is manifestly creative and destructive. Blogging is entrepreneurial, to be sure, driven by individuals with either expertise or strong opinions, sometimes both. Once castigated as people in pajamas, the broad wave of bloggers has disrupted print media and even—perhaps ironically—the art and science of economics itself.

In the span of a few years, a rich and incredibly timely discussion, debate, even tutorial about the economy has emerged through blogging techniques that were unknown a decade ago and probably unimaginable by almost everyone two decades ago. Opinions and advice are available from the brightest minds—available to schoolchildren of today in ways that would have been the envy of Presidents and Kings of generations past.

The Kauffman Foundation is dedicated to the idea that entrepreneurship and innovation drive economic growth. Naturally, this new technology is a fascinating one, both for its effect on the economic research frontier, but also as an innovation in its own right.

On February 27, 2009, the Kauffman Foundation hosted the first ever physical conference for economics bloggers at the Foundation headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri. Participants included famous independent bloggers such as Matthew Yglesias, Tyler Cowen, Mike “Mish” Shedlock, Robert X. Cringely, and Mark Thoma as well as distinguished economics journalists such as Amity Shlaes, Steve Malanga, Michael Mandel, Brian Carney, and keynote speaker David Warsh.

A forum of so many high-profile participants offers a unique opportunity for discussion, but time constrains the number of ideas communicated. As a partial remedy, we asked each participant to write brief statements on a few of the topics in question. A collection of the written responses from participants at the 2009 Kauffman Economics Bloggers Forum is collected here, titled "The Wisdom of Economics Bloggers." Thanks to Lacey Graverson and Melody Dellinger who helped with layout, editing and design. And also to Barbara Pruitt for getting the word out!

Over the next few weeks, our video production team will also be releasing a series of web videos of interviews with all the respondents. Matt Pozel will be the invisible guy on the opposite end of those discussions, and he truly is a master.

The event would not have been possible without the support of my co-blogger Bob Litan, as well as Carl Schramm, who also opened the forum with a welcome address reminding us all about who Mr. Kauffman was and why the way out this recession will be led by job creating entrepreneurs like him. But the biggest support was behind the scenes by our superstar Glory Olson, who was in essence the composer and conductor -- overseeing planes, trains, automobiles, nametages, agendas, room layouts, distances between tall chairs, and even barbecue sauce. Glory is awesome! She was ably assisted by Dave Kaiser, Leslie Kenagy, Norma Getz, and many others. Thanks to everyone, but especially the partipants listed below

Alison Schrager http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/  
Amity Shlaes http://www.amityshlaes.com/  
Bob Cringely http://www.cringely.com/  
Brian Carney http://www.Opinionjournal.com  
David Warsh http://www.economicprincipals.com/  
Gregg Gordon http://www.smirkingchimp.com/author/gregg_gordon  
Mark Thoma http://economistsview.typepad.com/  
Mark Perry http://mjperry.blogspot.com/  
Matt Schreiber OM III Capital Management
Scott Jagow http://www.publicradio.org/columns/marketplace/scratchpad/  
Seth Ditchik http://press.princeton.edu/  
Sramana Mitra http://www.sramanamitra.com/  
Steve Malanga http://www.realclearmarkets.com   
Tim Kane http://www.growthology.org  
Tyler Cowen http://www.marginalrevolution.com/  
Bob Litan http://www.growthology.org  
Arnold Kling http://econlog.econlib.org/  
Ben Wildavsky http://www.kauffman.org  
Carl Schramm http://www.kauffman.org  
Charles Johnson http://www.growthology.org  
Chris Lester http://www.kansascity.com/  
Dane Stangler http://www.growthology.org  
Don Boudreaux http://www.cafehayek.com/   
EJ Reedy http://www.kauffman.org  
Jeff Cornwall http://www.drjeffcornwall.com/  
John McIntyre www.realclearpolitics.com  
Lynne Kiesling http://knowledgeproblem.com/  
Matt Rees http://www.whwg.com/thefirm/staff.php/46/Matthew__Rees
Matthew Yglesias http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/  
Michael Anton http://www.kauffman.org  
Michael Mandel http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/economicsunbound/  
Mike Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/  
Paul Kedrosky http://paul.kedrosky.com/ 
Virginia Postrel http://www.dynamist.com/weblog/index.html
Wendy Guillies http://www.kauffman.org
Yves Smith http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/

Finally, here is a partial list of posts Barbara found mid-day on Friday:

http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2009/02/goin-to-kansas-city-economics-blogger.html

 

http://www.cafehayek.com/hayek/2009/02/bloggers-forum.html

 

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2009/02/kansas-city-blogging-and-barbecue.html

 

http://business.nashvillepost.com/2009/02/27/a-bunch-of-economists-walk-into-a-blogging-convention/

 

http://economywatchblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/02/economy-bloggers-unite-in-pers.html

 

http://www.publicradio.org/columns/marketplace/scratchpad/2009/02/is_journalism_dead.html

 

http://www.bloggingteam.com/2009/02/27/kauffman-foundation-holds-first-ever-economics-bloggers-forum-market-wire-press-release/

 

Comments

[emo]

Very nice list of economic bloggers. Wow, there's a lot to read for me.

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