Archive for category Blog News
Some Changes
Posted by The Marginalist in Blog News on September 1st, 2009
Alright, now I’m really back from vacation. I’m now a freshman at Georgetown University. This is my dorm room. I’m going to be studying political economy (of course) here, with some math and music on the side. I’m going to be playing in the orchestra and writing for a conservative/libertarian paper called the Georgetown Federalist. And I may do some general political trouble making with a YAL chapter here.
So between The Federeralist, orchestra, classes (they did not sign me up for econ and I am very displeased), and various (including non-political) trouble making, I will obviously have less and less time to devote here. That doesn’t mean no new posts, but I’m going to write less and less for this site alone. Most of the things I post here will be reposts of things I’m writing elsewhere.
Things to look for:
- My first Federalist Article. It is a much, much better redux of this and will appear on the front page of the Federalist.
- Whatever I write at Young Americans for Liberty
- Stories of my political troublemaking
- A few weeks ago, a libertarian professor from SUNY commented on a post I wrote in April. This is both exciting and terrifying at the same time. When I find the time I will discuss the questions he raised, but I don’t know when I can do that.
- Perhaps some stories from my history seminar. The topic is socialism and the professor is, I believe, a social democrat.
– Preston
Hiatus
Posted by The Marginalist in Blog News on August 16th, 2009
On vacation for a while… Don’t let anything interesting happen without me 
100th Post: What Economics is All About
Posted by The Marginalist in Blog News on June 28th, 2009
THE first thing I remember reading in an economics textbook was the definition of economics:
Economics is the study of unlimited wants in a world of scarcity.
This saying has many versions; “you can’t have your cake and eat it too,” “nothing in life is free,” and of course, “there is no such thing as a free lunch.” Basically… you can’t get everything you want.
No wonder economics is known as the “dismal science.”
But this is a pretty boring definition, and it doesn’t make economics sound cool at all. I hope everyone that’s read this blog has realized that economics isn’t a boring (or dismal) subject at all. So, for my 100th post, I want to offer some reflections on what I’ve found economics to (really) be all about, and why it’s a subject I love.
I’m Writing for YAL now!
Posted by The Marginalist in Blog News on June 16th, 2009
That’s right, I’m writing for the Young Americans for Liberty blog now. Check them out!
Introducing…
Posted by The Marginalist in Blog News on April 20th, 2009
THE Invisible Hand, my friend from California, is going to start blogging for us. Happy readings!
– The Marginalist
The Short-term Future
Posted by The Marginalist in Blog News on April 17th, 2009
On Posts
A couple of people have asked me for the next part of the buffet series, but I’m sad to say that I won’t be able to put that up until Sunday by the very earliest.
As many of you know, not only do I blog, but I also play the violin, and over the next few days I’m playing Strauss with the Bremerton Symphony Orchestra. This involves leaving the Seattle Eastside at 4 PM and getting home at about 12:30 AM — so it’s not like I have an insane amount of time to blog. Anything I do put up without enough time to think about and write wouldn’t be worth reading anyways. So, I know time preference says that you all would prefer consumption now over consumption later, but think of it as an investment .
That being said, I will have time for something interesting either today or tomorrow. Today’s Elissa’s birthday (she blogs at 17andbaking.wordpress.com), and I promised her I’d write something for today, so expect something up soon about gift giving!
Moving
ALSO, I’ve decided to rename this blog “The Marginalist” to avoid infringing on trademark rights (hmm…. I think I’ll write something about that, too!). That means the url will be changing, most likely by Monday or Tuesday. I’ll let you guys know when I move, and this site will be up with the url of the new site for a week or so after that.
Of course, new name suggestions are very welcome and will be considered.
I Need Your Help
Posted by The Marginalist in Blog News on April 15th, 2009
LAST night, Ed (who hosts this blog) and I were talking about moving it off Edumunity and onto my own domain name so I could have more control over fonts, themes, and things like that. I was hoping to move it to “www.dismalscientist.com,” but that name is taken by Moody’s Economy, so I was considering changing the name of this blog altogether. My suspicions were confirmed when I received this from Moody’s:
Preston,
I applaud you for your inititive [sic] in starting a blog on economics; you’re right — it’s the best damn subject in the world. That’s why Moody’s Economy.com started a website almost 12 years ago, and called it –you guessed it — Dismal Scientist. As you might also guess, we trademarked the name. So while I think you should absolutely continue to blog on the topic–and would even be happy to link to your blog on our own–I would appreciate it if you’s find another name for your blog, so that readers and Web searchers aren’t confused. Ok?
All the best,
[name withheld]
Which is completely fine, because in a free market, they own the name, no? And if I couldn’t have “dismalscientist.com,” I was going to change the name anyways. In fact, I’m glad this happened early on before the blog was too established to change names without losing a significant readerbase.
So, I need your help: What should I rename this blog?
Rules:
- Must obviously be economics related
- Can, but does not have to involve the fact that I’m young or a student
- Can’t be too close to other important economics blogs (”Marginal Thinking,” for example, is too close to “Marginal Revolution”
- Can’t be too long
The Dismal What?
Posted by The Marginalist in Blog News on March 27th, 2009
Alright, alright — up until now I’ve just used this site to test-drive Edward’s website for his ITGS project, and I haven’t really seriously done anything with this. But that is all about to change.
As of right now, I’ll be officially launching a new blog that’s been kickin’ around my head for a while: “The Dismal Scientist” (economics is known as the “dismal science”).
So, of course, I’ll mostly write about economics, but (as most of you know), my intense interest in politics will oblige me to occasionally (or maybe, frequently) post about politics and current events.
What you can expect to read here are posts about the economic reasons of why people do the things they do, a la Freakonomics — game theory analyses of dating, thoughts about the elasticity of my demand for bagels, you name it. Hopefully you won’t consider this such a dismal study when you read my thoughts.
Welcome to the best subject in the world.