BLOGS

** [|Economist’s View] ** – Full Service Economics Blog by University of Oregon Economist Mark Thoma. Pulls together all the economic resources on the Internet. ** [|EconBrowser] ** – Show Me the Data – Wonkish economic analyses of where the economy is and isn’t by some of the best economic forecasters and econometricians around. ** [|Visualizing Economics] ** – A picture is worth a thousand words. Collects charts, graphs, and visual displays of quantitative information about economic patterns and trends. No Reading Required.
 * [|Project Syndicate] ** – An international collection of op-eds from some of the smartest people in the world on economics, politics, international affairs used in the opinion pages of the world’s newspapers. Bonus: you can read in Spanish, French, Czech, or Chinese if you like

FROM THE LEFT – PROGRESSIVE/LIBERAL SOURCES

** [|Conscience of a Liberal] ** -- One of the most influential blogs on the internet written by a Nobel Prize winning economist and NY Times Columnist. As one economist wrote: Rule # 1 – Paul Krugman is right. Rule # 2, if you think Krugman is wrong, see Rule # 1. ** [|Grasping Reality with Both Hands] ** – Liberal Shrill. Berkeley’s Professor Brad DeLong does not mince words and can come off as an insufferable snob, but knows a little about a lot of things economic. He also blogs about the courses he teaches in college which will give you a head start on what college teachers expect. ** [|Beat the Press] ** – Economist Dean Baker tells you what the media is not about economic issues.

** [|The American Prospect] ** – The best magazine presenting serious public policy coverage including education, environment, and healthcare from a left of center perspective. ** [|FiveThirtyEight] ** – Statistical Analyses of polls and politics from a progressive perspective. Statistician Andrew Gelman provides good breakdowns of demography in the US. ** [|Consider the Evidence] ** – Lane Kenworthy – Good and often original analyses of welfare, inequality and competitiveness issues from both domestic and international perspectives. ** [|Angry Bear] – ** Truth in advertising: “//Slightly left of center economic commentary on news, politics, and the economy.”// A smorgasbord of progressive policy experts including specialists on social security, healthcare and tax policy, who do not mince words. [|**Ezra Klein**] -- Probably the smartest blog on health policy written for a broad audience

FROM THE RIGHT – CONSERVATIVE/LIBERTARIAN SOURCES

** [|Marginal Revolution] ** – The best economics blog from a conservative-libertarian perspective from Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok. Touches one all topics – social, cultural, and political – and provides economic interpretations and analysis. ** [|EconLog] – ** Libertarian Shrill. Macro- & Micro-economic observations from Arnold Kling (former FED economist), George Mason economist Bryan Caplan, and journalist/economist David Henderson

** [|Gregory Mankiw] ** – Macroeconomist who teaches introductory economics at Harvard. Former Chief of Economic Advisors to Bush. Author of one of the most widely used Economics Textbooks. ** [|Heritage Foundation] – ** Website for conservative Washington, DC thinktank. Includes conservative public policy experts and papers supporting conservative proposals, mostly deregulation, low taxes, and small government, etc. ** [|Rasmussen Reports] – ** Website for conservative pollster Scott Rasmussen. Gives updated numbers on state and national elections as well as information on current issues and events. ** [|Real Clear Politics] – ** Aggregator site for op-eds on political matters. Also collects opinion polls. Also has sub-links for Healthcare, Education, Energy and the Environment. ** [|Becker-Posner Blog] – ** Joint Blog by Nobel Prize winning economist Gary Becker and Federal Appeals Court Judge Richard Posner who is “big person” in the Law and Economics movement. Controversial, often Smug and Judgmental, but nuggets of worthwhile thoughts
 * [|Real Clear Markets] – ** Aggregator site that links to economic and stock market related articles. Some original content and equity indexes, etc.

ENVIRONMENT/HEALTH CARE/EDUCATION

** [|Environmental Economics] – ** Frequently updated commentary on how economists view environmental issues. Good source of new ideas. ** [|Economic View of the Environment] – ** Environmental Economics blog by Robert Stavins ** [|Prescriptions] – ** New York Times blog on Healthcare and Healthcare Reform issues. ** [|Bridging Differences]– ** Ongoing debate about education policy written as a series of back and forth letters between noted education experts Diane Ravitch and Deborah Maier who teach at the NYU School of Education. ** [|Education Next] – ** Website for an Education Policy quarterly run by people I know, including former teachers and classmates, but I am not sure I trust – Conservatively Liberal or Progressive Conservative. Interesting feature articles and news updates/commentary. Policy Journal for Harvard’s GSE ** [|This Week in Education] – ** Aggregator Digest with commentary on education related news of the day. Frequently Updated, but underwhelming. ** [|Eduwonk] – ** EDUCATION SECTOR’s blog. Research oriented. “Third Way” progressive neo-liberal perspective – ask me, I’ll explain. ** [|Ed-Policy] – ** Education policy blog by the conservative Hoover Institution’s Williamson Evers, who worked in the Bush Department of Education ** [|School Matters] – ** Frequently updated blog critical of reform efforts to expand standardized testing and charter schools.

WALL STREET/INTERNATIONAL

** [|Felix Salmon] – ** Economics blogger for the Reuters Newswire. Updates Frequently and provides pointed commentary on current debates and news articles ** [|Baseline Scenario] – ** Blog by Economist Simon Johnson and law student James Kwak. Focus on financial regulation, economic policy, and Wall Street. ** [|The Big Picture] – ** The best blog if you want to become an investor, will provide perspective on Wall Street indicators, prospectuses from investment companies, and a “contrarian” view on the direction of markets grounded in macroeconomics. ** [|Calculated Risk] – ** Frequently updated blog focusing on finance and real estate by former practitioners. Good at providing clean charts and analysis of ongoing economic trends. Called the financial crisis early. Don’t miss the Failed Bank Haikus every Friday by Soylent Green is People. ** [|Justin Fox] – ** Time magazine’s economics reporter. Critic of the Efficient Market Hypothesis. Big Picture economics blogging and updates frequently. ** [|Free Exchange -- The Economist] – ** Hodgepodge of good stuff. Similar to Felix Salmon’s blog – a wide ranging commentary on issues from an economic perspective. Frequently hosts valuable debates among real experts with a diverse range of opinions. Economic blog of THE ECONOMIST, the best news magazine in the world. ** [|RGE Monitor] – ** Nouriel Roubini’s site to monitor world markets.


 * [|How The World Works] – ** Economic journalist’s Andrew Leonard blog at Salon.com. Does a good job bringing academic perspectives to bear on current events and debates of the day.

**[|VoxEU]** – Economics blog focused on European issues, but boasts one of the highest quality bullpen of posters of any blog. Brings academic research to bear on public policy issues including health, education, environment, and technology. The closest it comes to having an academic economics journal online.


 * [|WSJ Real Time Economics] –** Digest of economic stories by the best group of economics reporters in the US.

REPUTABLE NEWS SOURCES OF RECORD

** [|Financial Times] ** – Simply put: the best single newspaper in the world especially for policy analysis and international affairs. ** [|NY Times] ** – Not what it once was, but still the one paper that serious people read on a daily basis in the United States. ** [|Wall Street Journal] ** – Editorials and op-eds are a bit looney tunes, but the news pages are quite good. ** [|Christian Science Monitor] – ** Once one of the great newspapers, now no longer able to issue in print. The articles are still good and provide a lot more context to its reports. Still one of the best for international coverage. ** [|PBS Newshour] ** – Simply put: the best American TV news program. Studies show Newshour watchers are the most knowledgeable. Bonus: No text, just watch clips of news segments. ** [|Washington Post] – ** In the days of Katherine Graham and Ben Bradlee, it was the liberal watchdog of Washington, now it may be “Fox on 15th Street.” Still, one of the three most important US dailies. ** [|This Week] ** – Generally speaking, the Sunday political news shows are a waste of heartbeats, but this is the best of the bunch.

ECONOMICS OF EVERYDAY LIFE

** [|Freakonomics] – ** NY Times blog by celeb-economist Steven Levitt that shows how economics can help explain everyday life. Implications tend to be conservative. ** [|Economix] – ** “The Economics and Economy of Everyday Life” run by the NY Times economics reporters and distinguished academic contributors including Health Economist Uwe Reinhardt. Recommended for Health and Education. Implications, with the exception of Casey Mulligan, tend to be liberal.