An interesting Wired Magazine article.  Thanks Mark (one of my students).

Alexander Field offers a new take on postwar prosperity in the United States. While public spending during the Second World War is often credited with laying the foundation for postwar growth, Field suggests this foundation had long been laid. In fact, in this INET interview with Rob Johnson he says productive capacity increased tremendously in the years preceding the war, and that fact – not the war spending – provided the basis for prosperity and productivity improvements in the...

Suppose that you've estimated an econometric model and you want to test the residuals for serial independence, or perhaps for homoskedasticity. The trouble is that for the model and estimator that you;ve used, your favourite computer package doesn't provide such tests. Is there a quick way of "tricking" the package into giving you the information that you want? Yes, there is. I'll show you how, by looking at a situation that arises when using EViews. Similar examples occur with...

The front 12 months are particularly curious.  Some news clippings this week: Feb 22, via Reuters: "Sentiment in the Asia-Pacific crude market firmed on Wednesday, with Australia's Enfield crude expected to fetch double-digit premiums due to tight supplies. One cargo of April-lifting Enfield, which was delayed from March, being offered and could trade at a record premium above $10 to dated Brent, a trader said. Premiums for sweet regional crudes for April have risen across the board...

Chart.

SAC Capital Advisors founder Steven Cohen's ex-wife was back in court, trying to revive her lawsuit against the billionaire accusing him of hiding assets from her during their 1990 divorce. read more

A top Goldman Sachs hedge fund executive is retiring from the firm. read more

moneyscience: RT @QFINANCEnews: China tacks hard to avoid a hard landing http://t.co/c9AlNDqY

Video.

Seward & Kissel, which bills itself the law firm that “helped create the first hedge fund” (A.W. Jones & Co. in 1949), has just completed a survey of new U.S. hedge funds. read more