BLOGS

**__CURRENT EVENT & POLICY BLOGS / INTERNET RESOURCES__**

**__GENERAL__**

**[|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

**[|Washington’s Blog]** – Detailed, link-full, essays on a variety of topics. As the proprietor, “George Washington,” states, while he is not an expert on many of the topics covered, he provides more documentation than just about any policy / politics blog on the internet.

**__DATA VISUALIZATION__**

**[|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.

**[|Information is Beautiful]** – English journalist David McCandless’ never boring site that shows the possibilities of how quantitative data can be displayed in visually interesting and interactive ways. A good source for when making your own graphics.

**[|Many Eyes]** – A potpourri of graphics from IBM’s data visualization laboratory. A good way to learn what can be done with graphical displays of information.

**[|Monkey Cage]** – The best political science blog whose bloggers are political scientists representing the various areas of the field. This blog is particularly good for covering surveys, political behavior, and legislative affairs. While it sometimes digresses into the vagaries of professional political science, a valuable source nonetheless.

**__VIDEO__**

**[|Bloggingheads]**– Daily video dialogues between two prominent bloggers / public intellectuals on a host of issues with equal doses of left, right, and libertarian perspectives lasting about one hour. Searchable past discussions and discussions broken down by topic. While the trend has been away from policy and toward politics and culture, there is plenty of good material here and more timely than many print publications.

**[|Charlie Rose]** – High-brow, lengthy interviews with elites in politics, economics, and culture. Charlie’s choir tends to sing in a distinct upper class key and Rose tends to flatter his guests, but the hour long format allows for interesting information and viewing.

**[|The Real News Network]** – Independent, progressive internet broadcast program that features interviews with the Chomsky-crowd of academics, community activists, and independent journalists. Presents voices not often found in mainstream media.

**[|Democracy Now]** – Internet home for the distinguished public television program. Includes in-depth coverage of policy and political topics with author interviews for non-fiction books. New programs daily. Topic segments nicely sorted on the sidebar for easy search.

**[|BookTV]** – C-Span’s non-fiction programming featuring interviews with authors of books on non-fiction and policy topics. Also, frequent interviews with former politicians, activists, and observers of the policy process. Balanced content from both liberal and conservative authors and often timely coverage of major policy topics.

**__FROM THE LEFT – PROGRESSIVE/LIBERAL SOURCES__**

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|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.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|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.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|Beat the Press]** – CEPR Economist Dean Baker tells you what the media is not about economic issues.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|The American Prospect]** – The best online magazine presenting serious public policy coverage including education, environment, and healthcare from a left of center perspective.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|FiveThirtyEight]**– Statistical Analyses of polls and politics from a progressive perspective, now part of the NYT blog borg.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|Consider the Evidence]** – Lane Kenworthy – Good and often original analyses of welfare, inequality and competitiveness issues from both domestic and international perspectives.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|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.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|Yglesias]** – Eponymous blog for “juice box mafia” wunderkind Matt Yglesias at the progressive think tank Center for American Progress. Double digit posts each day with many thoughts on social trends, politics, and public policy ideas, not all fully formed.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|Ezra Klein]** – Probably the smartest blog on health policy written for a broad audience. It has become broader. Every morning issues a “wonkbook” with key links to internet stories and resources on public policy.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**__FROM THE RIGHT – CONSERVATIVE/LIBERTARIAN SOURCES__**

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|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.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|EconLog] –** Libertarian Shrill. Macro- & Micro-economic observations from Arnold Kling (former FED economist), George Mason economist Bryan Caplan, and journalist/economist David Henderson

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|Real Clear Markets] –** Aggregator site that links to economic and stock market related articles. Some original content and equity indexes, etc.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|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.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|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. Posts tend to be more politics than policy.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|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.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|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 (look at the bottom of the page).

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|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

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**__REPUTABLE NEWS SOURCES OF RECORD__**

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|Financial Times]** – Simply put: the best single newspaper in the world especially for policy analysis and international affairs.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|NY Times]**– Not what it once was, but still the one paper that serious people read on a daily basis in the United States.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|Wall Street Journal]** – Editorials and op-eds are a bit looney tunes, but the news pages are quite good.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|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.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|PBS Newshour]** – Simply put: the best American TV news program. Studies show Newshour watchers are the most knowledgeable about politics. Bonus: No text, just watch clips of news segments.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|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.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**__ENVIRONMENT__**

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|Environmental Economics] –** Frequently updated commentary on how economists view environmental issues. Good source of new ideas.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|Economic View of the Environment] –** Environmental Economics blog by Harvard scholar Robert Stavins. Infrequent posting, but good depth of analysis.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|Food Politics]** – Marion Nestle’s (NYU Professor) blog on food and FDA. Good if you are interesting in agricultural policy and the intersection of the environment and politics.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">**<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 24px;">[|Triple Crisis] –** A group blog looking at the "triple crisis" of food, energy, and economic development.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|Dot Earth]** – NYT’s (Andrew Revkin) blog on all things environment. More news than policy, but many ideas for societal problems.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|The Energy Collective]** – Aggregator site for energy policy and alternatives.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**__HEALTH__**

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|Prescriptions] –** New York Times blog on Healthcare and Healthcare Reform issues.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|The Incidental Economist]** – Blog of noted health economist Austin Frakt and friends. The place to go for links and commentary on healthcare reform and health policy.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|The Health Care Blog] – General blog on health and healthcare. If it is important, it will be posted in some form here.**

**[|HealthBeat]** – Blog on healthcare policy and economics from the left-of-center Century Foundation

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**__HOUSING / JOBS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & POVERTY__**

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|VoxEU]** – Economics blog focused on (but not exclusively about) 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.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|Freakonomics] –** NY Times blog by celeb-economist Steven Levitt that shows how economics can help explain everyday life. Implications tend to be conservative.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|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.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|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.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|Baseline Scenario] –** Blog by Economist Simon Johnson and law student James Kwak. Focus on financial regulation, economic policy, and Wall Street.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|Economist’s View]** – Full Service Economics Blog by University of Oregon Economist Mark Thoma.Pulls together all the economic resources on the Internet.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|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.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|Capital Gains and Games]**– Everything you wanted to know about federal budget politics by professionals including commentaries on spending, taxes, and public finance.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|Rortybomb] –** Smart, intelligent commentary on financial reform and economics by a former financial engineer Mike Konczal, an affiliate of the progressive Roosevelt Institute.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|Naked Capitalism] –** One of the few blogs on political economy that looks at economic issues with a concern for political power. Frequently comments on housing, Wall Street, and financial reform. Highly recommended. Written by the author of //Econned//, Yves Smith.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**__EDUCATION__**

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|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.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|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

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|This Week in Education] –** Aggregator Digest with commentary on education related news of the day. Frequently Updated, but underwhelming.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|Eduwonk] –** EDUCATION SECTOR’s blog. Research oriented. “Third Way” progressive neo-liberal perspective – ask me, I’ll explain.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|School Matters] –** Frequently updated blog critical of reform efforts to expand standardized testing and charter schools

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|The Answer Sheet]** – Valerie Strauss’ blog on education policy. Blog is generally pro-teacher, pro-parent and critical of high-stakes testing advocates. Frequently Updated.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**Flypaper** – Blog by conservative education scholar Chester Finn, Jr. housed at the Thomas Fordham Institute.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">**[|Class Struggle]** – Jay Matthews’ (who devised the //Newsweek// high school rankings) blog. Good on quantitative measures of academic performance. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 170%;">

**[|K-12 News Network]** – Education blog written by a NY parent, Cynthia Liu. Strong advocate of public education system.

**[|Education Talk Radio]** – Online radio program that has long-from discussion of a broad spectrum of education topics.