Friday, July 28, 2006

The Usual Suspects

Greg Mankiw, at his excellent new econ blog, asks readers for suggestions re their favorite blogs. It's the kind of question that will swamp you in commentary, most of which I admit I read with interest. But at the end of the day, you have to admit: if you pay any attention to econ blogs, you will have to admit that you end up with about the most predictable thread you can possibly imagine. Here, for example, is an exemplary list of 20 blogs; I admit I read about 16 of them--and so, I suspect, does almost everyone else responding to Mankiw's inquiry. This in itself can't be a vice; it may be just broad agreement on quality. But you can't escape the suspicion that we're just rounding up the usual suspects. The blogosphere isn't all that old, but it seems to have settled already into patterns of conventionality. Truth is, I considered in listing all these guys in my own links list. But what is the point, I wondered, of one more voice added to the din?

[Readers looking for a theme in my links list should be informed: most of them are either (a) blogs that amused me; or (b) friends of mine, or (c) both. And I deliberately skipped over blogs that seem to have all the action they can use.]

"Anecdotal Evidence" speaks of solipsism and propaganda. "New York Crank" says he is an electronic frotteur. Readers are invited to consider whether either of these concepts has anything to do with this discussion.

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