The blogosphere looks after its own
Ryan Avent, for some reason, confuses current account deficits with fiscal deficits. This is not a mistake one wants to make blogging for a magazine called The Economist. Brad Delong, whom I admire, catches the mistake. But the response is notably un-DeLongian. Gentle, even.
"A Rare Event: The Sharp and Thoughtful Ryan Avent Gets One Wrong..." is the heading of Brad's post. If the Washington Post had made the same error, or any newspaper, all the bandwidth in Berkeley could not have handled the DeLongian scorn!
Comments
Ryan Avent has--and to a lesser degree, the Economist has--a long history of trying hard to get it right. He (and it) get a presumption of fair play and honest effort.
The Washington Post has taken its reputation, poured gasoline on it, and set in on fire. A few people at the Post--Steve Perlstein, Ezra Klein--still have a presumption of fair play an honest effort. But not many.
Do you read the Post to learn about economic issues?
Pearlstine, yes. I need to start reading Ezra regularl.y JH
Posted by: Brad DeLong | February 7, 2010 8:16 PM