Economics Job Market Rumors

Post date: Dec 23, 2011 9:42:59 PM

Backgrounder: Olaf Storbeck, Economics and Finance Journalist of Integrity

I am fond of economics journalist Olaf Storbeck. He is officially the International Economics Correspondent with Handelsblatt, Germany's business daily, writing about economics research. Any references below are to his own blog, Economics Intelligence on Wordpress. He has a genuine and sincere anti-plagiarism ethic. He is thorough. He knows how to do a little math and statistics. Equally relevant: He hasn't blocked me on Twitter like that wicked Nouriel!

Tangent time

Professor Nouriel Roubini, via Roubini tracking on Blogger:

an American professor of Economics at New York University's Stern School of Business and chairman of Roubini Global Economics of New York University

who I actually like, and think is exciting. He KNOWS volatility! But there was this incident, I didn't know if he was Jewish or Muslim. I didn't say anything bad, obviously. I truly didn't know, and it wasn't like it would make a difference, not unless he were unmarried and considering new wives. (Just an aside) But somehow... he blocked me on Twitter. This kind of thing happens to me a lot. I am not a troll.

I have only good intentions yet reddit r/NetSec deposited a comment on my Google Hobby blog, accusing me of surreptitious affiliation with the U.S. National Security Agency yesterday:

"Nice try, NSA!"

Right. I only wish.

An End to Invective

Olaf Storbeck seems to be the closest thing to a trendsetter. Let me clarify: Certain trends, like Benford's Law revivalism, which he wrote about in the context of the Greek credit crisis in July 2011, months ahead of the herd. He also found various peer-reviewed and professional level economics research papers addressing the veracity, or lack thereof, of credit ratings agencies. He did not vilify the credit ratings agencies. It was a refreshing change of pace.

Introducing The Economics Job Market Rumors Forum

So. Apparently there is an Economics Job Market Rumors (EJMR) forum that has gained some measure of notoriety of late. I was not familiar with such. Olaf Storbeck was. He re-printed (with scrupulously proper attribution and acknowledgement) an interview of the shadowy group representatives of said EJMR. Initially, I thought he conducted the interview himself. Now that would have been kind of cool!

I read Storbeck's interview, "Behind the Scenes of EJMR: An Interview with Kirk". I immediately hastened to visit the website of EJMR.

Piece de Resistance

The very first entry I found has been carefully hand scraped, by me, for your reading pleasure and showcased below. It is giggly material! The links work.

ECONOMICS JOB MARKET RUMORS - A FORUM FOR ECONOMISTS » JOB MARKET » GENERAL ECONOMICS DISCUSSION

Who is Barbulis/Barbasol? (He's neither Bourbaki nor at Chicago Booth anymore.)

Felix Salmon was very promising as THE Reuters finance blogger. Reuters sort of fell by the wayside financially, and Felix went on to what seemed like bigger things in 2014, e.g. Fusion. Felix's final post at Reuters is really astute, even with years of hindsight. (This is kind of awful if true...) I think he works for Axios now. Felix used to do videos with, well, Aaron Task.

Henry Blodget was the co-owner of Business Insider before it became a tabloid after Jeff Bezos bought a chunk of it, and Axel Springer bought all of it. (Henry is still CEO actually.) Pre-Bezos, Business Insider offered free Creative Commons licensing of most content. That was back in 2011, when Pax Dickinson was CTO and the Internet was a better place.

A few more offerings from EJMR

Here is a sample, drawn non-randomly from the recent Economics Job Market Rumors board listings:

  • Economics is simply conservative propaganda

  • The economy is dead and never coming back

  • Who is getting layed for XXXmas?

  • Which schools/ positions have not called?

  • Kirk, PLEASE close the "Dalai Lama is an analytical Marxist" troll thread

  • Does research paper quality diminish over time?

  • Are you pro-life (good) or pro-abortion (no good)?

  • CHAOS THEORY DESTROYING MATHEMATICAL ECONOMICS FROM WITHIN!

  • Why do we celebrate Christmas?

  • Transferring after the first year of phd?

  • Happy ending massage salons in Chicago

  • I was on TV. Should I put it on my CV?

Economics gossip wrap-up

Item One: How much is Nouriel Roubini offering to pay an Economics and Finance intern?

Duties include manning the Twitter account. Maybe some light quantitative analysis too?

Verbatim via roubini.com/jobs now http://web.archive.org/web/20110730094927/http://www.roubini.com/jobs

Economics and Finance Intern for Nouriel Roubini - Paid (New York)

We are seeking strong candidates for an internship position focused on economics/finance/policy and social media. This person will be responsible for managing and editing the RGE Twitter publication process under the supervision of RGE Chairman, Nouriel Roubini.

Responsibilities:

  • Sourcing, analyzing, commenting on and posting macroeconomic/financial content via Twitter and other social media outlets

  • Identifying key economic events, releases, and data, alerting our clients and linking back to our content. Monitoring relevant 3rd party contributors and Twitter feeds for commenting and/or linking back to roubini.com and or economonitor.com. Tweeting the new daily content of roubini.com and economonitor.com through the RGE Twitter account with appropriate language and structure

  • Working with/assisting Nouriel Roubini in social media

  • Researching opportunities of other social media outlets (Facebook, Google+, etc.) as necessary

Qualifications:

  • BA in Economics, Political Science, or International Affairs, or extensive course work/employment in these or a related field (especially international macroeconomics and finance/markets). Enrollment in a Masters program is preferred.

  • Strong knowledge of current geostrategic and macroeconomic/financial debates relevant to economists, policy makers, and investment professionals

  • Strong English writing skills for both academic and lay audiences, with the ability to write in a snappy and concise manner. Well-developed sense of teamwork. Sophisticated knowledge of social media. Availability to work 4-6 hours a day for at least 5 days a week on a regular consistent daily schedule as real-time content creation is critical.

Compensation: $10/hour

Emphasis mine. One strongly suspects, that Felix Salmon's new assistant is paid a higher wage by Reuters than Nouriel is willing to pay.

In 2010 or so, Nouriel got into an argument with Joe Wiesenthal while the latter was working at Business Insider. Nouriel made some enraged comments about how Joe was paid too much. (More than $10 per hour is... too much maybe?)

Item Two: Felix Salmon + Henry Blodget photo (looking upset at Aaron Task)

Curious to see a photo with Felix Salmon and Henry Blodget together?