Of Marginal Revolution and Angry Bear

By Editor on July 24, 2008 4:07 am

Our series on academic blogs continues. In this second instalment, Rohit Chopra identifies blogs that traverse the contested terrain of economics, globalization, and policy, the politics of higher education in the US, and the past and present of journalism.


THE WORLD OF ACADEMIC blogs on economics spans a range of political positions, with the bloggers often referring to articles by each other in support, evaluation, or critique. Among the best known blogs are run by economists who are often also prominent public figures, with a presence in media or policymaking.

The acclaimed and popular Marginal Revolution is a blog run by two professors at George Mason University, Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok. Harvard Professor Greg Mankiw’s blog is broad in its ambit of reflections, delivered as pithy entries with sharp humor. Cafe Hayek and The Becker-Posner Blog are two other economics blogs of liberal and libertarian oriention.

Somewhat different in their political perspective are Paul Krugman’s The Conscience of a Liberal and Joseph Stiglitz’s I Dissent: Unconventional Economic Wisdom.  The Project Syndicate initiative also includes Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs’ writings in his blog Economics and Justice and Harvard University professor Dani Rodrik’s blog Roads to Prosperity.  Angry Bear, a blog that brings together contributors from academic and other professions, describes its mandate as “slightly left of center economic commentary on news, politics, and the economy.”

Santa Clara University professor, Marc Bousquet’s blog How the University Works addresses issues of academic freedom, the corporatization of the university, and the relationship of academic labor and capital. Daniel W. Drezner, a professor of international politics at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, describes himself as a “small-l libertarian Republican who studies international relations.”  Drezner comments on policy, globalization, and, as of this week, international relations issues in The Dark Knight!

Columbia School of Journalism professor and South Asian Journalists Association founder, Sreenath Sreenivasan, gives us the “lowercase world” of Sree.net. The site includes access to free talks/ classes on technology, media, and journalism, recent reading, and new blogs discovered by Sree. Boston University journalism professor, Chris Daly reflects on journalism and journalism history in Chris Daly’s Blog.

Read the first part of this series: Napoleon to heavy metal

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