Karl Smith is Assistant Professor of Public Economics and Government at the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
This blog, however, is not affliated or endorsed by the UNC School of Government or the Institute of Government. The opinions expressed in the this blog are the private opinions of Karl Smith and do not represent official advice or counsel from him in his capacity as an advisor to North Carolina State and Local Governments.
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Thursday ~ July 23rd, 2009 at 9:24 am
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Saturday ~ April 17th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
Karl Smith
Alan,
If this person becomes obscene then I can take action. Otherwise it is the policy of this blog not to moderate comments.
In particular we are not in a position to switch to moderated comments only. Neither Adam nor I have the time to monitor everyone on this site.
I wish you the best of luck in resolving your dispute with “Adrian Warner”
Saturday ~ July 7th, 2012 at 10:18 am
Donald Duncan
Karl, bro I enjoyed my introduction to you this morning on the program. However, I could not resist commenting on the views you expressed regarding the Barclay scandal. In my view it was astounding (in the context of the discussion) you indicated you saw nothing wrong with individuals manipulating market data for personal benefit and gain. Moreover you went on to espouse the virtues of “Lying” if it can be justified as a means to a greater end. I could not believe my ears- but in my experiences your views as expressed are indicative of many of the young traders and individuals often at the center of the recent scandals on wall-street. I am a Compliance Officer in the financial industry, ethics, integrity and transparency in the market place is absolutely essential to the survival of the free market system. This is the broader picture I think that is at issue with the Barclay situation. Yet another example of young traders skirting rules and manipulating markets in order to obtain a shortsighted “win” at the expense of the whole. I believe the culture that Wall-street has to guard against most is not a culture of corruption. What we have to guard against most is a culture of low ethics and integrity.
Saturday ~ July 7th, 2012 at 2:42 pm
Carol Campbell
I agree with Mr. Duncan on your performance on today’s Chris Hayes show. You need to find your way back to moral thinking. Lying, Cheating and Killing are immoral, unethical and just plain wrong. Where is your moral compass? Please find it or stop teaching. I would never want my children to be influenced by your opinions. You are part of the problem, certainly not part of the solution
Saturday ~ July 7th, 2012 at 3:30 pm
George Alexander
I can’t believe your comments on the Chris Hayes show regarding the Barclays bank scandal, playing down the impact and suggesting the impact was of little consequence. It begs the question regarding your own education and if you passed or failed Ethics 101.
Sunday ~ July 8th, 2012 at 10:50 am
Claus Gehner
Regarding the performance (I use that term purposely) of Karl Smith on “Up with..”, I can only echo the other comments. It is exactly this kind of situational ethics (.. Well, I’m only hurting a small number of people) that has completely corrupted the entire American “free” market system, and guess who the arbiter is of how wide spread the “hurt” is – well, of course Prof. Smith.
Karl Smith has felt obliged to post notes on his blog after appearances on Up… He prides himself on being outrageous, but still feels the need to explain himself. Hence the term “performance” … it looks to me
Ike he is trying to get himself a piece of the pie of the “crazys” on talk radio and Fox. Good luck to you Prof. Smith, the sooner you remove yourself from the academic environment where you can actually influence young people, the better.
In fairness to Prof. Smith, I seem to remember that many of the top Business Schools refused to pledge teaching ethics in their curricula after the financial meltdown. Oh, America, what has happened to your moral compass?
Tuesday ~ July 10th, 2012 at 5:26 pm
Brandon Unger
I just wanted to respond to Karl’s appearance on Up With Hays.
It appeared to me that you were endorsing or shrugging in response to Barclay’s rigging of the Libor under the assumption that everybody in Wall Street knows that this stuff goes on.
With that, I can only conclude that you condone shoplifting because “everybody knows that it happens.”
Wow, I hope the Regents of UNC saw that stunning cameo.
But, I will suspend my disbelief and believe that you don’t encourage criminal activity, right?
Wednesday ~ June 9th, 2010 at 4:18 am
My Comments Policy « Modeled Behavior
[...] Karl Smith [...]
Sunday ~ August 8th, 2010 at 7:22 pm
Steve McKinney
I’m glad I learned of your site through Huf Post. I’ve been interested for a long time in the debate about whether lowering taxes for the rich helps the economic pie grow, whether supply side is real. It seems that the results of lower taxes for the rich are ambiguous. Would you be interested or willing to start a discussion on this? Thanks.
Thursday ~ December 30th, 2010 at 1:48 pm
Karl smith | LookRecord
[...] Karl Smith « Modeled BehaviorKarl Smith is Assistant Professor of Public Economics and Government at the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. … [...]
Tuesday ~ March 1st, 2011 at 5:11 pm
James Stafford
Dear Karl,
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Thursday ~ March 17th, 2011 at 6:35 pm
Larry Rigby
Bear (should be “Bare”) minimum we want to juice the economy so that inflation will rise back to two percent. The textbook level targeting approach would say to keep on juicing until you undid all of the extra low inflation we have had since 09.
Bare (should be “Bear”) with me…
SHame on you professors!
Monday ~ April 25th, 2011 at 5:08 pm
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Sunday ~ June 19th, 2011 at 12:46 am
Charlie Deist
Hi Karl,
I’ve read your blog for a few months, and am regularly blown away by the originality of your posts and insights, particularly on macro/AD phenomena. However, the typos initially turned me off, and I’m afraid some people might discount your ideas because of your “quick and dirty” style. I view the reading of Karl Smith as a public good and, as such, believe it ought to be subsidized. By any chance would you be interested in letting a fresh set of eyes review your posts before you hit “publish”? I’d be honored to take on such a task, and in this age of outsourcing, there shouldn’t be any shame in that — after all, time is a scarce resource, and you always get your point across in spite of the occasional omitted word or misspelling.
If you’re interested, shoot me an email and I can tell you a bit more about myself and my credentials.
Keep up the good work!
Sincerely,
Charlie
P.S. Feel free to delete this comment. I would’ve emailed, but I couldn’t find your address.
Friday ~ July 22nd, 2011 at 3:18 pm
phredx
There seems to be a space preceding the blog title in the feed, making it difficult to navigate to using Google Reader keyboard shortcuts. Minor irritant but one worth reporting.
Thursday ~ September 8th, 2011 at 5:17 pm
Rafael
Karl,
I saw your post about using Gams to model markets. Could you tell me some papers where it was used.
Thanks,
Rafael
Tuesday ~ October 25th, 2011 at 2:24 pm
Ben Carper
I hope you’ve seen this:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/this-sure-is-a-spooky-time-for-the-economy,26442/
Monday ~ November 28th, 2011 at 10:30 am
Wichmanns Web-Empfehlungen (1) « Denkraum
[...] What Is To Be Done – Karl Smith, Assistant Professor of Public Economics and Government, University of North Carolina – [...]
Saturday ~ December 31st, 2011 at 3:35 am
Tom Cantlon
Mr. Smith, your charts in Where Is The Middle Class Going have broken links and I would like to link to your piece in a column. Can they be repaired or can you provide alternate links? Thanks.
Saturday ~ January 7th, 2012 at 8:22 pm
L K Smith
Now I understand why The Economist ranks MBA programs.
Tuesday ~ January 24th, 2012 at 10:30 am
Karl Smith: 'The speed limit on the economy is extremely high' - Global Economic Watch - Global Economic Crisis: Cengage Resource Center
[...] Modeled Behavior, Karl Smith shares two graphs. He asks us to look at what happened to the output gap after [...]
Friday ~ February 3rd, 2012 at 5:29 pm
Terry Mahoney
All right. The January jobs report has been out for hours. Where’s my fix of Smithianistic analysis?
Sunday ~ April 15th, 2012 at 5:25 am
A Nonymous
Hah! I’ve just realized the banner image says “Exercise I” in Irish. Any reason for that?
Sunday ~ May 20th, 2012 at 9:08 pm
gloria owens
Up with Chris broadcast today on the G-8 summit recognize help is on the way; when WE, the people stand up for righteousness vs corrupt views; fairness vs self serving attitudes and justice vs hidden agendas for all citizens to exercise their inalienable rights and freedo
Saturday ~ July 7th, 2012 at 9:53 am
Martin
I’m watching you on UP w/Chris Hayes.
man, you are totally morally bankrupt!
Banks lying is OK?
Killing people who won’t lie about their lying is OK?
What are you thinking?
You should not be employed by any taxpayer funded or subsidized entity in this country.
I have been asking for years: What are they teaching these people in business school instead of ethics?
Watching you, now I know.
Saturday ~ July 7th, 2012 at 10:09 am
Jerry Hamrick
Martin beat me to it. Your position on LIBOR on the Chris Hayes show is strange. The emails in which a trader begged the LIBOR desk at Barclay’s to lower the LIBOR rate are proof of criminal intent. The supplicant was scared that he would lose a big bet on the LIBOR rate. This means that he would have to pay money to the person with whom he had bet. But Barclay’s intervened. They lowered the rate. They lied and they helped a friend take advantage of a person who trusted Barclay’s to do the right thing. To you, and this is simply shocking, it is okay to cheat. Perhaps you were never taught this in your education, but it is not okay to cheat. It is wrong. Very wrong. Please don’t teach your children that it is okay to cheat. Does UNC know about your lack of morality?
Saturday ~ July 7th, 2012 at 9:59 am
Putorium
Enjoy seeing you on with Chris and debates of many economic issues and will follow on your new Forbes site? Would have enjoyed you as a professor even as a retired RN? As a use to be Republican, I am for a single payer health care system and it should be done and it can be done? Need to address the sub prime and the banks who corrupted our whole bank system around the world and how this was allowed to happen? Get into Ireland, Iceland and how they joined in this scam that has about destroyed our way of use to be a somewhat honest business in the past? I have to ask now who is left that we can trust? On Chris show today talk about debtors going to prison for small debt and yet these bankers have stole and been corrupt and they are free? WHY?
Saturday ~ July 7th, 2012 at 10:31 am
Aaron
Sir, for you to sit here on national television and advocate (yes advocate!) the manipulation and rigging of a key component in the world’s financial system (LIBOR) is sickening, and I’m appalled. You’re essentially advocating anarchy for your perceived “greater good”. You’re missing the POINT!!! In order for Capitalism to work there has to be transparency, there has to be regulation, there has to be a public sense that the system is objective, balanced and yes….FAIR. For example, if it were proven that all the casinos in Vegas were rigging the slot machines or rigging the deck of cards in the house’s favor when they already have the odds in their favor, do you think for one minute any person with a brain would participate in that? HELL NO they wouldn’t! Your attitude of net net it was a wash (which is an assumption on your part) shows a high degree of intellectual immaturity and one that certainly should not be teaching at a respected university. You Mr. Smith should be FIRED! You should not be in charge of molding and shaping the young minds that will one day run this great nation. You’re entitled to your opinion, but you’re not entitled to your own set of ethics. You obviously have no ethical or moral compass and as a result you project a sociopathic view of the world. Grow Up!
Saturday ~ July 7th, 2012 at 3:32 pm
Julieah
Now I understand how my financial advisor/brother figures helping my mother disinherit me, regardless of our father’s will, is ok…. It’s legal here in the U.S. but where are the ethics?
Scary Dude! (you teaching that is)
Yeah ~ who needs regulation, right?
Saturday ~ July 7th, 2012 at 5:12 pm
dakinikat
Just watched you on Chris Hays … good grief! Don’t you understand how assets get misallocated based on misstated prices? That’s like a global loss of economic welfare. That’s an invitation to a bubble state. The fact they manipulated it both ways doesn’t mean this is going to make the series behave like it’s just additional white noise. Look, there are huge corporations out there using LIBOR as the underlying rate for their discount rates to make capital budgeting decisions and investment decisions. Do you understand what it means when the base risk free rate used for tons of NPV analysis is gamed? These folks make decisions based on the margin not on some idea that some times it goes up and some times it goes down. I still can’t believe you said what you said. I’m going back to teaching my graduate corporate finance classes now hoping you are given no more public platforms until you learn some basics.
Saturday ~ July 7th, 2012 at 7:37 pm
Frederic Hoppe
If you sir, Karl Smith did this for attention (Up with Chris Hayes), then thank god you exposed yourself enough to given your walking papers! How did you ever become a professor? Shocking.
Wednesday ~ August 22nd, 2012 at 8:42 pm
John
I think you’re being a tad harsh, Frederic.
Sunday ~ January 6th, 2013 at 12:10 am
patriotact
Assistant professor vs. Self made Multi-Millionaire Peter Schiff. Assistant Professor is brilliant, GREAT, knows all, and predicted all economic activities since he was five years old.
Peter Schiff made you look like a delusional nutcase.
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