Tuesday, October 26, 2004
The Economists' Voice
Folks, I have been meaning to alert y'all to a new economics journal called The Economists' Voice. Published by the Berkeley Press, the editorial board currently consists of Joe Stiglitz of Columbia, Brad DeLong (whose excellent blog I would highly recommend) and Aaron Edlin of Berkeley. Brad laid out the raison d'etre for this journal a while back on his blog.
The Economists' Voice will aim for pieces longer than an op-ed and shorter than (and much more readable than) a piece for a standard journal. We thus avoid the op-ed problem--the problem that op-ed space is too short for an argument, and only provides space to be shrill. But we also hope to stay short enough to be readable, and understandable. And we will aim for quick turnaround--days rather than the years of journals.
The level will be non-technical but sophisticated: perhaps what one expects to read in the Financial Times and the news pages of the Wall Street or National Journal, or perhaps a notch above. The aim will be to provide an economist's argument and point of view on some salient and interesting issue: a survey of something interesting happening in the economy, or a call for some change in policy or institutions--which would consist of a review of what the principal important factors are, what the objective function is, what the constraints are, why the objective function is maximized at the particular set of policies or institutional arrangements that the author prefers.
Two issues old, the current issues include pieces by George Akerlof and Richard Posner. If Brad and Joe Stiglitz are anything to go by, this journal will be an excellent place to read about seriously interesting policy issues.
The Economists' Voice will aim for pieces longer than an op-ed and shorter than (and much more readable than) a piece for a standard journal. We thus avoid the op-ed problem--the problem that op-ed space is too short for an argument, and only provides space to be shrill. But we also hope to stay short enough to be readable, and understandable. And we will aim for quick turnaround--days rather than the years of journals.
The level will be non-technical but sophisticated: perhaps what one expects to read in the Financial Times and the news pages of the Wall Street or National Journal, or perhaps a notch above. The aim will be to provide an economist's argument and point of view on some salient and interesting issue: a survey of something interesting happening in the economy, or a call for some change in policy or institutions--which would consist of a review of what the principal important factors are, what the objective function is, what the constraints are, why the objective function is maximized at the particular set of policies or institutional arrangements that the author prefers.
Two issues old, the current issues include pieces by George Akerlof and Richard Posner. If Brad and Joe Stiglitz are anything to go by, this journal will be an excellent place to read about seriously interesting policy issues.
