War stories

Stories on and about the financial crisis (even what to call it) come at us almost daily. Some of the best ones are in the New Yorker, including the recent one by Nick Paumgarten. The bon mots flow.

And speaking of stories and story telling, I am reading Ed Leamer's new Macroeconomic Patterns and Stories: We are Pattern-Seeking, Story Telling Animals.

Our best data and best econometrics actually tell us very little until we have good stories. It's an old point, but Leamer tells it best. In terms of aha-moments per page, very few authors that I have read can touch what Leamer has accomplished.