Blogging

I think blogging means being able to express one’s thoughts in their own way, almost like a journal.  There’s no specific writing structure, which is probably the appeal of it.  There’s a lot going on in the world and in people’s lives individually, and people like to talk.  Maybe there isn’t someone specific they want to discuss an issue with but they want to put their thoughts out there to share, that’s where a blog comes in.  It’s a sort of free-style expression of writing and it can be a great place to share important news or links to favorite websites.

Greg Mankiw is an Economics professor and chairman of the economics department at Harvard.  His blog is titled “Random Observations for Students of Economics” and he appears to blog every couple days.  His posts fluctuate between a variety of topics; from articles he finds interesting to updates on his current research to his opinions on current world and personal events.  There are a lot of links to news articles that he finds interesting and occasionally comments with his opinion on the topic.  He also provides recommendations of books and TV shows that he has recently gotten into, which I think is interesting as I am always up for a new book to read or TV show to check out.  Some other interesting recent posts have been focused on the presidential election; he is a big Mitt Romney supporter.  His blog also provides advice through links for students who are interested in economics.

Another, very different, blog is Paul Krugman’s blog titled “The Conscience of a Liberal.”  Krugman is a columnist for the New York Times and it appears he blogs every day, sometimes multiple times a day.  Many of his recent posts are about the presidential election, specifically targeting Paul Ryan (who he is not happy with).  His posts are much longer and he often writes about his opinion on a current issue in the news.  He also includes links to other articles throughout his posts.  It seems as though he uses his blog purely for posting his opinions, not necessarily for sharing events in his personal life, as Mankiw sometimes does- which can be interesting but can also be pointless if the reader is just looking for some information on current world events.

A third blog is called “Balance: Why Great Powers Lose it and How America Can Regain It,” co-authored by Tim Kane (Chief Economist at the Hudson Institute) and Glenn Hubbard (Dean of Columbia University’s Grad School of Business).  It was actually just opened a week ago as a brainstorming technique.  Although it was not opened long ago, it appears that they blog almost every day.  The two authors intend to write a book (with the same title as the blog) and are using the blog as a place to discuss their ideas concerning power and politics and their effects on economic imbalance.  Unlike Mankiw and Krugman, this blog has a goal of developing a book; it is comprised of their thoughts, ideas, and research.  I actually think this is interesting not just because of the material, but also because we are shown the process of writing an Economics book and what it takes to do so.