Marketing in a Post-Consumer Era

Interesting article at Logic+Emotion on Marketing in a Post-Consumer Era about the societal changes from the current economic climate that will last beyond the market turning around.

Thought-provoking look at Adam Smith & today's version of capitalism

Capitalism Beyond the Crisis by Amartya Sen (Harvard Econ)

Excerpt:

The present economic crises do not, I would argue, call for a "new capitalism," but they do demand a new understanding of older ideas, such as those of Smith and, nearer our time, of Pigou, many of which have been sadly neglected. What is also needed is a clearheaded perception of how different institutions actually work, and of how a variety of organizations—from the market to the institutions of the state—can go beyond short-term solutions and contribute to producing a more decent economic world.

(found via Greg Mankiw's blog)

It's a Terrible Time to Reject Skilled Workers

great editorial in WSJ from dean(s) of Tuck business school at Dartmouth

(found through Greg Mankiw's blog)

Organic & Local is So 2008

interesting article about the challenges of sustainable agriculture, and how local and traditional organic, despite good intentions, have significant challenges to address larger populations.

I found through Mark Bittman's blog linking to original article at Mother Jones

Highlighted excerpts:

• According to a 2008 report from Carnegie Mellon University, going meat- and dairyless one day a week is more environmentally beneficial than eating locally every single day.
• If we wanted to rid the world of synthetic fertilizer use—and assuming dietary habits remain constant—the extra land we'd need for cover crops or forage (to feed the animals to make the manure) would more than double, possibly triple, the current area of farmland, according to Vaclav Smil, an environmental scientist at the University of Manitoba. Such an expansion, Smil notes, "would require complete elimination of all tropical rainforests, conversion of a large part of tropical and subtropical grasslands to cropland, and the return of a substantial share of the labor force to field farming—making this clearly only a theoretical notion." That doesn't mean sustainable agriculture can't happen. But if we want to build large-scale capacity, we're going to need to broaden our definitions of sustainable practices.
• the risks of pragmatism must be weighed against the risk of perfectionism. We can't wait for the perfect solution to emerge; we need to start transforming the food system today—most probably with hybrid models, like Fleming's or Liebman's, that take the best of both alternative and mainstream technologies and acknowledge not only the complexity of true sustainability but the practical reality that the perfect is often the enemy of the good

Big Changes to Big Things - Kill the Mortgage Interest Deduction

Interesting idea by Ed Gleaser, a Harvard economics professor, to align citizen incentives with overall country goals by killing the mortgage interest deduction & applying back as a general home-owner credit (and not providing incentive to maximize leverage and over-buy on housing).

Idea would presumably meet strong resistance, but could have a huge impact as long as the money was applied back to people (vs. just increasing tax revenues).

Full article linked here.

David Brooks - Stimulus for Skeptics

great NYT OpEd from David Brooks including thoughts from Michael Porter of HBS on smarter, more impactful stimulus.

Return of Larry Summers

David Leonhardt in NY Times about Larry Summers return as part of Obama administration.

(Hat tip to Greg Mankiw's Blog).