Video of the day: Conference by Greg Mankiw

Greg Mankiw on the recent and current economic situation in the the US. Here

One might disagree with the fundamental points of his talk, especially with the first part, where he talks about the short term, the monetary and fiscal policy (although I find it very informative). The second part is very solid on the long term challenges on the budget and the health care system. But what I found more interesting was his delivery strategy: the parallel between the literary examples (the arguments in the books by Oscar Wilde and Albert Camus) and the macroeconomy. Mankiw is an economists that communicates his ideas very well not only when he speaks but also when writes. 

A lesson that I take home for economists (and social scientists) working in the developing world has to do with the examples that Mankiw gives. Most of the examples come from his writing, some of them of short articles, written recently. I say this to emphasis the importance of writing and put ideas on paper, probably the importance of writing short pieces.