Friday, 18 December 2009

Nouriel Roubini (Doctor Doom)

According to CNBC (First in Business Worldwide):



Global markets have rallied "too much, too soon, too fast" this year but a
correction will not happen right away, as a cheap dollar will still encourage investors to seek higher-yielding assets for a few more months, leading economist Nouriel Roubini said Thursday. Roubini, one of the few economists who accurately predicted the
magnitude of the financial crisis
, said the U.S. dollar will eventually recover some of its losses, but only in "six to 12 months from now, not any time soon."

I have nothing against Roubini; doomsayers are a dime a dozen (see my previous post). What I find incredible is how professional columnists at self-proclaimed "leading business networks" mindlessly genuflect at the alter of stopped clocks.

You've heard the old joke about how economists have successfully predicted 10 out of the last 2 recessions. Eric Tyson has a nice little piece claiming that Roubini is among these tireless prognosticators; see here. That's right, Roubini called the recession in 2004, 2005, 2006 and in 2007. As the old saying goes, even a stopped clock is correct twice a day. The puzzle is why there is such a large and persistent demand for stopped clocks.

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