Experiment: A Second Comment Thread

I am trying something new which may not work, but it's worth a try. I have added a second comment link with the title "Technical Comments" to each post. I'm hoping to encourage a wider range of participation, particularly from people interested in the core economic issues surrounding a particular post (both theoretical and empirical).

I am going to moderate the comments in the new thread with a heavy hand and keep the discussion at the level you would find in the classroom or in a seminar. The idea is to promote a respectful interchange among people with some formal training in the area and in doing so, get participation from people who might not otherwise leave a comment. As far as I'm concerned, nothing is too technical. Clarifications, qualifications, extensions, links to related academic work (your own work included), debates about the technical merits of claims in a post, anything along those lines is welcome. [I have asked that people leave their names, and that is preferred, but pseudonyms are allowable if you identify yourself in an email.]

This is not intended to substitute for the regular comments which are unmoderated for the most part (though there are limits), and nothing will change there. It's intended to serve as a complement that (hopefully) brings about a wider range of participation and more discussion on substantive economic issues. I don't expect that there will be such a discussion with every post, or even that the discussions will be all that common, but hopefully there will be times when a debate on the more technical issues will take place. That would be nice, and I encourage those of you who have studied the economic issues related to things posted here to share what you know with the rest of us.

Comments

[hari]

Finally! Bravo!

Let's try and solve some serious problems of global economic
poverty and affluence, if we can using our own resources and acumen.

[jsalvati]

I like it!

[kio]

It looks promising and useful in many aspects.
I would appreciate an opportunity to incert figures in text, if possible. Technical discussion is often based on numbers. The best way to present time series is visual one.

[Naim Matasci]

Sounds like a good idea. I think it would also be useful to be able to see which posts are technically discussed (as it is now with the general comments)

[Thomas T. Schweitzer]

Hooray! High time! Please, more economics and less political foaming at the mouth in comments!

[Bruce Wilder]

If one actually wanted to write out an equation, a table or include a graph, how would one do it?

I am asking for some technical guidance here, as this has been an occasional frustration for me, on those rare occasions when I am not just ranting. I've never understood how to include even a readable table of statistics.

[Eric Dewey]

Good idea, for all the reasons listed above - however, as a non-economist who comes here mostly for educational purposes, I'd appreciate it if the technical commenters might try to include some basic pointers for neophytes with only basic economic courses behind us (and quite a ways behind us at that...)

[Mark N.]

What a great idea! I hope other economics blogs follow suit.

[2slugbaits]

Mark,

Serious question. How are you going to find the time to moderate and contribute to a technical thread? I seem to recall that in the last few months you almost missed the April 15th deadline for your taxes and got busted for missing a jury duty call.

[cm]

2slugbaits: You can turn your argument around -- I'm not sure I am going to be able to handle 2 comment threads per article (even reading wise).