Thank you very much to everyone who visits this blog regularly or irregularly. About two and a half years ago, 10 years after starting his Conversable Economist blog, I have attached a donation link at the end. (I have skills, but asking for donations is not one of them.) My plan is to remind readers of the donate button once a year or so, but The time has come for a reminder.
I hope this blog serves as an example. Economic sociologist Mark Granovetter once called it „the strength of weak ties.“ His argument was that all of our social networks have „strong ties“ and „weak ties.“ Strong ties refer to ties that are most likely to be connected to others in your personal network, and weak ties refer to ties to people who are: Most of the time, you don't connect with other people in your personal network. Granovetter argues that when he learned something from one strong bond, the same lesson could (and probably would have been) passed on from another strong bond. However, weak ties provide information and lessons that may not have been learned otherwise.
If you're looking for a blog with a predictable, partisan, preferably vitriolic take on the day's headlines, Conversable Economist isn't for you. Instead, much of what I do on this blog is provide weak connections to articles, subjects, quotes, and authors that you're unlikely to come across. I'm not trying to hide my opinion or push it too hard. I believe that opinionated and partisan opinions have become so prevalent on the web that the value of marginal contributors to the conversation has been reduced to almost zero.I still agree Joseph Schumpeter comments in 1939: „What is most needed and most lacking in our time is an understanding of the processes that people are so passionately determined to control.“ Whether you agree with me or not , I hope the facts and connections I convey are of some value. I'm not really interested in getting my readers to agree (although it's always nice to agree). John Courtney Murray called it „achieving disagreement.“ This meant disagreements based not on confusion, distrust, partisanship, or abusive tendencies, but on a full and sympathetic understanding of alternative positions.
But such descriptions of blogging run the risk of making the effort seem more systematic than it actually is. On the bulletin board outside my office was a quote that said: A statement by Gabriel García Márquez that perhaps more accurately captures my approach. He said: “On another occasion, a sociologist from Austin, Texas, came to me because he was dissatisfied with his methods and felt they were dry and inadequate. I asked him what the method is. I told him I don't have a method. All I do is read a lot, think a lot, and constantly rewrite. It's not a scientific thing. there is no.“
This blog serves many purposes for me. It's a place where you can vent what's on your mind, so you don't have to burden your family and friends with finances. This is a memory aid, making it relatively easy to keep track of what you read 6, 12, or 60 months ago. This is an obligatory device that forces you to actually read various reports and articles that you might otherwise skim. But the honest truth is that without a group of loyal readers, none of these motivations would be enough to keep me blogging for about 13 years.
No matter what, I will continue to keep the Conversable Economist blog free to all readers. However, if you feel you would like to make a donation to support my efforts, and you have the financial wherewithal to do so, this week I will donate once a year near the top. Click the „How to donate“ button. On the right side of this page, you can use Zelle, Stripe, or personal checks for our old-school readers.
Even before I posted this reminder, some readers have already made generous donations towards the end of 2023. Thank you to all our donors and readers for your incredible support.