Validity of Online Resources(2)

Blogs are some of the most useful resources on the internet. They provide unfiltered information that comes from a diverse group of people. There is one blog in particular that is helpful in my study of economics. The blog that I am going to examine is Economist's View. This blog is based entirely on economics. It provides economic commentary on current issues. The blog is written by Mark Thoma and Tim Duy. They are both economics professors at the University of Oregon. As economics professors, they are both actively involved in their field. I trust the information that is presented on this blog because I trust the authors. They understand the traditional view of economics and all of the terms and history associated with the profession. Their daily jobs require that they stay informed of the latest breakthroughs in their profession. From what I have seen on their blog it looks like they post several times daily. It is clear that the authors devote much of their time to maintaining this blog. Their blog seems to be very popular. They have a technorati ranking of 3233.

I am very fond of this blog because it closely relates to my field of study.I am an economics student and this blog is written by economics professors. It focuses on current issues and the effects that they may have on the economy. This work is very scholarly. The two writers of this blog are college professors which would almost certainly make it academic. The posts on this blog are extremely detailed. They cite legitimate resources and provide all of the background information needed to understand each post. The posts are much longer than most of the other blogs that I have seen. Their audience seems to be people who already have some knowledge of how the economy works. It is aimed towards people who want to extensively study economics. I believe that this blog will be a great resource for feeding my blog. They discuss issues that are similar to those that I am planning on covering. This blog is updated daily and will be a great resource for me. If everything goes according to plan my blog will not differ much from theirs. I think that this blog is great and I would like to produce something similar.

The greatest aspect of this blog is that it avoids becoming stale. It is easy for economics to become boring when exchange rates and numerical figures are the sole topic of discussion. I am amazed that the authors of "Economist's View" have been able to add a personal touch to the field of economics. The post entitled "Is the High Vacancy Rate for Housing Worrisome?" is a great example of how the author relates the material to the reader.

The Census Bureau just released the data for fourth quarter of 2006. This showed the vacancy rate for owner occupied housing hitting 2.7 percent. This is up 50 percent from the 1.8 percent rate of two years ago.
This record vacancy rate is likely to mean considerably more downward pressure on house sale prices in the months ahead. It will likely mean downward pressure on rents as well, as some vacant units will eventually be put up for rent.

This information is presented in a matter that makes it useful to the reader. Most economists would report on this subject and discuss all of the numbers and technical aspects that are involved. The writers of this blog chose to discuss the effects of a high vacancy rate. The language used makes this blog useful to anyone that is interested in economics. Having some background knowledge might be useful, but it is not required in order to understand this blog.