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February 19, 2010
Value of Opposing Views
By Cindy Ivanac-Lillig
I have just completed a series of workshops with teachers and students in which we dedicated part of the sessions to a "Hot Topic" debate. We read articles on issues such as inflation, too big to fail, the fed's independence, asset bubbles, etc. The goals of the exercise were to summarize the point of view of the article and then think about what the strongest opposing viewpoint would be. The exercise proved worthwhile as students struggled and thought about, for example, who would be in favor of asset bubbles and how knowing that can strengthen their own argument.
I recently listened to an interview Steve Forbes conducted with an economic forecaster, Brian Wesbury of First Trust Advisors. Wesbury basically argued that our economic recovery began with the relaxing of "mark-to-market" rules and not any type of stimulus or bank rescue. It is an interesting argument; however, I thought about my assignment to my students and then set out to find some opposing views. And I found one that happened to be from someone at the Boston Fed, where he argues that the "mark-to-market" rule was a small part of the problem banks had at the start of the crisis. Take a look below and let me know what you think.
Regardless of where you fall on an issue, your argument can be strengthened by keeping in mind the strongest opposing view. Good luck to my Fed Challenge teams.
Steve Forbes's interview with Wesbury
Excerpt of Sanders paper from Boston Fed on Bnet
Posted by Cindy at February 19, 2010 10:58 PM
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Comments
Thank you for creating this it was essential for a paper I am at this time writing for my thesis. Thanks
Posted by: Gucci Shoes at June 2, 2010 3:47 PM
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