Downtimers

Free exchange: No surprise that one of the best places to head for up-to-the-minute analysis of current events is over the Economist. Free exchange is smart, savvy and constantly updated. The regular roundup of news and analysis from all over the media ensure that, boom or bust, they never take their eye off the ball.

Brad Setser: Follow the money - From Iceland to Russia and back via Brazil. If you want the big picture on what's happening to your money right now, head over to this excellent Council on Foreign Relations blog. Brad Setser talks you through events in the world markets while making his own predictions. One for the globetrotter.

Stumbling and Mumbling: Only Chris Dillow could take a story about restaurants using monkeys as waiters and turn it into a post on how to save capitalism. The Investor's Chronicle writer has risen to the challenge over the past month with intelligent and often counter-intuitive theories on a variety of crisis-related topics.

Becker-Posner Blog: Boasting about your financial literacy down the pub comes much more naturally if you know you have the clout of a Nobel Prize winner behind you. Gary Becker (who scooped the prize for Economics) and Richard Posner (a high-flying judge) write weekly on a variety of issues. Recently, they've covered the crisis, government equity and bailout structuring - all for your cribbing pleasure.

Greg Mankiw: Ready for an economics class? Then head over to this Harvard Professor's blog. Originally designed to keep up with Mankiw's current and past students, it has become a must-read for those hoping to keep up with economic events. And as the former chair of Bush's economic advisors, Mankiw has an inside track on what's actually going on right now.

Real Time Economics: Reading Real Time Economics is like having the brains of the Wall Street Journal on speed dial. The journalists here put their fingers on the questions that everyone's wondering about. Better still, they actually take a stab at the answers.

Marginal Revolution: Two economists, one blog and an excellent cheat sheet. Marginal Revolution is one of the best-read economics blogs out there and has lived up to its reputation these past few weeks. During the crisis, they've provided a breakdown of events that is accessible to even the most credit confused customer.

Oliver Kamm's Blog: Oliver modestly says that his leaving the City and the collapse of the banking system were merely coincidental. But the Times is certainly blessed by the fact that he joined us shortly before the current crisis. Oliver has traditionally left finance alone on his blog. But now he's writing about it with his predictable brilliance. A must-read.

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