India Uncut

One of the joys of the online world, for me, are the number of excellent economics blogs out there. Marginal Revolution, Cafe Hayek, EconLog, and so on. (I touched on the subject in my review of Tim Harford's The Undercover Economist a while back.) Well, the Economist has an article on the subject, in which it points out that blogs go a long way in solving the problem of the "division of knowledge," which Freddy Hayek had once held as "analogous to, and at least as important as, the problem of the division of labour." The article states:

The faster flow of information and the waning importance of location—which blogs exemplify—have made it easier for economists from any university to have access to the best brains in their field. That anyone with an internet connection can sit in on a virtual lecture from Mr DeLong means that his ideas move freely beyond the boundaries of Berkeley, creating a welfare gain for professors and the public.

True. Check these blogs out, much fun.

(Link via Megan McArdle at Instapundit. McArdle writes one of the better economics blogs around, Asymmetrical Information.)

Update (August 7): Sharath Rao writes in to point me to a post by Greg Mankiw, a formidable economist-blogger, in which Mankiw asks his readers which blogs they regularly read. There's some good stuff in the comments there, and Sharath himself has a post on the subject.

Also, if the Economist link above takes you to a page asking for a password, try this link. (Also via Sharath.)