From WSJ, Henry Pulizzi and John D. McKinnon write:
Monthly Archives: May 2008
Current Account Balances, Again
Two years ago, as part of a multi-year project, Charles Engel and I organized a conference on current account sustainability in major advanced economies.
Lask week, we convened a follow-up conference aimed at updating our knowledge on this subject. Below is the latest read on the U.S. current account to GDP.
Gasoline prices: consumers and politicians respond
The trend is clear: demand is down and complaints are up.
Updated Chinn-Ito Financial Openness Index Online
The newest version of the Chinn-Ito financial openness index (earlier discussed here), extending up to 2006, has just been posted. Here’s the series for Argentina and for Venezuela.
A Memo I’d Love to See: Whales and Economics
From the Washington Post:
White House officials for more than a year have blocked a rule aimed at protecting endangered North Atlantic right whales by challenging the findings of government scientists, according to documents obtained by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Macroeconomics and ARCH
That’s the topic of my most recent research paper. Reader warning: this is a bit more technical than the standard Econbrowser post, so if you’re not a user of regression analysis, this may not be up your alley.
Fast and Easy Fannie
The Wall Street Journal had a very disturbing story on Wednesday about the “Fast and Easy” loan program of Countrywide Financial Corporation, many of whose mortgages were bought up by Fannie Mae.