We’re well into a severe housing downturn by every measure except for the number of people working in residential construction.
Author Archives: James_Hamilton
Can this be true?
Via Captain’s Quarters, in response to the Rasmussen poll question
Did Bush know about the 9/11 attacks in advance?
allegedly 35% of American Democrats answered “yes” and another 26% said they are not sure.
If that’s accurate, America’s system for communicating facts and ideas is seriously broken. I’m wondering if that breakdown might be related to the following dilemma. If you are a liberal elected official or opinion maker who is shown evidence of such massive delusion, do you (a) try to correct it, or (b) try to exploit it?
New job creation slows significantly
No, I don’t like the latest employment numbers.
Auto sales down in April
The number of new cars and light trucks sold in America was down nearly 8% in April relative to the previous year. That’s a significant deterioration of the recent downward trend, but not yet a catastrophic plunge.
Idle hands are the devil’s workshop
Professor Gordon Dahl (my colleague here at UCSD) and Berkeley Professor Stefano DellaVigna have an interesting new research paper titled Does Movie Violence Increase Violent Crime?
Consumption smoothing and economic slowdowns
How alarming is it that 200% of 2007:Q1 GDP growth came from consumption spending?
Recession probability index rises to 16.9
The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported today that U.S. real GDP grew at an annual rate of 1.3% in the first quarter of 2007, moving our recession probability index up to 16.9%. This post provides some background on how that index is constructed and what the latest move up might signify.
Current economic conditions improve
Let’s admit it– the other shoe is not yet dropping.
Why are gasoline prices going up again?
Blame crude oil and the calendar.
Weekend links
Assorted links to updates on some of the stories we’ve been following at Econbrowser, including declining Saudi Arabian oil production, the role of mortgage-backed securities, and pressures on public pension funds to take on additional risks.