Some quick remarks about the evidence for economic recovery, central bank independence, and Goldman Sachs.
Author Archives: James_Hamilton
In the news
Concerns about the Fed’s New Balance Sheet
That’s the title of a chapter I contributed to a new book edited by John Ciorciari and John Taylor entitled The Road Ahead for the Fed. The book grew out of a conference held at Stanford University in March.
Links for 2009-07-12
A very neat interactive graphic from the NYT showing changes in same-store sales for different establishments. (Click on the store name at the left, and tip your hat to Economix).
Keith Hennessey, who used to have Larry Summers’ job in the Bush White House, on the challenges facing the White House in framing discussion of the effectiveness of the existing stimulus package. See Obama’s apparent answer here.
And a hilarious story via Calculated Risk on why Wells Fargo is suing itself.
Guest Contribution: Index Funds and Commodity Prices… Here We Go Again
By Scott Irwin
Econbrowser is pleased to host another contribution from Scott Irwin, who holds the Laurence J. Norton Chair of Agricultural Marketing at the University of Illinois, and today offers some insights from his research on the current debate concerning commodity speculation.
Back where we started
BLS reported that the total number of Americans employed in June on nonfarm payrolls came to 131.7 million workers on a seasonally adjusted basis. That’s below the June 2000 figure of 131.8 million with which we started the decade.
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Off-balance-sheet federal liabilities
Just how much has the U.S. government promised to pay?
No rebound for autos
Autos are worth watching as one sector where economic growth could resume first. But despite what others are saying, I don’t believe that it’s happening yet.
A V-shaped recession?
As James Morley has pointed out, often a sharp economic downturn is followed by an equally sharp economic recovery. One reason for that is the liquidation of inventories that accompanies any recession and restocking that takes place in recovery. What should we expect this time?
On grilling the Fed Chair
I got a bit angry at accounts of the latest appearance of Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke before the U.S. Congress.