NFP employment increase of 311K beat the Bloomberg consensus of 205K. This number confirms the continued strength in the economy overall, at least according to the key indicators followed by the NBER BCDC plus S&P Global (nee IHS Markit) monthly GDP.
Author Archives: Menzie Chinn
The Administration’s GDP Forecast
The FY 24 Budget was released today. Because the forecast was locked down in late November, and the macro outlook has changed so much, the administration felt compelled to add an “Update on the Administration’s Economic Assumptions”. Here’s the forecast (based on Table S-9 in the Budget).
“Biden Trump Grows National Debt by 11% in Two Years”
This is a corrected title of a mendacious (and typically statistically incompetent) article by Craig Eyermann in an Independent Institute blogpost (previously highlighted as Ironman of PoliticalCalculations). He writes:
Econ 702 Exercise – The Neoclassical Model: GDP and Shocks
Consider the following model (from Garin, Lester and Sims):
r vs. g
Olivier Blanchard and Larry Summers had an interesting exchange about interest rates and secular stagnation, and target inflation rates today, at PIIE. Blanchard mentioned the evolution of r vs. g as a key issue in thinking about secular stagnation, and this spurred me to look at the data.
Recession 6 Months Away?
Following up on the proposition that the recession is seemingly always six months away (as noted in WSJ’s ‘Godot’ recession”), I thought it would be interesting to see if the market had been saying a similar thing. To wit, here’s the one year-6 month Treasury spread.
The “Godot” Recession?
From WSJ:
“It’s the ‘Godot’ recession,” said Ray Farris, chief economist at Credit Suisse. Mr. Farris found himself among a small minority of economists last fall who predicted the economy would narrowly skirt a downturn this year. Every six months, economists have predicted a recession six months later, he said. “By the middle of the year, people will still be expecting a recession in six months’ time.”
Expect More of This
House Representative Gooden’s recent comments discussed in LA Times:
Russia: Waiting for Inflation?
I found this paragraph from a Re:Russia article of interest:
January 2023 Russian GDP Growth is -3.2% y/y
Year-on-year 2022 is -2.1%.