The answer is “yes”.
Economic Policy Uncertainty and Risk Indices: March 5, 2018
Remember those quaint notions of policy uncertainty holding back growth? Well, what to make of recent moves in uncertainty and risk indices, given all the talk of trade wars?
Figure 1: US daily Economic Policy Uncertainty index from Baker, Bloom and Davis (dark blue), and seven day centered moving average (red). Orange shading denotes Trump Administration. Source: policyuncertainty.com, and author’s calculations.
An Event Study: How Do Equity Markets View National Security-based Trade Protection?
Figure 1: Dow Jones, 15 minute increments. Source: TradingEconomics.
Thanks, Trump: Wisconsin Cheese Edition
Mr. Trump has stated his intention of raising tariffs on steel and aluminum, based on national security grounds. See this post on the specious aspects of this argument, and this recent EconoFact column on the hits to the economy that would result from steel tariffs. The EU has hinted at striking at Wisconsin cheese in retaliation (Wisconsin is the second largest state exporter). This makes perfect sense from a strategic perspective – agriculture is America’s comparative advantage, and Wisconsin’s Representative Paul Ryan is Speaker.
January Goods Trade Balance Dives
Figure 1: Goods trade balance (blue), and trade balance (red), in billions of $, SAAR. Orange shading denotes 2017M01-onward. Source: BEA/Census, author’s calculations.
I think I’ve had enough of “winning so much”.
A skeptical view of the impact of the Fed’s balance sheet
That’s the title of a paper with David Greenlaw, Managing Director of Morgan Stanley, Ethan Harris, head of global economics research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and Kenneth West, professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin, which we presented at the U.S. Monetary Policy Forum annual conference in New York on Friday.
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Guest Contribution: “The February Stock Market Correction”
Today, we present a guest post written by Jeffrey Frankel, Harpel Professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and formerly a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. This is an extended version of a column that appeared at Project Syndicate on February 22nd.
Gotta Tell My Mom, Yet More: Comparing USCIS Mission Statements, Pre- and Post-
In a previous post, and as flagged by reader rtd, I wrote too quickly and did not show the full set of changes to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services mission statement. Apologies for the omission. The wording of the new mission statement — on top of deleting “a nation of immigrants” — are in my mind actually much worse, and I thank rtd for alerting me. Below is a fuller accounting of changes, annotated.
Guest Contribution: rtd Comments on the Deletion of “a Nation of Immigrants” from USCIS Mission Statement
Anonymous reader rtd took issue with my characterization of the modification of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services in this post, characterizing it as “…disingenuous at best and to me seems to be grossly negligent…”. He takes up my invitation to write his comprehensive response, for which I thank him/her.
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Gotta Tell My Mom
[edited to quote current Mission Statement verbatim, per rtd‘s comment; new text in red, original text below in blue]
America under Mr. Trump is transmuted. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) modifies its mission statement from:
“USCIS secures America’s promise as a nation of immigrants by providing accurate and useful information to our customers, granting immigration and citizenship benefits, promoting an awareness and understanding of citizenship, and ensuring the integrity of our immigration system.” [emphasis added – mdc]
to:
“U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services administers the nation’s lawful immigration system, safeguarding its integrity and promise by efficiently and fairly adjudicating requests for immigration benefits while protecting Americans, securing the homeland, and honoring our values.”
[changed text 2/24 12PM Pacific – thanks to rtd for pointing out that “as a nation of immigrants” is not the only thing modified] Original text reads:
…to:
“USCIS secures America’s promise
as a nation of immigrantsby providing accurate and useful information to our customers, granting immigration and citizenship benefits, promoting an awareness and understanding of citizenship, and ensuring the integrity of our immigration system.”
The head of USCIS stated that this change was not at the direction of the White House.