Homosocial Reproduction and Economic Policy Formulation in the White House

Word is that Stephen Moore is in the mix for NEC staff. I think he would fit in perfectly in the Trump White House (hence the reference to Rosabeth Moss Kantor’s concept of “homosocial reproduction”). After all, NEC Chair Kudlow just said the budget deficit is shrinking. Now, consider these instances of Mr. Moore’s sheer mendacity (or, I admit, it could be statistical incompetence):

Continue reading →

Is California in Recession (Part VII)

Back in mid-December, Political Calculations asked if California was in recession.

Going by these [household survey based labor market] measures, it would appear that recession has arrived in California, which is partially borne out by state level GDP data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. [text as accessed on 12/27/2017]

The release of May state-level employment and coincident index figures provides an opportunity to revisit this question — it’s likely no recession occurred.

First, the coincident indicators for California and US:
Continue reading →