Wisconsin Economy Watch 1

Wisconsin employment has now fallen below pre-recession peaks…
[Updated, with comments from WMC and Lt. Gov. Kleefisch; warning – your head will hurt after reading]

Figures released this afternoon indicate the three month change in nonfarm payroll employment and civilian employment have been negative for two and three months respectively. Since the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) memo makes no mention of this, I think it useful to document the negative trends in Wisconsin employment.

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Guest Contribution: “What Europeans think about Europe in the aftermath of the crisis”

Today, we’re fortunate to have a guest contribution by Jeffry Frieden, Stanfield Professor of International Peace at Harvard University, and author of the newly published book Currency Politics: The Political Economy of Exchange Rate Policy (Princeton University Press, 2015). This post is based upon this paper.

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Wisconsin: Real Wages Are the Same as They Were in January 2011

In my interview with NPR’s Jim Zarolli, the question came up about wage developments. Embarrassingly, I had no opinion, having not looked at the data (I know that doesn’t stop some people from opining; in any case, that question and lots of other stuff didn’t make it into the piece that aired). Well, I looked up the data, and surprisingly the level of real hourly earnings in May 2015 is the same as it was in January 2011(!).

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Greece: Is Internal Devaluation Enough?

Even if Greek Prime Minister Tsipras is able to maneuver the new agreement through the parliament [0], it’s not clear to me that — even with the aid and reprofiling of debt — Greece will resume growth (see discussion O’Brien/Wonkblog). That’s true even though there has been noticeable adjustment in production costs in Greece.

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Discussing Walker’s Record on the Wisconsin Economy

I was interviewed for an NPR piece run today:

link to audio

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Possible scenarios for Greece

It’s very clear that two things have to happen from here. First, Greece needs relief from its mountain of debt, and second, the country needs to find a way to become more competitive economically.
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The Information Content of the ALEC-Laffer-Moore-Williams Economic Outlook Ranking

An Econometric Assessment of the World according to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)

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China: The Stock Market Meltdown Continues

The stock market continued to decline today, despite vigorous efforts by the authorities. That being said, perspective is required.

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Some Recent Research on Exchange Rates

Here is some interesting work I’ve seen recently in Paris and Cambridge, MA.

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Ongoing Developments in China

While eyes are on developments in Greece (and rightly so), I thought it would be useful to spend a moment on the uncertainty regarding the Chinese economy’s course (not that I’m the first to point out).

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Econbrowser

Analysis of current economic conditions and policy

Wisconsin Economy Watch 1

Guest Contribution: “What Europeans think about Europe in the aftermath of the crisis”

Wisconsin: Real Wages Are the Same as They Were in January 2011

Greece: Is Internal Devaluation Enough?

Discussing Walker’s Record on the Wisconsin Economy

Possible scenarios for Greece

The Information Content of the ALEC-Laffer-Moore-Williams Economic Outlook Ranking

China: The Stock Market Meltdown Continues

Some Recent Research on Exchange Rates

Ongoing Developments in China