Yes, it’s coming! The all new (well, actually it’s somewhat similar to last year’s) 2013 Econbrowser NCAA tournament challenge. Here we once again invite all Econbrowser readers to test your skill (or luck) at predicting the outcomes of the U.S. college mens’ basketball tournament. All you have to do is go to the Econbrowser group at ESPN, do some minor registering to create a free ESPN account if you haven’t used that site before, and fill in your bracket with who you think might be the winners of each game. Just be sure you complete your predictions before Thursday, because the Econbrowser group does not allow changes in your bracket after the tournament begins on Thursday. And be forewarned that some of the people who compete in the Econbrowser NCAA challenge really know what they’re doing!
What’s going to happen to the Fed’s balance sheet?
The Federal Reserve has increased its assets from $900 billion in 2007 to over $3,150 billion and still climbing today. On the liabilities side of the Fed’s balance sheet, reserve balances held by banks have gone from $10 B in 2007 to $1,750 B and climbing today. My expectation had always been that this would be a temporary situation, with a return to historical norms when economic conditions improved. Recently, three different teams have independently studied what that transition back to normal might look like. One study was carried out by Robert Hall and Ricardo Reis (professors at Stanford and Columbia, respectively) and another by Seth Carpenter, Jane Ihrig, Elizabeth Klee, Alexander Boote, and Daniel Quinn (all economists at the Federal Reserve Board). I participated in a third study with David Greenlaw at Morgan Stanley, Peter Hooper at Deutsche Bank, and Frederic Mishkin at Columbia. Our analysis used a similar methodology to that conducted by the Fed staff, and we reached similar conclusions to theirs, while Hall and Reis took a broader and more theoretical perspective. Here I describe the methods and findings of our study.
The Cyclically Adjusted Budget Balance: Shrinking Rapidly
The CBO has just released estimates of the cyclically adjusted budget balance (or, specifically, the budget balance without automatic stabilizers). The cyclically adjusted budget balance is a better measure of the fiscal stance. The evolution of this series is interesting.
Stevenson and Wolfers: “Is Paul Ryan an Inflation Nutter?”
Additional evidence addressing the question asked by Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers.
Why I’m more worried than Paul Krugman about the U.S. debt burden
I have been writing recently ([1], [2]) about my paper Crunch Time: Fiscal Crises and the Role of Monetary Policy, co-authored with David Greenlaw (Managing Director and Chief U.S. Fixed Income Economist for Morgan Stanley), Peter Hooper (Managing Director and Chief Economist for Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.), and Frederic Mishkin (professor at Columbia University and former governor of the Federal Reserve). Our paper has generated some interesting discussion by
Paul Krugman and
Matthew O’Brien, among others, to which I’d like to respond.
Assessing the Economics of the Ryan Plan
The new House budget proposal has just been released. [0] In the section discussing economic effects, I read the following:
Revisions and Conditioning, Again
An interesting new working paper, “Quarterly GDP Revisions in G-20 Countries,” by Manik Shrestha and Marco Marini, documents the fact that at the end of 2008, statistics understated the true extent of U.S. GDP decline.
Does the U.S. risk a fiscal tipping point?
In my previous post
I reviewed the recent experience of a number of countries whose sovereign debt levels became sufficiently high that creditors began to have doubts about the government’s ability to stabilize debt relative to GDP. When this happens, the government starts to face a higher interest rate, which makes debt stabilization all the more difficult. Is there any danger of the same adverse feedback loop starting to matter for the United States?
ECRI’s Lakshman Achuthan: U.S. recession began around the middle of last year
I’m dubious, but I will not “pull a Lazear”. Or a Don Luskin for that matter.
Still in Search of Expansionary Fiscal Contraction
The revisions in Euro zone and UK GDP figures have confirmed the lackluster performance in economies where rapid fiscal consolidation has been implemented. In the Euro zone, estimated growth has now been negative for five quarters. And in the UK, revised figures indicate negative growth for 2012Q4. In contrast, the US has exhibited continued, albeit modest, growth.