Having offered my assessment of the effects of the Fed’s second round of quantitative easing (QE2), I wanted to mention briefly the takes of some other observers.
Extending unemployment benefits
Here I make two quick observations on the policies being discussed.
Evaluating QE2
On November 3, the Federal Reserve announced some new monetary policy measures that have been popularly (if perhaps inaccurately) referred to as a second round of quantitative easing, or QE2. What effects, if any, does QE2 seem to have had so far?
Trade and Credit, Again
From Off the Cliff and Back? Credit Conditions and International Trade during the Global Financial Crisis, by Davin Chor and Kalina Manova:
Worrying about oil prices
The price of oil moved above $90 a barrel yesterday. Is it time to become concerned about the possible macroeconomic effects?
The Correlation between Money Base Growth and Inflation
I’ve been reading through undergraduate textbooks, trying to figure out where the idea that money base expansion must necessarily manifest itself in higher inflation. In Stephen Williamson‘s macro textbook, he argues that fears of inflation are motivated by the view that eventually, money base expansion will feed into money expansion (box on pp. 432), despite the fact that there is no obvious contemporaneous correlation between the two variables.
Still no strength in this rebound
The new news looks to me like the same old news.
The Hill: “Senate rejects million-dollar tax-cut compromise in Saturday session”
Or more clearly, all Senate Republicans plus one four Democrats reject a tax cut for incomes below one million dollars. From The Hill:
Republicans had held firm in recent weeks that the tax cuts — designed to benefit the wealthiest Americans — should be permanently extended as a whole. Democrats had argued that only the cuts for the middle class should be extended, also blasting Republicans for failing to propose any spending cuts or revenue increases to pay for all of the cuts.
CEA Assessment of the the Impact of Letting UI Extensions Expire
From the CEA’s report “The Economic Impact of Recent Temporary Unemployment Insurance Extensions” released earlier today.
Chicken**** Passes House
(That’s not my phrase, it’s Rep. Boehner’s). Or, tax cut extension for income less than $250,000 passes. From The Hill:
House passes middle-class tax bill with three Republicans supporting
By Vicki Needham – 12/02/10 04:00 PM ET
The House passed by a vote of 234-188 a measure that permanently extends expiring middle-class tax cuts and provides a patch for the alternative minimum tax.