Last week, I attended a conference organized by Eduardo Fernandez-Arias and Alessandro Rebucci at the Inter-American Development Bank. One of the panels focused on the impact of China on Latin America’s economy.
Non-Economic Question of the Day: Should I Take My (US) Passport If I Visit Arizona?
Reading this factsheet pertaining to SB 1070, I think the answer is yes.
Follow the money
What happened to housing and financial markets over the last decade? To find out, follow the money.
The Administration’s February Forecast Compared to Current Expectations
Back in February, some observers were characterizing the Administration’s forecast as too rosy. Now, the Administration forecast is looking positively pessimistic by comparison to private sector forecasters, at least over 2010.
Improving the fuel efficiency of U.S. light vehicles
I recently highlighted grounds for pessimism about the ease with which the U.S. could significantly change our oil consumption habits. Here I highlight some interesting new research by U.C. Davis economics professor Christopher Knittel which offers a more optimistic assessment.
Data Based Assessment of the Unemployment Insurance Impact on UE
From the San Francisco Fed’s Valletta and Kuang (h/t RTE/Derby):
Although economists have shown that extended availability of UI benefits will increase unemployment duration, the effect in the latest downturn appears quite small compared with other determinants of the unemployment rate. Our analyses suggest that extended UI benefits account for about 0.4 percentage point of the nearly 6 percentage point increase in the national unemployment rate over the past few years. It is not surprising that the disincentive effects of UI would loom small in the midst of the most severe labor market downturn since the Great Depression.
Joe Lawler and Joe Stiglitz Agree!
Or, on economic costs versus budget costs
From American Spectator, Joe Lawler writes:
“The cost … to the budget, though, is not the only relevant cost.”
Consumers get more pessimistic
The Reuters/Michigan index of consumer sentiment tumbled four points in April. Could just be measurement noise, or could be that something new is pressing down on consumers.
Granger causality
Hal Varian passes along this amusing result if you query Google Insights for Search for searches on “mixed drinks” and “hangovers.”
Recent estimates of Chinese Yuan misalignment
Yin-Wong Cheung, Eiji Fujii and I have just written a chapter for a VoxEU book The US-Sino Currency Dispute edited by Simon Evenett (link to blog post). After discussing the various approaches to measuring misalignment, we summarize the most recent estimates of CNY undervaluation.