A few quick links:
From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
The Republican Party of Wisconsin has made an open records request for the emails of a University of Wisconsin professor of history, geography and environmental studies in an apparent response to a blog post the professor wrote about a group called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
That’s the title of a new working paper by Xiaoli Chen (Shandong University) and Yin-Wong Cheung (UCSC). Readers might recognize Cheung as a co-author with G. Ma and R. McCauley on a 2010 BIS paper, discussed in this May 2010 Econbrowser post, and just published in Pacific Economic Review. For anybody who is interested in the latest developments in the Chinese government’s attempts to internationalize the Renminbi, this is essential reading. From the summary of the paper.
A few graphs I found interesting.
From National Journal (h/t Ezra Klein):
The House Agriculture Committee endorsed a letter this week to Budget Chairman Paul Ryan arguing that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which helps low-income Americans purchase food, would make a better target for cuts than automatic subsidies to farms.
Yesterday’s NYT article, Crises in Japan Ripple Across the Global Economy noted:
In the wake of Japan’s cascading disasters, signs of economic loss can be found in many corners of the globe, from Sendai, on the battered Japanese coast, to Paris to Marion, Ark.
And Walker (Still) Plans No-Bid Sales of Power Plants, the $7.5 million worth of damages to the Capitol building becomes $347,000 (maybe), and the expanding politicization of the civil service.
Economy-wide Impacts
From Wisconsin State Journal:
Gov. Scott Walker’s plans to balance the state budget by cutting spending and public workers’ take-home pay will slow the state’s economic recovery, according to projections by a UW-Madison economist.
A dominant class of economic theories is built on the assumption that prices respond only sluggishly to new economic conditions. It’s an interesting challenge to try to reconcile that premise with what we see in the data.
From Reuters:
A coordinated move by central banks of rich nations to stabilize the yen’s value appeared to be having a decisive effect on Friday, after a sharp rise in the yen after Japan’s devastating earthquake and nuclear crisis raised fears about the global economy.
Recent commentary on whether real interest rates rose during the Reagan era tax cuts — Kling responding to Krugman — impelled me to look at the data…