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Econbrowser

Analysis of current economic conditions and policy

Yes the future deficits are worrisome

Paul Krugman ([1],
[2],
[3]) has been arguing vigorously that U.S. budget deficits are no cause for concern. I see things differently.

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This entry was posted on November 25, 2009 by James_Hamilton.

Debt and Interest Rates: Some Empirical Evidence and Implications

Today’s NYT article suggests apocalypse (very) soon:

…the government faces a payment shock similar to those that sent legions of overstretched homeowners into default on their mortgages.

Do we really need to worry so much in the short term?

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This entry was posted on November 23, 2009 by Menzie Chinn.

Factors in local house price declines

UCSD Ph.D. candidate Sam Dastrup has completed a very interesting study with his advisor Professor Richard Carson of what accounts for differences across U.S. communities in the magnitude of the decline in real estate prices that we’ve seen over the last several years.

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This entry was posted on November 22, 2009 by James_Hamilton.

Baselines, Counterfactuals and the Stimulus

Apropos the post on evaluating the impact of the stimulus, here is graphical depiction of what IHS Global Insight, Macroeconomic Advisers, and Moody’s predicted under the counterfactual of no stimulus against the w/stimulus outlook (from NYT).

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This entry was posted on November 21, 2009 by Menzie Chinn.

China, the Renminbi, and Global Imbalances: A Quantitative View

President Obama’s trip to China has returned to scrutiny the role of China’s currency and macroeconomic policies in perpetuating global imbalances. [0] [1] [2]

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This entry was posted on November 19, 2009 by Menzie Chinn.

GDP: Revisions and Forecasts

There’s been some discussion of how the GDP estimates for 2009Q3 might be revised downward in light of the September trade release [1]. e-Forecasting has presented its latest estimates up to October, and Macroeconomic Advisers through September. Macroeconomic Advisers writes:

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This entry was posted on November 19, 2009 by Menzie Chinn.

Receiver operating characteristics curve

Travis Berge and Oscar Jorda of the University of California, Davis have an interesting new paper on statistical criteria for distinguishing economic expansions from recessions.

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This entry was posted on November 18, 2009 by James_Hamilton.

Assessing the Impact of Government Policy on Widget Consumption and Widget Sector Capital Usage

Let supply and demand for widgets (y) be given by the following two equations, respectively:

(1) yt = αt + β x t + ε t

(2) yt = γ + δ x t + Γ z t + u t

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This entry was posted on November 16, 2009 by Menzie Chinn.

The Global Surface Temperature Anomaly

From NOAA’s National Climate Data Center:

global-jan-dec-error-bar-pg.gif

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This entry was posted on November 16, 2009 by Menzie Chinn.

Commodity inflation

Why are the prices of so many commodities rising in an economy that seems to remain quite weak?

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This entry was posted on November 15, 2009 by James_Hamilton.

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Authors

James D. Hamilton is Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego

Menzie Chinn is Professor of Public Affairs and Economics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison

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