In the wake of the midterm elections, and the failure to renew Vietnamese PNTR, there has been a lot of talk about how more protectionist Democratic lawmakers are. See WaPo, The Economist (pre-election) [sub.req.], WSJ [sub.req.] and here. Greg Mankiw also steps in the fray.
Housing stats look bad
Much worse numbers for housing than I was expecting were announced today by the Census Bureau.
Can Gravity Be Defied?
“Dark Matter”, like all stories about free lunches, still excites lots of people’s imagination, as evidenced by the reaction to my post on the subject a week ago. Here is one picture that should further temper the excitement.
Ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, Bob
After the learned New York critics savaged my beloved Twyla Tharp/Bob Dylan musical, I was pleased to see that Right Wing Bob knows the score.
The Expansion Compared
There was a lot of mystification why the electorate was so concerned about the economy, when aggregate measures of economic performance were signalling positive.
Current Account Imbalances, Again
At the 7th annual IMF Research Conference, Olivier Blanchard discussed in the keynote lecture whether it makes sense to worry about the U.S. current acount deficit.
The yield curve and the term premium
Some new studies suggest that the yield curve inversion might not be quite as ominous as some of us have been assuming.
RIP, Dark Matter As Cure-All
Two recent publications should help put to rest the conjecture that there are vast pools of U.S. wealth lying overseas, ready to save the day.
Mortgage rates and new home sales
This is the third of three posts based on my new research paper titled Daily Monetary Policy Shocks and the Delayed Response of New Home Sales, in which I describe the delays between Fed policy actions and what happens in the housing market.
How Big Is the Housing Overhang?
There’s a lot of evidence of a rising inventory of unsold housing, and a big decline in housing sales. Can a more quantitative, stock-based figure be obtained?