Since Jim laid out some of the proposals for addressing the mortgage problem, I thought I’d put in my two cents worth.
Solutions to the mortgage problem
Quick links to a few of the suggestions out there on what to do about pending mortgage defaults.
A disappearing budget deficit, if…
The CBO has released its budget and economic outlook update.
San Diego plans for the future
With all the excitement over the last few weeks, I never had a chance to mention this remarkable account of the long-run vision of San Diego’s City Council.
Latest economic indicators
New home sales picked up in July, and new orders for durable and capital goods grew strongly. But that was then and this is now.
How does China retain monetary autonomy?
As I discussed in earlier posts, China retains some policy autonomy by virtue of the presence of capital controls. A recent working paper by Ma and McCauley attempts to quantify how binding the controls are.
Whee!
Who knew holding short-term Treasuries could be so exciting?
Worse than 1998?
From IDEAGlobal, FX Alert, August 21:
What does the cut in the Fed’s discount rate signal?
Some analysts, and perhaps the market, seemed to view Friday’s cut in the Federal Reserve discount rate as a first step in lowering interest rates generally. That view may prove to be correct, though I’m inclined to look first for an explanation in terms of the narrow tactical challenges of managing current liquidity needs.
Saving Glut Reversed? A Historical Analogy and Conjecture about US Adjustment
One interpretation of recent global capital flows is that the collapse in investment in East Asia post-crisis, combined with stable saving rates in ex-China developing Asia, led to an excess of saving in that region (so really the term of “investment drought” is better). Note that there was no excess saving until the collapse of unsustainable lending associated with bubbles, or crony capitalism, or — in other models — behavior of investors implicitly “insured” against losses. While this is a voluminous literature, it’s interesting to me that few analysts have observed that a similar occurence can not be ruled out in the current unfolding drama in the ever expanding but always containable subprime mortgage crisis.