An article I wrote on Saudi Arabia’s Ghawar oil field appears in the latest issue of Atlantic magazine. I’m putting up this post primarily to provide a forum for readers who might want to offer comments on that discussion.
Borrowing short and lending long
Here I elaborate on the description of the nature of current problems in financial markets that I offered at the Fed’s Jackson Hole conference last week.
August auto sales
August light-vehicle sales give us an early indication of how the real side of the economy is holding up under the financial turmoil that began August 9. And the results are not too bad, considering.
OECD downgrades growth
The OECD has just released What is the economic outlook for OECD countries? An interim assessment (5th September 2007), which reduces US 2007 y/y growth by 0.2 percentage points relative to what was forecasted five months ago. Yet, in a testament to how fast-moving the situation is, that reduction in growth estimates might have been too conservative (consider today’s pending house sales numbers).
AWOL on safety regulation and the protectionist surge
Many observers have long worried about protectionist pressures even as the economy operates at full-employment. What, I wonder, will occur when the economy slows appreciably and unemployment increases, against a backdrop where the safety of imports is already at issue? Those of us who believe that a open and free trading regime is preferable to a restrictd trading regime should be concerned.
Another suggestion for the GSEs
George Washington University Professor Richard Green has another suggestion for addressing the market distortions generated by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae that I mentioned in my comments at Jackson Hole.
The Taylor Rule and the housing boom
Stanford Professor John Taylor presented another very interesting paper at the Jackson Fed conference.
Comments on Housing and the Monetary Transmission Mechanism
Here are the comments that I delivered this morning at the Fed Jackson Hole conference.
Bernanke and Gramlich on the subprime issue
Also featured yesterday at the Federal Reserve conference in Jackson Hole were speeches by Fed Chair Ben Bernanke and former Fed Governor Edward Gramlich.
Report from Jackson Hole
Here are some brief impressions about this morning’s papers at the Federal Reserve conference.