The Census Bureau
yesterday released August data for housing permits and new housing starts, both of which confirm that we are in the midst of a significant housing downturn.
Current Account Release for 2006q2
According to the BEA current account release (discussed by Bloomberg here) for the second quarter, net asset-based income on a Balance of Payments basis has been negative for the past three quarters.
Productivity and Compensation
A close-up picture
Steady as she goes
Some analysts, convinced a catastrophe is looming, are starting to jump at shadows. But this week’s numbers do not give me much cause for alarm.
Measuring the U.S.-China trade balance
Some complications
Gasoline prices will fall even more
At the start of this month, I joined others in predicting that U.S. gasoline prices would soon be below $2.50 a gallon. The price has already dropped 20 cents to $2.60 a gallon since then, and it now appears likely to go down at least another 30 cents from here.
The July 2006 Trade Release
How surprising?
“Job Creation Continues: More than 5.7 Million Jobs Created Since August 2003” — White House
Following up on Floyd Norris’s article on how slow employment growth has been during the current expansion, as well as numerous other comments on the Web, I examine other dimensions of labor market performance.
Ex post versus ex ante benefit-cost analysis: Iraq 2003-
Now that the long-delayed Senate report on pre-Iraq War intelligence has finally put the Republican imprimatur on the well-established fact that the case for Iraqi WMD’s had been hyped (as well as the absence of a Iraq-al Qaeda link), we can return our attention to a rational benefit-cost assessment for the invasion and subsequent occupation, ex ante as well as (quasi) ex post.
Big Oil takes on a Big Job
Chevron Corporation announced on Tuesday a promising test from a well deep below the Gulf of Mexico, a project in which Devon Energy Corporation and Statoil each also hold 25% interest.