What happens when you mandate use of ethanol and heavily tax its importation?
Negative Net Income: The 2006 Balance of Payments
Most commentary on the 2006q4 current account balance release focused on the improvement in the overall balance. Little noted is the fact that 2006 is the first year in which the net income category has registered negative.
The Term Spread, Cross Country
How does the term spread correlate with recession in other economies?
Subprime fallout
New Century Financial Corporation, formerly one of the nation’s biggest subprime mortgage lenders, has had a spectacular trip up and even more spectacular trip down.
Fannie, Freddie, and Ben
Fed Chair Ben Bernanke had some excellent suggestions last week for congressional action on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The January Trade Balance: Reading the Tea Leaves
Are declining capital imports growth rates an indicator of recession?
Slower employment growth
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today that U.S. nonfarm payrolls, as measured by their survey of establishments, increased by a seasonally adjusted 97,000 workers in February.
WMDs in Iraq, “Last throes…” and… “deficits don’t matter”
According to former Secretary of Treasury Paul O’Neill, Dick Cheney is reputed to have said: “…deficits don’t matter.”
(see Suskind’s The Price of Loyalty, and online here). What’s the (updated) evidence?
Financial crises
Financial or banking panics were a recurrent theme in 19th-century U.S. economic history.
Globalization and Inflation: Thinking about Identification
Recent news articles ([1], [2]) and
blog posts (Economists View,
Big Picture) have discussed Bernanke’s March 2 speech on globalization and inflation.