News
NY Times | Food inflation kept hidden in tinier bags
'It's sneaky, because they figure people won't know'
CNN Money | Home prices near a double dip
January home prices fell for the sixth month in a row, edging closer to a double dip.
NY Times | More Fees, More Carry-Ons
The price of checking a suitcase on an airplane — $15 to $40 a bag — has added up to more than $6 billion in revenue for airlines in the United States in the last four years, according to Transportation Department statistics. The fees have also led to an increased number of bags being carried onto airplanes.
Fox Business | Consumer Confidence Slides
U.S. consumer confidence fell in March after hitting a three-year high in the prior month as expectations about jobs and income growth worsened, according to a private sector report released on Tuesday.
Econ Comments
Financial Post | William Watson: Inheritance reduces inequality
Inheritances are bigger as a percentage of net worth at the bottom end of the income scale
Ludwig von Mises Institute | World War II Did Not End the Great Depression
The current economic climate has a lot of people talking about the Great Depression. In particular, it has been said by people of divergent political views (George Will and Paul Krugman, for example) that World War II ended the decade-long economic nightmare. Examining this claim is worthwhile because it has implications for whether government intervention generally — and in connection with war specifically — are good for the economy.
Washington Times | ARMEY: State-union battles revive school-choice hope
Worried about their cushy benefits, teachers unions choose to resist
Fortune | Why house prices will keep falling
Unless Ben Bernanke sets off a big inflation wave, house prices are doomed to keep falling for years.
Fox Business | Home Price Double-Dip Is Here
No good news to report in the January Case-Shiller Home Price Index.
Minyanville | Consumer Spending and the Debt Problem
If all we have to do is spend, spend, spend to recover, then we should stop saving, pile up more debt, and spend. But it doesn't work that way.
Blogs
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Top 10 Dying Industries
The U.S. economy is recovering from a severe recession, but some industries are unlikely to ever fully bounce back.
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Rising U.S. Savings Are Part of Global Rebalancing
Saving has become a status symbol in the New Frugality. The fallout of the financial crisis — from mortgage defaults to tattered 401(k) portfolios — taught U.S. households the need to get their balance sheets in better order.
Daily Capitalist | Consumer Spending and the Debt Problem
It seems like we’re having great news today about consumer spending, at least if you read the articles coming from the Journal and Bloomberg. They don’t let you forget that consumer spending is 70% of the economy.
Marginal Revolution | How much productivity growth was there during 2007-2009?
Michael Mandel has a long and excellent blog post on this question. He claims that the supposed productivity gains were concentrated in a small number of sectors (one of which, by the way, was financial services ha-ha) and that they are mostly illusory when cross-checked with other sources of data.
Reports
Mercatus Center | Arnold King: Testimony Before the Senate Banking Committee
The time has come to say no to the mortgage lobby. Send them home empty-handed. Let ordinary Americans win one for a change.
RCM: Wells Fargo | Consumer Spending Picked Up in February…So Did Prices
Personal income increased 0.3 percent in February after a 1.2 percent jump the prior month. Spending picked
up 0.7 percent as a spike in energy prices competes for a larger share of spending.
