News
CNN: Money | The Great Recession's lost generation
About 60% of recent graduates have not been able to find a full-time job in their chosen profession, according to job placement firm Adecco.
Fox News | Construction of New Homes Plummeted in April
Builders broke ground on 10.6% fewer new homes last month. The seasonally adjusted rate fell to 523,000 homes per year.
Market Watch | U.S. industrial output flat, hurt by Japan quake
U.S. industrial production was flat in April as a shortage of parts due to Japan’s earthquake slowed auto production, the Federal Reserve reported Tuesday.
Econ Comments
Washington Times | RAHN: Democracy versus economic growth
Is democracy incompatible with long-run economic growth? One’s initial reaction may be that this is a silly question, but in this day of a global debt crisis, it is worth recalling the warnings of America’s Founding Fathers that when the people find they can vote themselves benefits, that will bring along the end of the republic.The Founders understood the problems of democracies and why all of the previous democracies had failed, going back to ancient Athens.
Financial Times | Finding the right time for re-privatization
One key question governments must address having bailed out their banks is when to sell again.
Washington Times | FEULNER: Saving the American dream
Hard times demand clear thinking, smart decisions, tough choices - and action. The future of our nation is at stake.
Investor's | Four Pro-Growth Axioms To Avert Shared Scarcity
A phrase you hear in Washington a lot these days is "shared sacrifice." To an alarming degree, the budget debate has degenerated into a game of green-eyeshade arithmetic, with many in Washington demanding that we trade ephemeral spending restraints for large, permanent tax increases.
CNN: Money | Social Security's real problem is not the trust fund
Social Security's real problem is not the trust fund.
Blogs
Forbes | Governments Are The Primary Creators Of Systemic Risk
The greatest lesson of the still young 21st century is proving to be that governments are the primary source of systemic risk to the economy, our standard of living, and our liberty.
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Top 10 Thriving Industries
Not every industry was decimated by the recession, in fact some areas of the economy are thriving.
Crazybear | Structural Shift in the Economy
It's becoming a more or less accepted economic theory that a large part component of our current recession is structural. This means that during the housing bubble we had lots of people in housing related jobs (construction worker, realtor ), but once the bubble burst those jobs ceased to exist, and the people formerly employed in them have not found new work.
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Goods Prices Increase, as Services Costs Lag
Goods prices face upward pressure because goods tend to be globally traded and are getting pushed higher in part by demand abroad. Meanwhile, service prices, which are less subject to the whims of demand from abroad, are being held back because there’s so much slack in the domestic economy.
Heritage Foundation | Protecting Ineffective Programs Doesn’t Protect the Poor
The mere intention of a government program to help the poor doesn’t mean it actually achieves that goal. And allowing unsustainable spending on government welfare isn’t the most effective—or moral—way to protect the vulnerable.
Reports
NBER | Pensions in the 2000s: the Lost Decade?
One of the most dramatic changes in the retirement income system over the last three decades has been a decline in traditional defined benefit (DB) pension plans and a corresponding rise in defined contribution (DC) pensions. Have workers benefited from this change?
