News
Market Watch | Russia’s WTO entrance redraws global resource map
Russia’s acceptance into the World Trade Organization last month didn’t just mark an end to nearly two decades of negotiations, but opened a door to free up global trade with a nation that is one of the world’s largest oil producers and home to the globe’s biggest natural gas reserves.
Bloomberg | China Manufacturing Contraction Boosts Case for Monetary Easing: Economy
A Chinese purchasing managers’ index signaled manufacturing may contract for a third month as a slowing economy boosts the case for the government to further loosen credit controls.
National Journal | Senate Online-Piracy Bill Faces Long Odds
Controversial legislation targeting foreign websites that offer pirated content or counterfeit goods faces increasingly long odds in the Senate ahead of a key vote on Tuesday.
Econ Comments & Analysis
AEI | America seems poised to take off in 2012
The U.S. economy has been doing poorly for so long now that it's easy to get dispirited. But there are several reasons to think 2012 might be a good one for American economic performance.
Motley Fool | Why Falling Home Ownership Is a Good Thing
Ever since the end of the boom years of the early 2000s, the housing market has struggled to hit bottom, seemingly plowing ever lower even after years of declines.
Washington Times | MILLER: Simple entitlement reform
Social Security and Medicare’s growing liabilities are driving this nation toward a Greek-style debt crisis. Politicians know the current system is unsustainable and that raising the retirement age is a necessary reform. Few are brave enough to risk doing the right thing.
NBER | Recessions and the Cost of Job Loss
We develop new evidence on the cumulative earnings losses associated with job displacement, drawing on longitudinal Social Security records for U.S. workers from 1974 to 2008.
Blogs
Greg Mankiw | Five Observations about Progressivity
There has been a lot of discussion recently about tax progressivity. A few observations on the topic.
CATO | FHA and the Foreclosures of Tomorrow
The recently released Federal Reserve White Paper on the Housing Market has received considerable attention, at least for its policy proposals.
The Corner | Is the Middle Class Shrinking?
Over at the Agenda, the excellent Scott Winship of the Brookings Institution isn’t convinced by claims that the middle class is disappearing
Free Banking | Missing from the debate on multipliers
Scott Sumner and Paul Krugman have been going back and forth about fiscal multipliers, in a debate with many other participants.
Heritage Foundation | Global Economics: When China Is Not Just China
The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) relationship with Iran receives a good deal of attention. As the U.S. considers how to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons program short of military action, the PRC is considered vital in ensuring economic sanctions are effective. But it has been difficult to win Chinese cooperation in applying sanctions.