News
Bloomberg | U.S. February Wholesale Inventories Rise 0.9%, Sales Climb 1.2%
Inventories at U.S. wholesalers rose more than forecast in February as companies tried to keep pace with stronger demand.
WSJ | Fed Backs Added Fund Rules
More regulatory action may be needed to safeguard the money-market mutual-fund industry, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a Monday speech, putting his weight behind other officials who want to toughen oversight of the $2.7 trillion industry.
Market Watch | NFIB small-business index drops after six gains
A small-business sentiment gauge dropped in March after six monthly gains in a row, on diminished optimism over employment, inventories and earnings. The National Federation of Independent Business small-business optimism index fell to 92.5 in March from 94.3 in February.
Bloomberg | Profit Growth Stalls as European Slump Hampers Recovery
U.S. corporate profit growth stalled in the U.S. last quarter as companies from McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) to 3M Co. (MMM) saw gains in the world’s largest economy eroded by a slump in Europe.
USA Today | U.S. to propose new mortgage lending rules
The federal government plans to propose new rules on Tuesday that will give homeowners more ways to avoid foreclosure and get an accurate accounting of their monthly mortgage payments.
FOX News | Natural gas company proposes North Dakota-Oklahoma oil pipeline
A natural gas company on Monday announced a proposal to get into the crude oil business by building its own 1,300-mile oil pipeline from North Dakota to the nation's biggest storage terminal in central Oklahoma.
CNN Money | Refinery closures risk Northeast gas price spike
While gas prices soar to record levels, many U.S. refineries that make and sell gasoline are going broke.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Real Clear Markets | Wait a Second, We Are the 99.9999%
Months since Occupy Wall Street stopped preoccupying Main Street, income concentration at the top continues to feature prominently in the news and politics. The extent to which the incomes of the super-rich dwarf those of the rest of us in "the 99 percent" is difficult to convey.
City Journal | Growing Out of Poverty
According to a just-published World Bank report, the percentage of people living on less than $1.25 per day—or its local equivalent—has plummeted from 52 percent of the global population in 1981 to 22 percent in 2008. The World Bank doesn’t provide more recent data, but other indices show that the 2008 financial crisis did not interrupt this trend.
Washington Times | The greatest nation on Earth
How did it happen? Under President Obama, America is following the European socialist model of big government, big spending, big entitlements, big taxes, free health care and billions wasted chasing a mirage called “green energy.” The result is massive debt, insolvency and bankruptcy.
NBER | The Causal Effects of an Industrial Policy
Business support policies designed to raise productivity and employment are common worldwide, but rigorous micro-econometric evaluation of their causal effects is rare. We exploit multiple changes in the area-specific eligibility criteria for a major program to support manufacturing jobs (“Regional Selective Assistance”).
AEI | Is China slowing down?
China has a unique opportunity to demonstrate its maturity as a player in the global economy. Through stimulus measures to its own economy, China could push for a bigger global economic pie rather than increase its share of a shrinking pie and in the process influence global economic growth in 2012.
Blogs
Atlantic | 4 Politically Controversial Issues Where All Economists Agree
Over the past few months there have been several issues where this ideologically diverse group of economists have shown resounding unanimity. Some of these may surprise people, as it's fairly obvious that public opinion would not side with economists with the same amount of unanimity. So here are a few things economists strongly agree on.
Café Hayek | The Great Distortion
This week’s EconTalk is with Richard Burkhauser on the state of the middle class over the last 40 years and the importance of assumptions.
