News
CNN Money | GDP report: Economic growth revised lower
The U.S. economy grew even slower than initially reported in the second quarter, as both consumers and businesses spent less than originally thought, and the drought in the Midwest limited agricultural production.
Bloomberg | Orders for U.S. Goods Excluding Transportation Unexpectedly Drop
Demand for U.S. durable goods other than transportation equipment unexpectedly dropped in August for a third consecutive month, signaling that slowdowns in business investment and exports will further restrain the economic recovery.
CNN Money | Nearly one-in-five households have student loans
Some 19% of households had student loans in 2010, up from 15% just three years earlier, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center released Wednesday.
FOX Business | Pending Home Sales Fall 2.3% in August
Contracts to buy previously owned U.S. homes slipped in August due to a shortage of lower priced inventory in most of the country, an industry group said on Thursday.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Bloomberg | On Keystone, Environmentalists Lose by Winning
TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s proposed $7.6 billion Keystone pipeline system, which would take crude from Alberta’s tar sands down through the Midwest and on to Texas and the Gulf Coast refineries, could be scuttled because of concerns about its potential impact on a major aquifer in Nebraska.
CNN Money | Equal wages, better economy
In which countries do men and women earn a similar amount—and what does that mean for those economies? Fortune investigates.
NBER | Do Patent Pools Encourage Innovation? Evidence from 20 U.S. Industries under the New Deal
Patent pools, which allow competing firms to combine their patents, have emerged as a prominent mechanism to resolve litigation when multiple firms own patents for the same technology.
Heritage Foundation | Obama's End Run on Welfare Reform, Part Two: Dismantling Workfare
In 1996, Congress enacted welfare reform legislation. This reform replaced the old Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program with a new program entitled Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The immediate effects of welfare reform were striking.
Blogs
Market Watch | Fiscal cliff breeds C-suite worries
New surveys out Wednesday of both chief executive officers and chief financial officers cite the “fiscal cliff” — the tax increases and spending cuts looming at the beginning of next year — as weighing on hiring and expanding business.
Political Calculations | The Recovery in Housing Prices
To achieve that level of stability, the U.S. Federal Reserve had to push long-term interest rates below the levels the market would otherwise set to all-time low levels, which it has primarily done using its quantitative easing programs of the last several years.
