News
WSJ | Euro-Zone Factory Output Rises Again
Industrial production in the 17 countries that share the euro rose for the second straight month in August, driven by a surge in output of durable consumer goods that suggests southern European economies may be on the mend.
Market Watch | Retail sales jump 1.1% in September
U.S. retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 1.1% in September, as spending rose for every segment except department stores, the Commerce Department said Monday.
Bloomberg | Global Economy Distress 3.0 Looms as Emerging Markets Fal
The global economy is facing its third major brake on expansion in five years as emerging markets slow from China to Brazil, provoking debate about how much policy makers should respond.
WSJ | OECD Chief: ECB Credibility at Risk
The delay in actually deploying the European Central Bank's new backstop offer for troubled euro-zone nations is eroding confidence that the so-called "bazooka" will work, the head of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned Friday.
Market Watch | Oct. Empire State index contracts for third month
The Empire State manufacturing index increased slightly but remained in negative territory for the third straight month, the New York Federal Reserve Bank said Monday.
Bloomberg | Business Economists Reduce U.S. GDP Growth Forecasts
Business economists cut their U.S. growth outlook for next year to 2.4 percent as companies and consumers restrain spending, a survey released today showed.
CNN Money | A new housing boom
The long-battered housing market is finally starting to get back on its feet. But some experts believe it could soon become another housing boom.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | Obamanomics hasn’t worked
Sen. Claire McCaskill, Missouri Democrat, once told Fox News that President Obama’s $833 billion stimulus was “wildly successful.” As the Election Day draws near, it’s important to have a clear view of the impact of the president’s major legislative achievement second only to Obamacare.
WSJ | The Retreat of Globalization
The popular wisdom has it that trade and investment continue apace across national borders. After all, globalization—connecting capital and labor, producers and consumers, emerging economies and their more mature counterparts—has led the world-wide surge in economic activity for the last three decades.
Washington Post | The BRIC rescue that wasn’t
The acronym stands for Brazil-Russia-India-China. Coined by economist Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs, it symbolizes the rise of once-poor countries (“emerging markets”) into economic powerhouses.
NY Times | That Blurry Line Between Makers and Takers
Mitt Romney has apologized for his depiction of 47 percent of America as wealth takers rather than wealth makers. But his blunder touched inadvertently on some discomforting truths about the importance of politics in income distribution in the United States.
Minyanville | Just How Much Should We Trust the Congressional Budget Office?
In a hyper-polarized political world, the Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, has become the go-to source for politicians whenever they want to argue their cases, because of its reputation of non-partisanship, which instantly confers credibility.
FOX Business | Study: Public Pensions Underfunded by $1.2B
The largest 100 public pension funds have around $1.2 trillion of unfunded liabilities, about $300 billion above the nearly $900 billion they reported themselves, according to a new actuarial study to be released on Monday.
NBER | The Distributional Effects of the Social Security Windfall Elimination Provision
Millions of federal, state and local government employees have lifetime earnings that are divided between employment that is covered by the Social Security system and employment that is not covered.
CATO | The Keynesian Path to Fiscal Irresponsibility
The basic idea behind Keynesian policy for achieving stable economic growth is straightforward, and superficially plausible. When the economy is in a downturn with underutilized resources, Keynesians believe the federal government should increase aggregate demand by increasing deficit spending through some combination of more spending and lower taxes.
Blogs
Calculated Risk | Schedule for Week of Oct 14th
This will be a very busy week for economic data. There are three key housing reports to be released this week: October homebuilder confidence on Tuesday, September housing starts on Wednesday, and September existing home sales on Friday.
Political Calculations | U.S. and China Trade Growth Hits Zero
Looking at the just published trade data between the U.S. and China, it would appear that both the U.S. and China have fallen into recession. Both nations are now showing near-zero annualized growth rates for the value of goods and services traded between them in August 2012
Calculated Risk | Unofficial Problem Bank list declines to 872 Institutions
As anticipated, minor changes were made to the Unofficial Problem Bank List this week.
WSJ | Debate Rages Over Recoveries From Financial Crises
While the presidential candidates battle over the Obama administration’s handling of the U.S. economy, some prominent economists are going to war over a related subject.
Daily Capitalist | An “Austrian” In China
It’s a rare afternoon in the Chinese capital when smog hasn’t blocked the skies, and one of China’s most famous economists is in a sanguine mood. The economy is in trouble as the Communist Party heads for a once-in-a-decade transfer of power while prosecuting its former golden boy, Bo Xilai, on criminal charges.
AEI | Economist: This is the weakest post-financial crisis recovery since the 1880s
People are looking for answers to why the economy is growing so slowly. Is the answer that economic growth is normally weak following deep recessions and financial crises?
