News
National Journal | Hearings, Budget Bill May Spark Hot Week on the Hill
With the next fiscal showdowns looming, Democrats in the House and Senate are set to brainstorm on strategy at out-of-town retreats this week. But potentially contentious action at the Capitol is also on tap.
Bloomberg | Orders to U.S. Factories Rose Less Than Forecast in December
Orders placed with U.S. factories increased less than forecast in December, reflecting a drop in non-durable goods that partly countered gains in construction equipment and computers.
WSJ | Low Rates Force Companies to Pour Cash Into Pensions
Ford Motor Co. expects to spend $5 billion this year shoring up its pension funds, almost as much as the auto maker spent last year building plants, buying equipment and developing new cars.
Econ Comments & Analysis
AEI | America's creeping new normalcy
The Japanese have said “Enough.” After a generation of stagnation, they’ve chosen an all-of-the-above policy to boost economic growth. The nation’s new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, is promising a “three arrows” strategy: bold monetary easing, increased public-works spending, and structural changes, such as regulatory reform.
WSJ | The Economics of Immigration
For the first time in a generation, the debate over immigration has turned to the opportunities, not the burdens. Washington might finally deliver immigration reform, especially as politicians realize that adding more skilled workers is the fastest way to boost the economy and avoid a fiscal crisis.
Washington Post | Japan is caught in a stimulus trap
Japan’s new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, is trying to revive the country’s flagging economy, and we could all learn from the exercise. You may recall that, in the 1980s, Japan was widely anointed as the next economic superpower, displacing the United States. It’s been a long slide since.
AEI | Dodd-Frank creates a bizarro world of housing finance
In Superman comics there exists a Bizarro World where the inhabitants do the opposite of all things normal. For example, a salesman does a brisk trade selling Bizarro bonds: "Guaranteed to lose money for you".
Blogs
National Journal | How Will Energy Productivity Jumpstart the Economy?
Increasing energy efficiency can be a powerful catalyst to turbo charge our economy and make us more competitive. Efficiency and productivity gains have a long track record of helping consumers and businesses reduce the amount of energy they are using.
Neighborhood Effects | Does stimulus displace private economic activity?
According to Keynesian economic theory, many recessions have little or nothing to do with underlying (structural) economic problems. Instead, recessions are the result of a crisis in confidence. People are simply freaked out and therefore not spending. And when they are not spending, others are not earning income and so the economy suffers.
Reason | Obama's Economic Stagnation
So, U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly plunged in January to its lowest level in more than a year. The U.S. economy unexpectedly posted a contraction in the fourth quarter of 2012—for the first time since the recession—"defying" expectations that economic growth is in our future.
