General Economics

News                                                                                                                             
Bloomberg | Orders for U.S. Durable Goods Rise More Than Forecast
Orders for U.S. durable goods climbed more than forecast in February, propelled by automobiles and a rebound in commercial aircraft.
CNN: Money | Home prices: Biggest rise since housing bubble
Home prices continued their recovery, rising 8.1% in January, although a separate report showed a slight slowdown in new-home sales.
Bloomberg | Stevens Says G-20 Should Focus on Reform Implementation in 2014
Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens said the Group of 20 should focus on implementing rule changes in the financial system rather than adding new reforms when Australia takes over the presidency next year.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
WSJ | Mortimer Zuckerman: The Great Recession Has Been Followed by the Grand Illusion
Don't be fooled by the latest jobs numbers. The unemployment situation in the U.S. is still dire.
Washington Times | RAHN: How government steals your savings
What many fail to realize is that from the beginning, governments have been engaged in this type of theft, including the U.S. government.
Fox Business | Women Entrepreneurs: Creating Jobs and Building Wealth
Nearly half of all new businesses in this country are launched by women, yet businesses started by men are three-and-a-half times more likely to reach $1 million in annual revenue.
CNN: Money | Cyprus: The worst is yet to come
Despite an eleventh-hour deal, the fallout from the Cypriot crisis is far from over.
Washington Post | Spain’s central bank offers grim forecast: more recession, higher unemployment
Spain will sink deeper into recession and unemployment will worsen this year as the country struggles under the weight of austerity measures taken to repair public finances and the effects of a weak global economy, the central bank said Tuesday.
Mercatus Center | Why Old Regulations Never Seem to Die
Regulatory reform efforts often rely on agencies to provide information about which regulations are inefficient, duplicative, or outdated. While the agencies may indeed have a good idea of which regulations need to go, they have little incentive to actually see them repealed—that would mean smaller budgets, fewer employees, and diminished power.
AEI | Recasting conservative economics
The American economy is not managed in any real sense: It is, by and large, a free-market system operating within a complex global marketplace. Of the forces that affect our economy, far more are outside the president's control than are within it.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Economist | Coming soon to uninsured deposits near you
A rescue programme agreed for Cyprus on Monday represents a new template for resolving euro zone banking problems and other countries may have to restructure their banking sectors…
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Gas Prices Drift Lower in March
Gasoline prices inched down in the past week, with the average cost of a gallon of regular falling to $3.680 from $3.696 during the previous week.

Health Care

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
AEI: The American | The Shrinking Health Gap
While health inequality across some demographic groups has increased, it has fallen over the entire population

Monetary

News                                                                                                                             
Bloomberg | BRICS Nations Plan New Bank to Bypass World Bank, IMF
The biggest emerging markets are uniting to tackle under-development and currency volatility with plans to set up institutions that encroach on the roles of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Bloomberg | Dallas Fed Favoring Reduced Asset Purchases on U.S. Recovery
Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher said he’d like the U.S. to reduce its mortgage-backed security purchases program amid signs that the economy will probably grow at about 3 percent by the end of the year.
WSJ | Fed Banker Backs Dialing Down Easy Money .
Mr. Dudley, one of the chief advocates of the bond-buying programs, appeared decisively in favor of tapering off purchases in the future.
MSN Money | Europe's crisis buys time for Fed
Maybe there's hope for the Federal Reserve -- and the U.S. economy, after all. At the least, the eurozone debt crisis should give the Fed -- and U.S. stock and bond prices -- valuable support through September.
WSJ | A Commission for the Fed's Next 100 Years
As the Federal Reserve approaches its 100th anniversary in December, the focus of monetary reform centers on a bill called the Centennial Monetary Commission Act. Introduced this month in the House of Representatives by Chairman of the Joint Economic CommitteeKevin Brady.

Taxes

News                                                                                                                             
Market Watch | 10 U.S. companies paying no taxes
As Washington tries to find its way out of increasing debt, the debate continues over whether American companies should pay more or less in taxes. Meanwhile, some of the largest U.S. public corporations paid no taxes at all for 2012.
Washington Times | U.S. taxpayers shell out $3.7M so former presidents can maintain lifestyles
It’s good to be president. The nation’s four former presidents get an annual pension of about $200,000, a stipend to hire staff at around $96,000, and other taxpayer-funded benefits that foot the bill for everything from travel to postage — for life.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Reason.com | Tax Increases No Different Than Taxing Bank Accounts
Would a tax on Cypriot bank accounts be that different from taxation in America? Not really.

Employment

News                                                                                                                             
Washington Post | The end of emergency unemployment benefits, in one chart
Unemployment is still at a historic high, but the extra money that the government doles out during economic emergencies has nearly dried up.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Shale Boom Not Leading to Widespread Hiring in Ohio
The researchers found employment rose 1.4% year-over-year in counties with heavy shale production, exactly the same as in counties with moderate development.
Cato Institute | Immigrants Are Attracted to Jobs, Not Welfare
Unauthorized and low skilled immigrants are attracted to America’s labor markets, not the size of welfare benefits. From 2003 through 2012, many unauthorized immigrants were attracted to work in the housing market.

Budget

News                                                                                                                             
CNN Money | Cyprus banks to stay shut after bailout
Cyprus' banks will remain shut until Thursday to give regulators time to guard against a run on deposits, the Ministry of Finance announced Monday.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
WSJ | A Better Cyprus Deal
The question is what the EU will do when there's no German election and the next failing financial system is bigger than Cyprus's.
Mercatus Center | The Case for Across-the-Board Spending Cuts
America's fiscal problems are best addressed by a combination of tax reform and spending cuts to encourage economic growth. The idea of cutting federal spending across-the-board is much maligned in Washington.