News
Bloomberg | Business Activity in Chicago Area Expanded More Than Forecast
Business activity in the Chicago area expanded more than forecast in January, adding to signs that manufacturing gains will be sustained in 2014.
Politico | John Boehner blasts Barack Obama on trade
House Speaker John Boehner jabbed at President Barack Obama on trade policy Thursday, accusing the president of doing too little to get his own party to clear the way for a pair of blockbuster deals that Republicans already support.
Bloomberg | Consumer Spending in U.S. Increases More Than Forecast
Consumer spending in the U.S. climbed more than forecast in December even as incomes stagnated, showing the economy needs to generate bigger gains in employment to boost the expansion.
Market Watch | 5 misleading figures investors should ignore
We live in a world of “big data.” And while I love arcane baseball sabermetrics and the endless amount of FRED charts that clog my Twitter stream... not all the numbers in our lives are useful.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Fortune | Why stronger GDP growth isn't creating more jobs
Over the past decade, a percentage point jump in GDP has created about 115,000 extra jobs a month. These days it's about half that.
Politico | Keystone XL pipeline report coming Friday
The State Department is set to release a final environmental analysis of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline on Friday, according to sources, setting the stage for a months-long endgame in one of the Obama administration’s most intractable environmental controversies.
WSJ | Less Government, Faster Growth
It's a sign of how lackluster the current economic recovery has been that Thursday's news of 3.2% growth in the fourth quarter of 2013 was greeted with cheers and relief. The economy has now grown at 2.5% or faster for three quarters, and the pace in the last six months is the fastest since 2003-2004 following George W. Bush's tax cuts on capital gains, dividends and top incomes.
Real Clear Markets | Laughing Off 'Year Of Recovery' Pretense
With the advance release of the fourth quarter's GDP figure estimated at just above 3%, it contrasts very sharply with the estimates of payroll growth, particularly in the latter weeks of that quarter.
Washington Times | Freeing children from bad teachers
California is a national trendsetter, and usually not in a good way. A trial now under way in Los Angeles gives the state a chance to redeem itself by changing a system that offers iron-clad job security to the laziest and most incompetent teachers.
Boston Globe | Income gap? Not many are worried
The president has been banging this populist drum for years. As a candidate in 2008, he famously told “Joe the Plumber” that it was good for everybody when the government acts to “spread the wealth around.”
NBER | Marry Your Like: Assortative Mating and Income Inequality
Data from the United States Census Bureau suggests there has been a rise in assortative mating. Additionally, assortative mating affects household income inequality.
Blogs
WSJ | Mortgage Volumes Hit Five Year Low
The volume of home mortgages originated during the fourth quarter fell to its lowest level in five years, according to an analysis published Thursday by Inside Mortgage Finance, an industry newsletter.
Library of Economics | Confusion about Income Inequality
Economists can offer explanations for why inequality has risen and what might reverse it, but they cannot advance positive reasons for what the right level of inequality is; this is [a] function of social preferences outside the realm of empirical or even theoretical economics.
