News
CNN Money | Russia fallout pushes Europe to develop shale gas
Europe, seeking to reduce its dependence on Russian natural gas, is encouraging political leaders to step up efforts to tap the region's shale gas deposits.
Bloomberg | Millennials Mired in Wealth Gap as Older Americans Gain
The damage inflicted on U.S. households by the collapse of the housing market and recession wasn’t evenly distributed. Just ask Jason and Jessica Alinen.
Market Watch | Chicago business gauge falls to 55.9 in March
A gauge of Chicago-area businesses tumbled in March, hitting the lowest level since August, led by drops for new orders and employment, according to data released Monday.
WSJ | Consumer Sluggishness Seems to Be Growth Drag, for Now
A deceleration in consumer spending in recent months helped knock down estimates for U.S. growth in the first quarter, deferring hopes for a sustained pickup in the economy.
CNBC | Relax—gas prices aren’t likely to stay high long
Gasoline prices have clocked a 7 percent jump over the past six weeks but chin up drivers: The national average is expected to start hitting the brakes in the next few weeks and stay low even during summer driving season.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Real Clear Markets | The Days of Dynamic Growth May Be Over
You might compare the U.S. economy to someone who's recovering from a serious illness. At first, everyone hopes the patient will return to normal. Then it's gradually realized that the patient suffered permanent damage and will never be the same.
WSJ | Raiding Fannie and Freddie
Memories of a painful experience can be short, especially in Washington where most of the pain is inflicted on taxpayers. So perhaps it's no surprise that the same "affordable housing" crowd that misallocated hundreds of billions of dollars into real estate is once again urging more taxpayer subsidies for housing.
Washington Times | Fuzzy numbers obscure a stagnant Obama economy
The news media were ecstatic when the government said in January that the economy grew by 3.2 percent in the final three months of 2013. It was convincing proof, they said on the nightly news, that the economy had finally recovered from its chronic lethargy.
CRS | Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund: Background and Solvency Issues
The Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program provides benefits to insured workers with disabilities under Social Security's full retirement age and their dependents based on an individual worker's earnings and work history in covered employment.
NBER | Commodity-Price Comovement and Global Economic Activity
Guided by the predictions of a general-equilibrium macroeconomic model with commodity prices, we apply a new factor-based identification strategy to decompose the historical sources of changes in commodity prices and global economic activity.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | It's Time To End Welfare for Big Business
Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin will release his House Republican budget next week, and one of its themes will be the fight against corporate welfare. Mr. Ryan says, “We can’t make the case to the American people that we are the reform party if we won’t reform the giant corporate-welfare state in Washington.” Bravo. Too bad so few of his colleagues agree with him.
