News
Bloomberg | China Set to Overtake U.S. as Biggest Economy Using PPP Measure
China is poised to overtake the U.S. as the world’s biggest economy, while India has vaulted into third place, ahead of Japan, using calculations that take exchange rates into account.
Bloomberg | Growth Freezes Up as U.S. Business Investment Slumps
The harsh winter sent a chill through the U.S. economy in the first quarter as slumps in business investment and home construction stalled growth.
Bloomberg | Chicago-Area Manufacturing Grows at Fastest Pace Since October
Business activity in the Chicago area expanded in April at the fastest pace in six months, a sign manufacturing will keep supporting the world’s largest economy.
WSJ | Stress Tests Forecast $190 Billion in Losses at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac in Severe Downturn
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could require another $190 billion in government support under a worst-case economic scenario, according to stress test results made public Wednesday by the firms' federal regulator.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | The Real Inequality Problem
Among the too numerous frustrations of the political process is that a lot of smart and talented people spend their time and energy fulminating about things that don't really matter. That diverts attention from our nation's real problems. There are few better examples than today's debate about economic inequality.
USA Today | As prices rise, housing recovery wobbles
A housing recovery that was expected to accelerate this year is instead sputtering. And no, you can't just blame the weather.
National Journal | America Needs Mortgage Finance Reform That Ends Decades of Discrimination
Mortgage finance is a $10 trillion market, and housing comprises one-fifth of the United States economy. Reforming the U.S. mortgage-finance system is the next—and perhaps final—step in an ongoing effort to create a safer, sustainable housing market. The Senate Banking Committee leadership has unveiled a reform plan and scheduled the measure for a committee vote as early as today.
Blogs
WSJ | China’s Economy Surpassing U.S.? Well, Yes and No
There are a number of reports around Wednesday that China’s economy, by one measure at least, is likely to surpass the U.S. in size sometime this year.
Market Watch | Housing cuts quarterly economic growth again in first back-to-back drop since 2009
Housing cut economic growth in the first quarter, following a drop at the end of last year, for the sector’s first back-to-back subtraction since the first half of 2009, according to government data released Wednesday.
WSJ | Share of Global Economic Output by Developed Economies Falling
The share of world economic output produced by developed economies is falling, but the incomes of people living in them continue to be well above the levels enjoyed by their counterparts in more rapidly-growing large developing economies, according to new figures produced by a grouping of statistics agencies around the world.
CATO | New Frontiers in Regulatory Overreach
In most cases, excessive regulation doesn’t surprise me all that much. It usually focuses on familiar industries, such as automobiles. So, for example, when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration came up with a rule mandating that all cars and light trucks sold in the United States have rearview cameras, it wasn’t a great shock.
Heritage Foundation | New GDP Report Means America Still Stuck in Slow Growth Rut
The Bureau of Economic Analysis released its first report for GDP growth in the first quarter of 2014 today. It showed the economy grew at an anemic 0.1 percent from January to March. The more meaningful measure of growth, private-sector GDP, rose by a still meager 0.2 percent.
