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Thursday, August 7, 2014

General Economics

News                                                                                                                             
National Journal | Watch a Decade of Economic Growth in Africa
Over the past decade and a half, the African continent has for the most part showed steady year-over-year growth, with gross domestic product of about 5 percent as a whole.
CNN Money | The price of Russia's food import ban
Russia's ban on food imports will push prices up at home and cost Europe billions in lost exports.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Washington Times | EDITORIAL: Revisiting failed ‘Cash for Clunkers’ as metaphor for Obamanomics
One day the economists will have to sit down to write textbooks about President Obama’s economic legacy. Crayons and coloring books won’t be included, but they ought to be. The administration’s policies are all built around simplistic concepts of governing that hardly ever work in the real world.
Washington Times | Free markets, limited government a ‘natural disinfectant’ to corruption
The culture in Washington must change. And if we do the right things in the coming months conservatives have a real opportunity to start calling the shots. It’s time to go on offense.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Foreclosure Starts Hit Pre-Crisis Low
The delinquency rate–loans that have at least one late payment but are not in the foreclosure process—decreased to 6.04% after adjusting for seasonality, reaching its lowest level since the end of 2007.
Reuters | Why the global recovery is so slow
The International Monetary Fund recently engaged in what has become an annual ritual. For the fourth year in a row, it reduced its forecast for world GDP growth. The 0.7 percentage point average decline from the earlier estimate to the new 3.4 percent growth projection is not huge, but the persistent disappointments make many economists uneasy.
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Shifts in U.S. Trading Partners From 1984 to the Present
Over the past three decades, U.S. trading partners for goods have changed — but not drastically. The biggest shift has been the rapid rise of China as both an importer and exporter.