Some financial innovations are good ideas and make large contributions to economic growth and prosperity. Others are not so good and can lead to bad outcomes including excessive leverage, financial fragility and even financial crises. […]
Read moreThe first release of GDP data came out this morning with an advance estimate of 2.2 percent growth for quarter 1. Contributions of growth from the major components were: Consumption Expenditures 2.04 […]
Read moreStudent loans now total over $1 trillion and delinquency rates are rising. Many young people are burdened in their 20’s with tens of thousands of dollars of student debt. Some commentators have pointed to student […]
Read moreI am worried that societies and/or their governments have chosen to commit taxpayers to underwriting the solvency of banks. Economic research has shown clear benefits to financial intermediation. The collection of savings creates a pool […]
Read moreLast month the Federal Reserve released minutes from the March 13 FOMC meeting. These minutes suggest that the members perceived the economy to be improving. The knee jerk reaction of market observers was to conclude […]
Read moreThe United States Employment Situation for March indicates a cooling of job growth that is consistent with our forecast, although somewhat more pronounced than our forecast. It was the services part of the economy that […]
Read moreDavid R. Henderson has a nice piece on property rights. The title of this post is a quote from Henderson’s article. It’s a nice piece with three example of “policy issues’ that cause conflict and […]
Read moreThe Fed’s Flow of Funds (FOF) report shows that household sector net worth is approximately $60 trillion. This wealth in concentrated in households headed by people aged 50 or older. After all, for most people […]
Read moreThe title of this post is the title of a paper by Madeline Zavodny. In the paper, Zavodny tests to see if immigrants, especially educated immigrants, create jobs for resident Americans or take jobs away […]
Read moreA couple weeks ago the Federal Reserve announced results of the latest Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR), aka stress test, for large banks. The stress scenario included 13% unemployment, a 50% drop in stock […]
Read moreDan Walters has a piece on California’s proposed licensing of interior designers, and I recommend you read it. Here’s his concluding paragraphs: Is there any public interest need for such licensing? If an interior designer botches […]
Read moreLast week the Federal Reserve released the Flow of Funds (FOF) report for the quarter ended December 31, 2012. The report showed that household sector net worth increased by $1.2 trillion during the quarter to […]
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