What is the Purpose of Financial Regulation?
This is a question that I’ve never seen asked, at least not in the popular press, but it seems important to me, and I’ve been thinking a lot about it lately. For one thing, how […]
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This is a question that I’ve never seen asked, at least not in the popular press, but it seems important to me, and I’ve been thinking a lot about it lately. For one thing, how […]
Read moreNew durables-manufactured goods orders fell 1.3 percent in March, but excluding transportation, orders rose 2.8 percent. The overall drop was driven by a large decline in aircraft orders. The aircraft orders are volatile and not […]
Read moreI was in Peoria yesterday to give a talk to the City Council. Peoria is a suburb of Phoenix, but it is intent on having its own identity and economy. The City has a population […]
Read moreDan Hamilton and Kjersti Framnes The California March unemployment rate increased to 12.6 percent from 12.5 percent in February. Since August of 2009 the unemployment rate has climbed 60 basis points, and there has not […]
Read moreVentura California’s City Manager, Rick Cole, has had two recent pieces at newgeography.com, here and here, titled “The War for Jobs.” In these pieces, he outlines some important changes in California cities’ environment, and what […]
Read moreThe Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and Larry Summers are having a heated exchange over the impacts of unemployment insurance on jobs, and they are both being stupid. The WSJ claims that extending unemployment insurance is […]
Read moreUnited States retail sales data through February show that while the last three months have been positive they have not in fact been inspiring at all. We see that the volatility in total sales was […]
Read moreI recently gave a talk and itemized my principals for bank regulation. They are: • Keep it simple • Preserve correct incentives • Minimize political influence • Maximize market feedback • Minimize moral hazard issues […]
Read moreCorporate bond spreads are returning to normal levels. The first chart below shows that the monthly spread between Baa bonds and Aaa bonds are close to what they were back in 2007 before the 2008 […]
Read moreTwo articles today give us an idea of how hard it is for governments to cut back. The first one, in the Los Angeles Times, reports that the city’s Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, is recommending that […]
Read moreBelow are two quotes from this article: “We’ve actually walked through this horrible recession with our economic base unscathed,” said Stephen Levy of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. “The core of […]
Read moreWe released our new United States and California forecasts today. As we note in our publication, available online HERE, we are pessimistic relative to consensus, particularly for 2010 quarters 2, 3, and 4. It appears […]
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