Once a year, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) releases a new set of economic growth estimates that include not yet released numbers for the second quarter and revisions to historical GDP estimates as far five years back. Today is that day. The first estimate of 2015’s second quarter economic growth is 2.3 percent,… Read more

Here’s what the OECD has to say about the global economy: But the global economy can be characterised (sic) as only achieving a muddling-through “B-minus ” grade. Global growth in the first quarter of 2015 was weaker than in any quarter since the crisis. And although this softness is seen as transitory, productivity growth continues… Read more

Since the dismal first-quarter GDP was revised down, we’ve heard all sorts of excuses.  These include bad winter weather and problems in the seasonal adjustment process.  The bad-winter excuse has been popular for several winters now.  Of course, as I’ve said before, strong economies absorb bad winters with minimal impact on output, GDP. Now, we hear… Read more

This analysis suggest that low oil prices will likely persist.  It seems that U.S. firms are more competitive than previously thought: But U.S. firms haven’t assumed that role as readily as the Saudis would have hoped. Rather, they’ve been hard at work innovating their way to profitability even at $65 per barrel. True, shale growth… Read more

It’s generally agreed that excessively lax lending standards were major contributors to the financial crisis that precipitated the Great Recession.  So, Washington wants to do it again, only more.  Here’s part of what Investors.com has to say: In a just-released federal report, the administration portrays these “credit invisibles” as victims of a traditional credit-scoring system.… Read more

It is.  Corporate welfare sustains inefficient old firms while impeding innovative new firms.  In this Forbes piece, George Leef discusses the use of tax waivers or direct subsidies to attract firms to a city or state.  As he points out politicians of all stripes do this: One of the great bipartisan follies of American politics is the idea… Read more

Tyler Cowen has a piece in the New York Times today.  He’s arguing that fundamental weaknesses and dysfunctions may be causing permanent changes, a reset: The debate over the economy these days isn’t just about income inequality and what should or should not be done about it. Perhaps the most crucial issue is whether economies will… Read more

Fourth quarter United States GDP contracted by about $5 billion dollars, which is 0.1 percent negative growth annualized. This is after 3.1 percent growth in the third quarter which was the strongest quarter in 2013. The largest drivers of the fourth quarter decline were a contraction in government spending of 6.6 percent and a change… Read more

This is a comment on the national November Employment Situation report released last Friday, and I use numbers from the report to calculate when the United States might reach the Federal Reserve unemployment rate goal of 6.5 percent. The unemployment rate fell from 7.9 percent in October to 7.7 percent in November which might appear… Read more

A central concept in Modern Macroeconomic theory is that capital stock will be accumulated through the process of saving for the future. A new country, starting with a low capital level, will accumulate capital for some number of years or decades until reaching an equilibrium level of capital stock. Progressive taxes on capital income imply… Read more