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By Chris Mcmahon |
December 19, 2008
So much for the afterglow. After an impressive Election Day rally that took the Dow Jones Industrial Average up more than 300 points, the market puked out 928 points in the following two days confronted with a gloomy jobs outlook. Unemployment hit 6.5% and the number of those collecting jobless...
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By Nancy Qian |
December 15, 2008
Respect for human rights is gaining in importance in international agreements, but who is to judge human rights performance? This article discusses new evidence that suggests national governments are not good judges. It draws on evidence from the U.S., which has long tied trade preferences to human rights performance, which...
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By Gian Maria Milesi-ferretti |
December 12, 2008
This article argues that the current combination of a weak dollar and a large current account deficit is explained by long lags in the relation between U.S. external accounts and the real effective exchange rate, high oil prices, and the "return differential" between U.S. holdings of assets overseas and foreign...
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By Staff Writer |
December 10, 2008
It took the statisticians of the National Bureau of Economic Research almost a year to confirm what the rest of us already knew, that the U.S. registered a significant decline in economic activity, thus officially entering a period of recession. While I am pleased that the members of NBER take...
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By Staff Writer |
December 6, 2008
The fact that after over 30 years of consistent mismanagement and decline, there is still any discussion on whether or not we should allow the now significantly smaller "Big Three" automakers to fail is clear evidence that Washington has lost all common sense.
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By Staff Writer |
December 1, 2008
The current crisis raises serious questions about the role of a lender of last resort. This article provides historical insight into its importance. Such a lender is critical to containing crises, as demonstrated by the frequent autumn harvest financial crises in the U.S. prior to the establishment of the Federal...
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By Staff Writer |
November 25, 2008
The residential real estate sector is in shambles and, some economists say, will not recover until the end of 2010, at the earliest. Now it looks like commercial real estate may be the next block to fall in our "Jenga economy."
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By Staff Writer |
November 22, 2008
What is causing the mass U.S. layoffs, decreased demand or more expensive financing? This article presents new research showing that two-thirds of the variation in employment across companies is due to their varying dependence on credit. In short, cheap capital is important for employment.
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By Staff Writer |
November 21, 2008
President-elect Barack Obama is faced with the daunting challenge of fulfilling his campaign promises - promises he actually made, along with those that voters think he made.
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By Staff Writer |
November 20, 2008
A GM bailout would delay restructuring and ultimately destroy jobs. Restructuring under Chapter 11 is the best solution, but credit market conditions require the U.S. government to provide transitional, "Debtor in Possession" financing. To avoid political interference, the actual lending decisions should be made by a commercial bank with a...
