Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Marshall Auerback responds

Marshall Auerback responds to Rebecca’s “I have to side with China on this one”. There’s another factor as well. There’s been an enormous increase in money and credit in the past year. In fact, it seems to be as great as 5 years’ growth in credit in the previous Chinese bubble. What happens is that […]

I’ll Believe in the Tea Baggers if Tamyra Gets the Signatures

Tamyra d’Ippolito has suddenly become a Very Important Person. She needs signatures primarily in Indian’s Eighth District (currently represented by Brad Ellsworth, who would be the Party’s pick to replace Evan Bayh), Evansville, and Terre Haute. She has a background to make a Tea Partier proud: I was born in Worthington, Indiana and raised in […]

China, China, China!

by Rebecca Wilder China,China.China! Why does the world care about Chinese monetary policy? In short, the ten countries below enjoy 60% of China’s import demand ($1.3 trillion annualized in December 2009), where the % are listed in the legend. The globe is watching Chinese policy. The People’s Republic of China raised bank reserve requirements another […]

Three to Read for the Solvency Crisis

Simon Johnson on the possible consequences of Goldman Going Greek. Economics of Contempt explains why economist John Cochrane should not be allowed to talk about finance. (Bonus coverage: EofC’s previous piece on John Taylor) Alea’s jck on how all the talk about risk management became mainstreamed.

La cupidité

If I’m reading this link from my usual news source correctly, Joseph Stiglitz’s new book Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy is being sold in France under the title Le triomphe de la cupidité (The Triumph of Greed). The sole B&N customer review so far is a confused jumble: If […]

Obama, Socialism and Hayek’s Road

by Bruce Webb It is a very common trope among the Right to claim that Obama is a Socialist. For Progressives with any awareness of modern history and politics this seems ludicrous, it is hard to see that Obama is even committed to the principles of the New Deal, still less the second coming of […]

FICO Scores and Mortgage Payment Performance

I had an informal discussion with a manager in an MBS IT area last month. Just a general conversation about the field and the data people check.  He mentioned FICO scores and I noted that I’m not fond of using them to evaluate a mortgage, especially for first-time homebuyers. Part of this is simple: it’s […]

The Other Rule

Brad DeLong’s famous rule (Originally: “If you think Paul Krugman must be wrong, you severely overestimated Niall Ferguson“) needs a corollary. If Olivier Blanchard says your macroeconomic policy doesn’t work, and that you should double your inflation target to make it reasonable, it’s worth trying: The International Monetary Fund’s top economist, Olivier Blanchard, says central […]