Robert Waldmann Alex Tabarrok wrote In Too Big To Save Robert Pozen gives a clever example, based on an excellent paper by Coval, Jurek and Stafford, which explains both the lure of structured finance and why the model exploded so quickly. Suppose we have 100 mortgages that pay $1 or $0. The probability of default […]

Peter Morici suggests a way to look at economic recovery: This recovery is decidedly anti middle class. Wages will not keep up with rising prices, health care premiums and taxes. A good deal of the gains, so far, are going to Wall Street and the medical and intellectual property industries. At 5.6 percent, fourth quarter […]

by cactus Recessions, Part 3: The AftermathThis post looks at the length & severity of a recession and compares those factors to the length & speed of the previous recession. Data on the length of the recession, in months, comes from the NBER, and data on real GDP per capita (the measure of growth and […]

Barkley Rosser announces his new book: I am pleased to announce the publication of my book with David Colander and Richard Holt, European Economics at a Crossroads, being issued in both hardcover and paper back simultaneously from Edward Elgar. Several years in the producing, this book is the sequel to our 2004, The Changing Face […]

(hat tip OMB Watch) Coal Combustion Residuals, often referred to as coal ash, are currently considered exempt wastes under an amendment to RCRA, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. They are residues from the combustion of coal in power plants and captured by pollution control technologies, like scrubbers. Potential environmental concerns from coal ash pertain […]

“Liquidity” is another magic word. I like it rather less than “friction.” In the debate on financial regulatory reform opponents of tight regulations use the word liquidity as a magic spell which, they hope, will make all inconvenient evidence and arguments go away (no links my claim is like saying the Sun emits light). The […]

by Linda Bealecrossposted at Ataxingmatter Carried Interest: prospects? At the ABA Tax Section meeting in Washington last weekend, there was surprisingly little talk about the carried interest proposal. Carried interest, for those who don’t work often in the partnership area, is the way that managers of real estate, hedge, and equity partnerships receive a generous […]

Congress Dailey reports on the call to ‘strip’ American citizens of legal rights (Miranda rights, but also indefinite detention? as suggested by Joe Lieberman) based on suspicion and ‘affiliations’. We have a ‘war on drugs’ and a ‘war on terrorism’. Both involve specific policies and specific agencies, not the aid of Captain America and Ironman […]

by Tom aka Rusty Self-defeating Regulations The Obama administration has made a major commitment to the installation and use of electronics in U.S. medical records. Obama sees electronic medical records (EMRs) linked into electronic health record (EHRs) networks as a major factor in controlling costs and improving quality in the U.S. health care system. The […]