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

Dealing with drought — three ways to fail

David Zetland at Aguanomics writes a note on California’s drought and policies on water use and distribution…price is key. Dealing with drought — three ways to fail BB sent this summary of UC Davis’s “Living with Drought” conference (I got my PhD there), and this bit got my attention: Everyone seemed to agree that solutions […]

China upends the global economy…what does this mean?

Who wins, who loses? And which who are you? The complexities of the 1%, multinational companies and agendas, government goals and responses and treaties, the trade deficit (US) and surplus (China), and what is globalization mostly about? Looking for posts…write to my gmail account. source New York Times

A Bit More On Consumption

This is another entry into the series Rip Van Keynesian wakes up after 40 years and tries to analyse data up through 2013 with Paleo Keynesian concepts and statistical techniques. I’m pretty sure the main reason these notes can’t be published in any academic journal is that I will use old fashioned statistical techniques. It […]

Is Inflation decaying?

Quote from the most recent Federal Statement. “In determining how long to maintain the current 0 to 1/4 percent target range for the federal funds rate, the Committee will assess progress–both realized and expected–toward its objectives of maximum employment and 2 percent inflation. This assessment will take into account a wide range of information, including […]

Real State Per capita Income

The Bureau of Economic Analysis has been working on creating state and metro cost of living indices for several years and they have just published a new set of them that can be used to create real per capita income comparisons between states. In their press release they show a map comparing real growth in […]