Part 3 of Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century is the longest section of the book (230 pages out of 577), providing his analysis of inequality at the level of individuals. Notably, Piketty largely avoids the use of the familiar Gini index because, in his view, it obscures the issue by combining the effects […]
I have been writing about the Effective Demand rule for monetary policy lately. The version that I have been showing uses a labor share anchor, which is a projection of where labor share will be at the natural limit of the business cycle. Labor share has always tended toward its labor share anchor at the […]
What would the Fed funds rate be if we were in normal times? Basically, what would the Fed funds rate be if we used a rule instead of the discretionary policy being used by the Fed? I use my Effective Demand rule using the CPI (less food & energy) data released just this morning. My […]
I see so many listings about older dogs whose owner can no longer care for him or her, usually because of finances. I just received this sweet, touching email notice,* from Hempstead Animal Shelter in Wantaugh, NY (Nassau County), via RescueMe.org, and thought I’d pass it along. *Corrected link, thanks to Noni Mausa. A note has […]
We see more talk now about how the Fed may have to raise its base overnight rate (Fed funds rate) faster than planned. Data is coming out that points to a need to raise the Fed funds rate. Last week I posted this graph showing the Fed funds rate in comparison to the “Effective Demand” […]
Via Daily Kos’s David Jarman comes an interactive graph that offers an intriguing visual experience for migration numbers between states for 2012, designed by Chris Walker and offered here. There is a 10,000 person cut off point in the visual, so three states are left off, but of course they had population movement. 10,000 was […]
Bottled water is not a significant part of water use compared to agricultural use, but certainly has a heavy footprint in plastic bottles. I believe tap water and well water is pretty safe to drink throughout the US, so what is the appeal?? California is suffering through a record drought. Water is being rationed and […]
Vis the NYT comes this look at the economics of small scale farming: Don’t let your children grow up to be farmers AT a farm-to-table dinner recently, I sat huddled in a corner with some other farmers, out of earshot of the foodies happily eating kale and freshly shucked oysters. We were comparing business models […]
In my area the Market Basket grocery stores were between 20 to 30% cheaper than the competition given surveys and comparing the items I would shop for. Produce was fresh, name brands available for most any product should you wish. Staff was energetic and polite (often staff at other stores were polite but certainly not […]
Under normal economic conditions, the Fed funds rate would be higher. Yet, the Fed funds rate has been effectively at the zero lower bound for years. Why? Well, the answer is simple… The Fed has lost track of how to measure potential GDP and true slack. The problem is that the Fed has no awareness […]