3rd quarter Non-farm Business Sector Labor Share data came out today… 97.34 (2009 = 100) Think of labor share as real unit labor costs, since unit labor costs = labor share * inflation. (link) Labor share is much lower than it was in 2009. The basic measure that I use for the effective demand limit […]

So who won the 2014 midterm elections? The easy answer is the Republican Party. On election night, the party managed to seize control of the Senate by picking up at least seven seats previously held by Democrats, a goal that has eluded Republicans since 2006. The GOP also captured at least 14 House races, expanding […]

Dan here…Jan points us to a response to ‘hiatus’ of climate change. by Jan Galkowski (reposted from Hypergeometric) A conclusion that “the hiatus” in global land surface warming is natural variability Lovejoy provides conclusive statistical evidence, free of use of climate models, that the so-called “hiatus” in global land surface warming is due to natural variability […]

by Sandwichman (reposted from Econospeak) Public Works, Economic Stabilization and Cost-Benefit Sophistry I. Public Works and Economic Stabilization This is where it all began. The National Resources Board’s 1934 Report on National Planning and Public Works contained a radically different vision of the methods and purposes of conducting a cost benefit analysis than what has subsequently […]

If they had proper regard for science, politicians in both parties would fight harder against the devastating cuts to federal research that have happened under sequestration, endangering medical progress and jeopardizing our global leadership. And lawmakers trying to prove their fiscal prudence wouldn’t irresponsibly smear all scientific inquiry by cherry-picking and theatrically denouncing the most […]

As I reported last month, the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) has proposed new rules that would require state and local governments to disclose subsidies in their financial reports. The proposal is now open for public comment from now until January 15, 2015. Good Jobs First, which has long advocated for this change in accounting […]

Yesterday, I wrote here in response to a statement by Greg Sargent that “McConnell’s only way to re-litigate Obama’s policies will remain budgetary guerrilla warfare that will only work if Obama allows it to work, which he won’t, which he won’t.”: McConnell’s only way to re-litigate Obama’s policies will remain budgetary guerrilla warfare that will only work […]

Real rates are currently negative. (0.2% Fed rate minus 1.6% core inflation) Yet the natural real rate is estimated to be around +1.6% due to positive population growth and positive productivity growth. Normally the real rate  returns to its natural level. Will the real rate rise to its natural level in this business cycle? Real […]

Noah Smith opened the debate again on the Neo-Fisherite movement… What is the movement of which I partake as a Neo-Fisherite? When nominal rates are stuck, then changes in inflation will be compensated for by an equal and opposite change in the real rate. The equation is simple… constant nominal rate = real rate + […]

This.