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

"Survey says"…. German growth has probably peaked

This week further evidence has emerged of Germany’s slowing growth trajectory. At 4.9% annual growth (calendar-adjusted) and a tightening bias from the ECB, this was, of course, to be expected. READ MORE AFTER THE JUMP!Yesterday the Manufacturing May ‘Flash’ PMI by Markit Research highlighted, in my view, that sentiment is unlikely to remain at these […]

Tax Rates and Economic Growth Over Ten Year Time Horizons, plus Why a Flat Tax Would Result in Much Slower Economic Growth

by Mike Kimel Tax Rates and Economic Growth Over Ten Year Time Horizons, plus Why a Flat Tax Would Result in Much Slower Economic Growth Last week I had a post looking at the the real GDP growth maximizing income tax rate using both top marginal income tax rates and and “average marginal” “all-in” tax […]

The Historical Relationship Between the S&P 500 and the Economy, Part 2: The Abrupt Rise of Short Term Investing

by Mike Kimel The Historical Relationship Between the S&P 500 and the Economy, Part 2: The Abrupt Rise of Short Term Investing Last week I had a post looking at how long it takes for events in the economy (in the guise of real GDP) to affect the stock market (represented by the S&P 500), […]

How to solve many problems

Post stimulated by Steve Benen. Content due to John Quiggin. This is arithmetic “Arithmetic tells us there are two ways to achieve the goal: the government can bring in more money and put out less.”This isn’t “a combination of cuts and tax increases were necessary when the deficit got really big” Revenue doesn’t come from […]

Economics Cannot Find Racism; Just Move Along

One of my favorite paper presentations ever was by Daniel Parent, who is a good enough reason in himself for pending Labor Economists to apply to HEC. He was trying to present data on income inequalities in the Financial Services industry and was forced to note—all right, I asked—that they didn’t have the data to […]

Greece is in a pickle

There is growing discord between the ECB and national politicians over a ‘soft restructuring’ of Greek debt. The ECB doesn’t want it, while national policy makers grapple over it. And just in case you were wondering what a soft restructuring actually is, Joseph Cotterill at FT Alphaville explains. Beyond the gobbledygook restructuring talk is a […]