The sarcasm of the title of my recent post notwithstanding, there are some things economists understand to be true that are. Among those: People respond to incentives As with the Supreme Court, economists extend this principle to organizations, on the (generally correct) idea that organizations are made up of people who act in their own […]
This recession caused a severe disruption in the labor market for teen employment. The chart below illustrates the unemployment rate alongside the employment-to-population ratio for those aged 16-19 years. The visual is quite striking: at the peak of the business cycle, December 2007, the difference between the employment-to-population ratio over the unemployment rate was roughly […]
Robert Waldmann Brad DeLong and Paul Krugman consider the increase in the number of job vacancies to be bad news — to be a sign that long term unemployment has made it hard to increase employment even if there are vacant jobs. The high vacancies are held to be a sign of a problem which […]
As Brad DeLong has noted, Tim Geithner believes it is time for “the economy has now recovered sufficiently for government to begin to make way for private business investment.” In short, he expects “the private sector” to do the heavy lifting in these joyous times of economic recovery. Cynics among us—why, yes, that might well […]
op-ed by Run “The Messenger Again Wears A Skirt (Mama Tucker on Brooksley Born)” Taking a page from his former boss and mentor Larry Summers, Geithner behind closed doors has expressed opposition to Dr. Elizabeth Warren heading up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as reported by The Huffington Post. For those of you who may […]
HEALTH CARE thoughts: The Taxpayer Advocate and others are unhappy National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson is reported to be unhappy about the major IRS role in the new health care regime. Olsen believes the IRS is already overworked (she used “overtaxed” in her annual report issued this month, a great pun) and needs more money […]
The Economist asks: Is America facing an increase in structural unemployment? and invited economists answer here.
UPDATE: Jason Linkins at one of the non-Breast-Enhanced sites of the Huffington Post did a burlesque of which I can only dream on the same piece. Via Chris Hayes’s Twitter feed (and he got it from David Sirota), the following is from “No more ‘me first’ mentality on entitlements“: While it does not happen often, […]
Data 101 US new home sales rebound in June in the Financial Times today and New Home Sales: Worst June on Record at Calculated Risk. Both headlines are “true”. Much of the same data sources and figures are used. The differences in information are not as stark as the headlines suggest after reading the articles. […]
by Mike Kimel Cross posted at the Presimetrics Blog. A Look at the Current Recession, A Signpost for the Start of Recessions & Some Thoughts on the Likelihood of a Double Dip These days there’s a lot of talk about whether the recession is going to double dip. And frankly, there’s a lotta yadda yadda, […]