At the CEPR blog, Beat the Press, Dean Baker and Jason Hickel are debating degrowth. Dean makes the excellent point that “claims about growth” from oil companies and politicians who oppose policies to restrict greenhouse gas emissions, “are just window dressing.” I also agree, however, with the first comment in response to Dean’s post that his point […]
Is the “Green New Deal” a Marxist Plot?
A Letter to Michigan Governor Rick Snyder
Governor Rick Snyder: I would ask you to block any legislation from the Michigan Lame Duck Legislature which would overturn the will of the constituents as determined through the November 6th vote or endorsed by petition and thereby blocked from being placed on the ballot due to deliberate legislative action passing it in the Michigan […]
Strong manufacturers new orders in November ISM report
Strong manufacturers new orders in November ISM report There are a lot of economic writers who won’t tell you when something moves against their thesis. Those guys trumpeting a flatlining of commercial and industrial growth last year? They never heard of it this year (hint: because it’s up!). To the contrary, one of the reasons […]
Mourning The Death Of The New World Order
Mourning The Death Of The New World Order I think this is behind the apparently bipartisan and intense outpouring of mourning over the death of 94 year old George H.W. Bush, indeed with some of this even being for the broader post-World War II era in which the US predominated over the world. Bush was […]
Open thread Dec. 4, 2018
Why this Friday I’ll pay particular attention to the temporary jobs number
Why this Friday I’ll pay particular attention to the temporary jobs number With the long leading indicators outside of corporate profits and ease of credit having turned neutral to negative, at least for now, my attention is turning more and more to the short leading indicators. And one of those — temporary employment — is […]
A Micro Founded Model in Which Trade Causes Higher Productivity Growth
The division of labor is limited by the extent of the market. The model is a modified version of the simplified Romer 90 model. The modification is that there is a minimum efficient scale for the production of intermediate goods. Gross output in the growing sector is (sum i = 1 to N of x_i^alpha)L1^(1-alpha) […]
I actually really disagree with Paul Krugman this time
Krugman argues that the Bank of Englands worst case scenario for no deal Brexit is implausibly bad. I agree with his conclusion, but strongly disagree with one argument (on a point which he stresses is quantitatively minor) … the BoE includes some nonstandard effects of trade: they assume that reduced trade (and foreign direct investment) […]
The recent rise in initial jobless claims: signal or noise?
The recent rise in initial jobless claims: signal or noise? Yesterday initial jobless claims for the prior week were reported at 234,000, a six month high. That’s 32,000 above the recent one week low. The four week moving average rose to 223,250, more than 15,000 higher than its recent low: Is it cause for concern? […]