by Rebecca Wilder Yes, the renminbi (RMB) is closer to fair value. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu states: “Our currency, the RMB, has appreciated more than 20 percent against the U.S. dollar since July 2005, when China moved to a floating exchange rate regime,” Ma said. Before 2005, the RMB was pegged to the […]
Yesterday, the release of key economic indicators in China produced headlines like this: China Targets Inflation as Economy Runs Hot. The table below lists the full release, including the consensus expectations (Bloomberg’s survey) for each statistic. (Here is the link for the actual data release.) As you can see, the survey undershot the actual results […]
This is a follow up to an article I wrote earlier this week, Older workers working longer; labor-force participation falling. In response to the article, which highlights the BLS employment and labor-force participation projections for 2008-2018, 2slugbaits (a loyal AB commenter) presented the following point: The 2 industry sectors expected to have the largest employment […]
by Rebecca Wilder(crossposted with Newsneconomics) This week the Federal Reserve reported the Q3 2009 Flow of Funds accounts. The headline indicators show household net worth improving and private debt burden falling. The private sector – households and firms – is dropping leverage. Update: This chart has been modified slightly – the leverage level data (highlighted […]
China exported its way to a $2 trillion dollar fortress of F/X reserves ($USD mostly), while the US borrowed its way into a hole deep enough to spark a vast global recession. Who’s to blame? Given the symbiotic relationship in the chart above, it’s hard to blame any one individual, group, or even country. But […]
“100 Tanks Along the Square, One Man Stands and Stops Them There” Update: Rdan here…an update from The Economist
In the matter of externalities, accusing political enemies of being terrorists even after they are cleared of all wrongdoing is a feature of having economic power.* Good thing it’s not being done by a country G-Mu dislikes, or we’d hear about this at Marginal Revolution. But they’re too busy arguing that the Greenspan Commission were […]
Via Brad DeLong, I see Time magazine has identified the “25 people to ‘blame’ for the financial crisis.” [my sarcastic quotes on blame; Time appears to be serious] Amazingly, none of TWX’s (mostly former) top management—who pushed LBOs in the 1980s and Internet bubbles in the 1990s—makes on the list. More amazingly, Lew Ranieri is […]
It’s still not “free trade” in a sense anyone but the self-delusional Greg Mankiw could describe it, but there are some gains accruing to China. As the Chinese economy moves from agriculture to producing more goods and services, two things have happened. Energy demand has gone up: And people have been able to afford services […]
I have been reading the book: The Writing on the Wall. Mr. Will Hutton is the author. The book is billed as a look at what makes China tick and what the west should do about it. I chose it on the strength of the reviews as I wanted to learn more about China in […]