Macroeconomics: 2009

Bloomberg.com reports that there is expected to be a shortfall in the California budget in the current fiscal year: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ahpLpu9sKLyY. The article mentions the bond market, and how California and other sub-national governmental units rely on bonds to finance a variety of public activities.

Friday, October 9, 2009

More Macroeconomics of Health Care Reform

From the Financial Times: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4ad7dd70-b469-11de-bec8-00144feab49a.html

Thursday, October 8, 2009

"Back to Business" - a new New York Times series

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/features/timestopics/series/back_to_business/index.html

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Newly-released Federal Reserve Data - Graph it with FRED Graph!

Here is an article from the Financial Times http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/37954360-b2d9-11de-b7d2-00144feab49a.html about US credit conditions. It would be interesting to see a graph based on some Federal Reserve Data that shows something interesting about changing household credit conditions.

Bank Run Big Time

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aMfETcYI2t7Y

Debt Markets and Regulation

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/07/business/economy/07shadow.html?hpw

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Paul Krugman Answers Your Questions

See http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/krugman-responds-readers-questions/

Saturday, September 26, 2009

A New Ratio Measuring Labor Market Underutilization

This article refers to the ratio: number unemployed divided by job openings. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/business/economy/27jobs.html?_r=1&hp

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

G-20 Summit

The article "Nations Ready Big Changes to Global Economic Policy" in the Wall Street Journal of Sept 19, 2009 gives a good overview of issues being discussed at the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh. Pay particular attention to how the recent crisis may affect international cooperation concerning financial regulation. The article is posted at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125348959155226421.html. SJSU students can access the article through the electronic journals subscriptions of the University Library.

More Disaggregated Data is Always Better

As a general rule, averages destroy information. This article sheds new light on widely cited statistics about health outcomes in the US and other countries: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/science/22tier.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

Monday, September 14, 2009

Lessons From Lehman One Year Later (New Series)

See http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=topnews

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Financial Crisis Interactive Graphic

There is an interesting interactive graphic of the financial crisis at http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/09/12/business/financial-markets-graphic.html; press "Play" in the upper left-hand part of the page and follow the changing graphic as the time moves across the time line at the top of the page.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Globalization of Finance

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&refer=top_news&sid=aNFuVRL73wJc

Macroeconomics of Health Care Reform

I mentioned in class the other day that we would discuss the macroeconomics of health care reform later in the semester. Pres. Obama gave a good outline of the macroeconomic issues in his speech yesterday. Here is the text of that speech http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/us/politics/10obama.text.html?ref=politics.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Credit Card and Bank Fee Regulation

Recently passed credit card legislation (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/your-money/20money.html) limits issuers' actions with respect to fees. But the legislation does not cover debit cards. Fees have been a major source of bank profits, and according to a recent article in the New York Times, debit card fees have supplanted credit card fees as a source of bank revenue (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/your-money/credit-and-debit-cards/09debit.html?_r=1&hp). Some bank practices with respect to handling transactions raise ethical concerns.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Measuring Unemployment - Discouraged Workers

See "Out of Work, Too Down to Search On, and Uncounted." http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/07/us/07worker.html?_r=1&hp

Is "securitization" a four-letter word?

Wall Street has continued to create new and exotic financial instruments. The latest rage is "life settlements" - the securitization of life insurance policies. A recent article in the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/business/06insurance.html?_r=1&hp describes the idea. You should read the article carefully to see why the market participants (buyers, sellers, and middlemen) in this emerging market expect to benefit, and also what could go wrong.

After reading the article the first time, re-read it but subsitute "mortgage-backed securities" for "life insurance policies." Then review your answer about why market participants expect to benefit and what could go wrong.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Jobless Recovery and Productivity

Here is an article from bloomberg.com that suggests a trade-off of sorts between job growth and productivity growth U.S. Recovery Leaving Workers Jobless May Spur Company Profits

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Paul Krugman on "How Economists Got It So Wrong"

See

Krugman article

Sunday, August 30, 2009

"Social Epidemic" of Ideas

For those, like me, mystified by the variety of economic prognostications, this article by Robert Shiller, "An Echo Chamber of Boom and Bust," (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/business/economy/30view.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=echo%20chamber&st=cse) provides some kind of explanation for recent reports of "green shoots" in the economy. Shiller is the author of Irrational Exuberance, a book which takes its title from testimony before Congress by Alan Greenspan. Sometimes Shiller is described as a "bear" but this article suggests that his views about the future of the economy are less a matter of mental stance and more a matter of what the data actually indicate.

Friday, August 28, 2009

latest GDP numbers

Here is an article from Bloomberg.com about the latest release of data from the Commerce Department about Gross Domestic Product: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aciN00caWOKA.

What do the numbers mean? How are they interpreted in the article

Deficit and Debt

See the recent opinion column by Paul Krugman, 2008 Nobel Prize winner in economics at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/opinion/28krugman.html?_r=1&hp.

What are the "positive economics" components of the column?

What are the "normative economics" components of the column?

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Bank Stress Tests and Deleveraging

In a column in the New York Times, Gretchen Morgenson reports on a study of the financial health of regional and community banks (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/business/economy/23gret.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=What%20the%20Stress%20Tests%20Didn’t%20Predict&st=cse). The recent performance of financial stock prices would suggest that financial institutions are becoming healthier - that we have "turned the corner" in terms of the crisis in finance. But the data suggest that financial institutions (at least those covered in the study) are becoming less healthy.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Alternative measures of labor underutilization

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Table A-12. Alternative measures of labor underutilization

www. bls. gov/ news. release/ empsit. t12. htm

Curating the Credit Crisis

"Even in the best of times, it was never going to be easy to curate an homage to high finance."

Article in the New York Times about exhibits at the Museum of American Finance: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/22/business/22museum.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=museum%20of%20american%20finance&st=cse

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Centers, Institutes, and Offices of Interest

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

http://www.cbpp.org/

Congressional Budget Office

http://www.cbo.gov/

Office of Management and Budget

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/

General Accountability Office (formerly General Accounting Office)

http://www.gao.gov/

U.S. Treasury Department (Offices)

http://www.treas.gov/offices/

Books of Interest

The Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed, Penguin Press (2009); ISBN: 978-1-59420-182-0

The Cost of Capitalism: Understanding Market Mayhem and Stabilizing Our Economic Future by Robert J. Barbera, McGraw-Hill (2009); ISBN: 978-0-07-162844-0

The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 by Paul Krugman, W. W. Norton (2009); ISBN: 978-0-393-07101-6

A Failure of Capitalism: The Crisis of ’08 and the Descent into Depression by Richard A. Posner, Harvard University Press, ISBN: 978-0-674-03514-0

In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke's War on the Great Panic by David Wessel, Crown Business (2009); ISBN: 978-0307459688