Submitted by Businomics Blog
Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn gave a speech that was actually intelligible–must have been some big blunder among the PR staff.  The general thrust was that the economy was not doing too badly, and the economic outlook was mildly positive, which is a lot like my forecast.  Here are a couple of […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
WASHINGTON — The U.S. discriminates against blind people by printing paper money that makes it impossible for them to distinguish among the bills’ varying values, a federal appeals court ruled today (Tuesday).
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Submitted by Econbrowser
Every once in a while The American Economic Review publishes something interesting. A recent article gave pretty solid evidence that the Civil War promoted by Jonas Savimbi raised profits for the diamond industry.

A long-standing theory in economics is that peaceful development is in the interests of business. 18th century theorists use to write […]

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Submitted by Econbrowser
The AP describes Lazear’s views on the role of biofuels on rising prices thus: “US disputes IMF on food prices”.
From the article by Desmond Butler:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration is disputing the International Monetary Fund’s claim that increased production of biofuels is the biggest factor in rising food prices.

The IMF estimates that […]

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Submitted by A Dash of Insight
When something important happens, with potential market effects, we interrupt our normally scheduled programming for an update.
We intend to publish the answers to the economics quiz and to announce the winners.  Meanwhile, potential entrants have another day to win this prestigious contest!
The Housing Compromise
At “A Dash” we have written a […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
At one time, to call someone “green” was to disparage them as inexperienced or immature. Today, to call someone green is to exalt them as one of the environmentalist saviors of the planet. But it is amazing how many people are green in both senses. Some people who think it is wrong […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

FRANKFURT–The euro zone grew 0.76% during the first quarter of this year, the statistics agency Eurostat reported. The region’s numbers, which represent quarter-on-quarter growth, also got a surprising lift from France, where the economy grew 0.64% in the first quarter, and from the German economy, which grew 1.53% in the first quarter […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
I’m sure that you have had this experience before, or something similar to it. You are sitting at lunch in a nice restaurant or perhaps a hotel. Waiters are coming and going. The food is fantastic. The conversation about all things is going well. You talk about the weather, music, movies, health, […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
THE ECONOMIST–Japan’s economy recorded surprisingly strong growth in the first quarter of 2008, according to preliminary government data released on May 16th. Real GDP growth accelerated to 0.8% quarter on quarter, from 0.6% in the previous quarter (see chart above). This translates into a robust expansion of 3.3% in annualized terms. The […]

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