Submitted by Businomics Blog
There’s nothing like a good financial crisis to make me yearn for historical perspective.  I got just that in a paper called “This Time Is Different: A Panoramic View of Eight Centuries of Financial Crises” by Carmen Reinhard (University of Maryland) and Kenneth Rogoff (Harvard).
Countries default on their debt fairly often when […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Take Care Health Clinics, which began operation in 2005, has 28 clinics inside Walgreens stores in the Chicago area. The newest opened yesterday in Rockford. Take Care isn’t alone in the rapidly growing retail health-care market, however. The Chicago area has 24 MinuteClinics, each inside a CVS pharmacy, and Wal-Mart has also […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Walter Williams explains why the futures market, which takes into account both the present and the future availability of goods, is a vital part of a smoothly functioning economy.
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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
The simple fact is that the prices of oil and gasoline are determined by supply and demand—which neither private oil companies nor speculators have any power to dictate in their favor. If they had such market mastery, then why didn’t they use it in the 1990s, when gasoline was selling at a […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
The National Association of Realtors released its latest report today on the Housing Affordability Index (HAI) for April, showing a slight decline to 129.4 from the March level of 130 (see chart above) due to a slight increase in median-price home in April.

A composite HAI of 129.4 means that a […]

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Submitted by The Capital Spectator
Reports of rising inflation are everywhere, and the bond market is paying attention.
As evidence, we turn to Exhibit A–the 10-year Treasury yield, which closed above 4% for the first time since December 31, 2007. Rising yields are present in other maturities, too, including the 2-year Note, which yesterday settled at 2.62%, […]

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Submitted by unsettling economics
I have rewritten the introduction and first chapter of my new book. Any comments would be appreciated.
chap-11
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Submitted by unsettling economics
The Journal article does not discuss oil, but chocolate. Even so, the article is of interest because it dismisses the idea that fundamentals are responsible for a rapid increase in prices.
The only speculator quoted responded that speculation can only cause higher prices in the short run because farmers can plant more trees. […]

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Submitted by A Dash of Insight
Last year we reviewed Dr. Brett Steenbarger’s Enhancing Trading Performance, one of our recommended readings.  We made the observation that the book should be read by competitors in all fields, not just trading.
It works both ways.  Many of the lessons from sports can be applied to trading.
Playing within Yourself
Athletes often […]

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Submitted by Econbrowser
The BLS’s Import/Export price release, from May 13th, might seem like old news. And some aspects are. But I think it is useful to think about what the trends in these price indices mean for general inflation and the adjustment process (this is in some sense an update on this post).

First, consider import […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Despite its pious denunciations of the behavior of U.S. investor-owned oil companies (IOCs), Congress by its actions over the years has ensured the economic viability of the foreign national oil company cartel (which control nearly 80% of world petroleum reserves).
It has done so by preventing the exploitation by IOCs of reserves available […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy was stronger than first thought because of a better trade balance and stronger business spending.
Gross domestic product rose at a seasonally adjusted 0.9% annual rate January through March, the Commerce Department said in the second estimate of first-quarter GDP (see chart above). Originally, in a report a […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
How is it that everyone complaining about high gas prices can see this simple relationship:

increased gas prices = people buy less gas [corollary: people buy more fuel efficient cars]

but they cannot see these relationships:

increased minimum wage = people buy less minimum wage labor

increased business taxes = less business

increased capital gains […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
In terms of inflation, the last 25 years since 1983 has been the most stable period in the last 200 years.

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
The discount retailer already has made major inroads into accessible, affordable care through lower drug prices, walk-in clinics and electronic record-keeping. Why stop there?
Wal-Mart has done more to expand coverage and lower costs in the past year than any government program to come out of Washington in the past 10 years. And […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
The chart above is based on data in the recently released 2008 Investment Company Fact Book from the Investment Company Institute, showing the rise in the popularity of indexed mutual funds from less than 1% of all equity mutual fund assets in 1987 to 11.5% in 2007.

Although the expense ratio […]

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