Submitted by Businomics Blog
The latest month’s news isn’t stunning, but the recent trend has been better than I expected.  Sales of new homes were, depending on your favorite headline, either up, or lower than expectations.  Actually, the change in home sales was trivial.
The good news, however, is that we are working off the excess inventory […]

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Submitted by unsettling economics
Almost 70 years ago, George Stigler introduced the concept of flexibility. A business might be highly efficient, but it may not have the flexibility to meet changing conditions. Stigler’s point is largely ignored. I would prefer that other parts of his work were ignored, but I do not have much say in […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
My decision to strongly urge all Warren mayoral appointees to buy American-made vehicles was based on what I call “economic patriotism.”

~Mayor Jim Fouts of Warren, MI, in today’s Detroit Free Press

Dear Mr. Mayor:

What about these American-made vehicles produced by UAW workers in American factories for foreign car companies, do they count as […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
I am going to insist that all of the mayoral appointees buy American-made vehicles when they purchase new vehicles.

~Jim Fouts, Mayor of Warren, Michigan, in today’s Detroit Free Press

Both major political parties are infested with protectionists who would discriminate on the basis of national origin no less virulently than David Duke or […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
1. The reason so many people misunderstand so many issues is not that these issues are so complex, but that people do not want a factual or analytical explanation that leaves them emotionally unsatisfied. They want villains to hate and heroes to cheer– and they don’t want explanations that do not give […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
“Windfall,” of course, is just another word for “undeserved,” which is why windfall profits are defined as the profits earned by someone other than you. If we were honest with the people having their profits yanked away, we’d call it the “well-earned and richly deserved profits tax.”

~Jonah Goldberg
Visit 1800blogger to see all […]

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Submitted by Econbrowser
Why is the trade deficit, even taking out oil, so large when the dollar is so weak? Maybe some insights can be gleaned from productivity measures.

In Figure 1, net exports ex. oil is plotted against the real trade weighted exchange rate of the dollar (up is weaker).

Figure 1: Net exports ex.-oil to GDP […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Do a Google search for “rising food prices” and you’ll get 391,000 results, while a search for “falling real food prices” gets about 144 results, a ratio of 2,700:1. Maybe we get so focused on the most recent year or two of rising prices for products like eggs that we lose […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

NY TIMES — American natural gas production is rising at a clip not seen in half a century, pushing down prices of the fuel and reversing conventional wisdom that domestic gas fields were in irreversible decline.

The new drilling boom uses advanced technology to release gas trapped in huge shale beds found throughout […]

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