Monthly Archives: October 2011

The misery index was initiated by economist Arthur Okun, an adviser to President Lyndon Johnson in the 1960′s. It is simply the unemployment rate added to the inflation rate. It is assumed that both a higher rate of unemployment and … Continue reading →

With her Dear Ben piece on the NYT, Christy Romer has moved squarely into the Market Monetarist camp. Maybe she was there all along. After all, the abstract of her often mentioned 1992 paper on “What ended the Great Depression” … Continue reading →

We hear that the Fed is set to spend a lot of time Tuesday and Wednesday “wrestling with communication policy”. In a fun to read post Nick Rowe has done a great job in “dissecting” the subject. David Beckworth has … Continue reading →

The Telegraph reports: Klaus Regling, the chief of the European Financial Stability Facility, has arrived in Beijing a day after Eurozone leaders struck a last-minute deal to contain the bloc’s debt crisis. European leaders are now under pressure to finalise … Continue reading →

From Bloomberg: European leaders’ agreement to expand a bailout fund to stem the region’s debt crisis only buys time as Greece will likely still leave the euro in the next decade, Harvard University economist Kenneth Rogoff said. “It feels at its root to … Continue reading →

The GDP release was cause for some “celebration” due to the fact that, finally, RGDP regained the level of the previous peak. However, in per capita terms, it´s still about 2.5% below! Assuming that trend (potential) real growth is something … Continue reading →

That would be a recipe for utter failure. Guido Tabellini has a good analysis: The Eurozone core weakness has been known since the beginning – the separation of monetary and fiscal policy. This is the principle upon which the European … Continue reading →

This is Nick Rowe: One sentence in Fed vice-chair Janet Yellen’s speech caught my eye: “Indeed, I believe that the Federal Reserve qualifies as one of the most transparent central banks in the world.” That is total bullshit. The Fed is one … Continue reading →

I found this piece from Munchau to be the best take on the “14th summit”: The day may yet come when the eurozone finally agrees a comprehensive package to end the crisis, but this was not the day. What policymakers agreed at … Continue reading →

Bloomberg Reports: European Union talks with banks on bondholder losses as part of a second Greek bailout ran aground, dimming the chances for a comprehensive strategy at a summit to stamp out the debt crisis. A statement issued close to … Continue reading →