As a prelude to a broader analysis of China’s GDP, and the accuracy of its official GDP figures, I want to start by examining the national real estate statistics for the first four months of 2012. This discussion feeds into the broader GDP picture, but the property story that has been unfolding is important and [...]
I have repeatedly described myself as a Euroskeptic. The current combination of politics and economics looks likely to at worst doom the Euro to failure, at best to commit the Continent to a deep and long-lasting recession. Moreover, the pace of deterioration in Greece, combined with an economic structure that seems completely at odds with [...]
Here I comment on some recent developments affecting oil and gasoline prices. There is no oil shortage in the central United States, and has not been for some time, thanks to increased production from Canadian oil sands, North Dakota, and the Midwest United States: Source: Borenstein and Kellogg (2012). At the same time, demand [...]
Did we learn anything?
From the Financial Times: No one can pretend to know whether Spain is illiquid or insolvent without gauging the size of the black hole that is the country’s banking sector. The Spanish government is finally starting to do this: Bankia and other banks are reportedly set to receive a capital injection from Madrid. With the [...]
That $14 trillion in exposure exists because the financial world cannot earn sufficient returns on all of those little green pieces of paper printed by the Fed by investing solely in the real economy. That is why the real takeaway from the JPM disclosures is not that it was an aberration, but that this is the core business of Wall Street today.
Efraim Chalamish
Efraim Chalamish's Economic Development and Security Blog
Dr. Efraim Chalamish is an international economic law scholar and practitioner, geostrategy commentator, and economics and security analyst. He has been involved in international legal practice in New York, Paris and Israel, along with research and analysis of cutting edge areas in public and private international law and economics. He has also been teaching in various institutions in the US, Europe, and the Middle East.
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