EconoMonitor

BRAD DELONG: WE’RE ALL MINSKIANS NOW!

February 7, 2025June 30, 2012 by L. Randall Wray

Earlier this week I noted, tongue-firmly-in-cheek, that we’re all MMTers now, following Paul McCulley’s recommendation that we just declare victory. And be nice about it. Well here is a strange post from Brad DeLong: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/economics-blog/2012/jun/29/us-treasury-rates-economic-prophets. He proclaims that essentially anyone who is anyone is a Minskian. And apparently always was. That is why mainstream economists … Read more

Latest Data Show U.S. Corporate Profits Falling Due to Global Woes While GDP Growth Remains Sluggish

February 6, 2025June 28, 2012 by Ed Dolan

The final estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis shows U.S. real GDP growing at a sluggish 1.9 percent annual rate in Q1 2012, the same as in the second estimate released at the end of May. Nominal GDP grew at a 3.9 percent annual rate. That is slightly faster than previously estimated but still … Read more

Germany Is a First Class Passenger on the Euro Titanic

February 7, 2025June 27, 2012 by Edward Harrison

I was on RT’s Capital Account on Monday afternoon, talking about the euro crisis yet again. The video is below but I have a few comments before you watch it. In the video, I say Europe can continue dithering for quite a while. There is no sense in making predictions about imminent euro zone destruction … Read more

The Strong Real

February 6, 2025June 26, 2012 by Marcio Garcia

Without structural reforms to increase productivity and a serious fiscal adjustment, foreign exchange measures will be tantamount merely to “anaesthesia without surgery”. Complaints about the BRL’s appreciation have recently been gaining strength. They have mobilized the whole government, even the President of the Republic. Should the strong BRL be combatted at any price? Even if … Read more

Fourteen Minutes a Day: What the Great Recession has Done to the Way We Spend our Time

February 7, 2025June 25, 2012 by Ed Dolan

Writers of economics textbooks like to remind us that official employment and GDP data are not very good measures of how hard we work or of the goods and services we produce, but what alternatives do we have? One little-noticed alterative is the annual American Time Use Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which … Read more

Paul McCulley – MMT Won: Declare Victory But Be Magnanimous About It

February 6, 2025June 25, 2012 by L. Randall Wray

We’ve just finished up a ten day seminar at the Levy Economics Institute on the work of Hyman Minsky (see here http://www.levyinstitute.org/news/?event=39). There were a number of great presentations, including lectures by two financial experts who I consider to be among the best speakers today, Frank Veneroso (of Veneroso Associates) and Paul McCulley (the recently … Read more

Confidence Indicators Deteriorated Significantly This Week

February 7, 2025June 22, 2012 by Rebecca Wilder

This week national confidence surveys rolled in with just one story: the economic infection in Europe is spreading. Business confidence indicators in France and Germany declined 1.1% and 1.6%, respectively, in the month of June. In Italy consumer confidence hit another record low since 1996 of 85.3 after falling 1.4% in June. The National Bank … Read more

Economic Crosscurrents

February 7, 2025June 21, 2012 by Barry Ritholtz

Yesterday’s FOMC meeting has lots of people chattering about whether the Fed did too much or too little. Forget consensus, there is a notable lack of any sort of recognition of where we are in the overall economic cycle. Some of this confusion is a lingering effect of Economists lagging recognition of balance sheet versus … Read more

Why Germany Cannot Save the Euro

February 6, 2025June 21, 2012 by Edward Harrison

As Charles Wyplosz has recently written, the euro zone’s rescue strategy adopted in May 2010 has failed. Like his column, this column argues that it was folly for the euro zone to believe the bailout approach would succeed because the problems in the euro zone run much deeper than just Greece. Further, this column argues … Read more

Moralistic rather than economic reasoning

February 10, 2025June 20, 2012 by Charles Wyplosz

The EZ rescue strategy adopted in May 2010 failed to restore debt sustainability, avoid contagion, or reduce moral hazard. This column argues that a volte face is needed. The debt of Greece, Portugal and Italy – and perhaps Ireland, Spain and France as well – must be restructured to restore growth and end the crisis. … Read more