Hedge Fund Blackmail and Judicial Overreach

It will be hard to blame Argentina for its latest default

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/in-hedge-fund-argentina-finds-relentless-foe/

More than 100 leading economists issue a plea to US Congress on the Argentina default mess:
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/press-releases/press-releases/economists-call-on-congress-to-mitigate-fallout-from-ruling-on-argentine-debt

Related,

Argentina and the Sovereign Debt Mess

http://www.project-syndicate.org/print/anne-krueger-examines-the-fallout-from-the-us-supreme-court-s-recent-ruling-in-favor-of-bondholders

http://www.project-syndicate.org/print/jeffrey-frankel-explains-why-a-recent-us-supreme-court-ruling-leaves-creditors-and-debtors-worse-off

Is Monetary Policy Contributing to Rising Inequality?

Ruchir Sharma has an interesting op-ed in today’s WSJ. He observes:

“The Fed can print as much money as it wants, but it can't control where it goes, and much of it is finding its way into financial assets. On many long-term metrics, the stock market is now at levels that fall within the top 10% of valuations recorded over the past 100 years. The rally in the fixed-income market too is reaching giddy proportions, particularly for high-yield junk bonds, which are up 150% since 2009.”

US 2014Q2 GDP Advance Estimate

GDP Data Update
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/31/upshot/strong-growth-in-gdp-but-some-caveats.html

It is worth noting that today’s data release is an advance estimate that is very likely to be revised significantly in the future.

A Fundamental Economic Debate

Economic Development - Updates

Pankaj Mishra on Indonesia
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/04/places-3

2014 Human Development Index Report

http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/hdr14-summary-en.pdf

As China Rebalances, It Will Significantly Impact Rest of Asia

http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21608749-slowing-investment-and-resilient-consumption-china-are-changing-asias-economic

Overcoming Natural Resource Curse

http://www.project-syndicate.org/print/ricardo-hausmann-advises-poor-countries-not-to-focus-solely-on-adding-value-to-natural-resource-exports

US Economy - Interesting Issues

US Median Household Wealth – Long-Term Trends

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/07/29/the-middle-class-is-20-percent-poorer-than-it-was-in-1984/

American College Tuition Inflation Figures Are Highly Exaggerated:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/upshot/how-the-government-exaggerates-the-cost-of-college.html

The Re-shoring Myth

http://www.project-syndicate.org/print/federico-d-ez-and-gita-gopinath-refute-claims-that-the-us-is-experiencing-a-significant-return-of-manufacturing

Asset Markets

Spotting Asset Bubbles

Timing Really Matters When It Comes to Investing

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/26/upshot/in-investing-when-matters-just-as-much-as-what.html