Morality, Economics, and the Debate Surrounding Capitalism [MUST READ]

One of the most thought-provoking reads – Highly Recommended:
The moral calculations of a billionaire
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/01/30/moral-calculations-billionaire/
After the best year in history to be among the super-rich, one of America’s 745 billionaires wonders: ‘What’s enough? What’s the answer?’

Fundamental Debates:

The Remoralization of the Market

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/10/opinion/market-morality.html

The Moral Identity of Homo Economicus by Ricardo Hausmann
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/homo-economicus-moral-psychology-revolution-by-ricardo-hausmann-2017-11

Long-Term Inflation - Health Care and Higher Education

MY TAKE: Health care and higher education: Key drivers of long-term inflation
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/591995-health-care-and-higher-education-key-drivers-of-long-term-inflation
Two interesting links included in the article –
https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/chart-of-the-day-or-century-5/
https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/HealthCare_Facts_WEB_FINAL.pdf

Writing Advice – Keep it Simple

Why Simple Is Smart
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/writing-tips-for-journalists-jargon-simplicity/621411/
Complicated language can send a signal that a writer is dense or overcompensating. 

The Staggering Cost of Food Waste

Billions of animals are slaughtered every year — just to be wasted
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22890292/food-waste-meat-dairy-eggs-milk-animal-welfare
The staggering toll of food waste on animals 

Politics and International Affairs

America Has an Unhealthy Obsession with Credibility
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/01/29/us-credibility-ukraine-russia-grand-strategy/
 
A Russia-Ukraine War Could Ripple Across Africa and Asia
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/01/22/russia-ukraine-war-grain-exports-africa-asia/
 
Why democracy in Africa needs a rethink
https://www.dw.com/en/opinion-why-democracy-in-africa-needs-rethinking/a-60594113
 
India Is Building a Women-Only Social Safety Net
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/01/25/india-is-building-a-women-only-social-safety-net/

The Fed and Financial Markets

What May Be in Store as the Fed Cuts Back on the Easy Money
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/28/business/fed-inflation-stocks-bonds.html

Fed tries to thread the needle by raising rates without endangering economy
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/01/30/fed-powell-rates-economy/

Inflation and Deficits Don’t Dim the Appeal of U.S. Bonds

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/30/business/economy/treasury-bond-yields-inflation.html 

My take:

Can the Federal Reserve engineer a soft landing for the US economy?
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/587953-can-the-federal-reserve-engineer-a-soft-landing-for-the-us-economy

Aging Condos in Florida

Miami Condos - The Towers and the Ticking Clock
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/01/28/magazine/miami-condo-collapse.html
Last summer’s collapse in Surfside, Fla., exposed a startling truth: Thousands of aging condo buildings could be next — and few steps are being taken to prevent another tragedy.

Public Policy Research and Real-World Applications

Of course pre-K and cash help kids … right?
What one study finding pre-K harms kids, and another finding cash can change their brains, can tell us about public policy.
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22904345/pre-k-cash-baby-brain-social-science

The ESG Debate

Wall Street’s Green Push Exposes New Conflicts of Interest
https://www.wsj.com/articles/wall-streets-green-push-exposes-new-conflicts-of-interest-11643452202 

Is socially responsible investing all a lie?
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22714761/esg-investing-divestment-fossil-fuels-climate-401k 

An Argument for Investing Where the Return Is Social Change
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/02/your-money/impact-investing-social-change.html
Serving Shareholders Doesn’t Mean Putting Profit Above All Else
https://promarket.org/2020/09/05/serving-shareholders-doesnt-mean-putting-profit-else/ 

Related:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/darren-walker-ford-foundation-60-minutes-2021-04-04/

Politics in America

How this cycle of redistricting is making gerrymandered congressional districts even safer and undermining majority rule
https://theconversation.com/how-this-cycle-of-redistricting-is-making-gerrymandered-congressional-districts-even-safer-and-undermining-majority-rule-173103

In North Carolina, a Pitched Battle Over Gerrymanders and Justices
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/29/us/north-carolina-voting-gerrymandering.html

Will Congress take the bold step of barring its members from trading stocks?
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/01/congress-stock-trading-ban/621402/

Democrats Decried Dark Money. Then They Won with It in 2020.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/29/us/politics/democrats-dark-money-donors.html

Permitless carry and the new gun-rights extremism
https://harpers.org/archive/2022/02/free-country-permitless-carry-new-guns-rights-extremism/ 

Can the US Still Attract Skilled Immigrants?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/24/stem-give-biden-credit-his-efforts-repair-national-reputation-that-trump-trashed/

Coronavirus Update

Visualizing the omicron wave striking and rolling across the country
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/interactive/2022/omicron-wave-spread-maps/
 
The Coronavirus Will Surprise Us Again
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/01/coronavirus-variant-after-omicro/621404/ 

Taylor Rule

Cryptos and Meme Stocks

How Crypto Became the New Subprime
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/27/opinion/cryptocurrency-subprime-vulnerable.html

The Strange Alliance of Crypto and MAGA Believers
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/10/opinion/crypto-cryptocurrency-money-conspiracy.html

It’s Hard to Tell When the Crypto Bubble Will Burst, or If There Is One
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/27/business/crypto-price-bubble.html 

The Case for ‘Digital Gold’ Unravels as Bitcoin’s Plunge Deepens

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-21/the-case-for-digital-gold-unravels-as-bitcoin-s-plunge-deepens

Imagine There’s No Crypto. It’s Too Easy If You Try
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-21/a-world-without-bitcoin-ethereum-and-other-crypto-is-still-too-easy-to-imagine

Why bitcoin is worse than a Madoff-style Ponzi scheme

https://www.ft.com/content/83a14261-598d-4601-87fc-5dde528b33d0

Crypto Diehards Are About to Find Out If It Really Was a Bubble

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-08/crypto-and-bitcoin-btc-diehards-may-see-market-bubble-burst-by-fed 

History is clear on the story of money: Nation-states have limited patience for private competition and a whole lot of power.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-11-04/currency-history-regulation-and-crypto-s-future
Stephen Mihm notes:
“The story of money can be told in many ways, but one perennial conflict is the struggle over who, precisely, enjoys the right to make money. Throughout much of human history, governments of all kinds have often laid claim to this prerogative, while tolerating plenty of competition: coins from other countries, private tokens and other forms of currency.
That changed in the late 18th century, when the rise of modern nation-states went hand in hand with monopolization of money. No matter how well private currencies performed their job, they almost inevitably ran afoul of the authorities”.
 
My take:
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/554998-is-bitcoin-the-future-of-money
Major fiat currencies, in fact, have some derived “intrinsic value” due to their status as legal tenders — they are backed by the full faith and power of stable national governments and supported by an elaborate and sophisticated regulatory and financial system. 

 
Meme Investors Learn the Hard Way: The House Always Wins
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-25/crypto-meme-investors-learn-the-house-always-wins

GameStop, Meme Stocks Hit by Market Turmoil
https://www.wsj.com/articles/gamestop-meme-stocks-hit-by-market-turmoil-11643057735 

The Return of Great Power Competition

America’s War for Global Order Is a Marathon
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/01/25/americas-war-for-global-order-is-a-marathon/
 
Russia, Ukraine and the long shadow of the Soviet Union
https://www.ft.com/content/0cbbd590-8e48-4687-a302-e74b6f0c905d
 
India Seeks to Escape an Asian Future Led by China
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/01/23/india-modi-china-west-trade-geopolitics/
A flurry of trade talks herald an economic realignment toward the West. 

Economics of Climate Change

Not Even Free Money Can Fix a Carbon Tax
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/01/carbon-tax-rebate-policy/621363/
A carbon dividend seemed like a great way to solve climate politics. But it might not work.

The past seven years have been the hottest in recorded history, new data shows
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/01/13/global-temperature-record-climate-change/ 

America’s hottest city is nearly unlivable in summer. Can cooling technologies save it?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/27/phoenix-arizona-hottest-city-cooling-technologies

Which countries are historically responsible for climate change?

https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-which-countries-are-historically-responsible-for-climate-change

Ambani’s $75 Billion Plan Aims to Make India a Hydrogen Hub
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-30/ambani-s-75-billion-plan-aims-to-make-india-a-hydrogen-hub

Economist Special Report – Economics of the Climate
https://www.economist.com/special-report/2021/10/27/the-economics-of-the-climate

Surviving in Kuwait's 'unbearable' heat

US 2021Q4 GDP - Advance Estimate

U.S. Economic Growth Quickened Last Quarter with Inventory Boost
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-27/u-s-economic-growth-quickened-last-quarter-with-inventory-boost

How full is the U.S. recovery? Inflation’s impact obscures the answer.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/27/business/economy/gdp-report-inflation.html

Fed's Policy Pivot - Too Little Too Late?

Fed Statement:
https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20220126a.htm
With inflation well above 2 percent and a strong labor market, the Committee expects it will soon be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate. The Committee decided to continue to reduce the monthly pace of its net asset purchases, bringing them to an end in early March.

Fed ready to tackle inflation with interest rate hike in March, pointing to strong job growth amid the pandemic
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/01/26/fed-powell-interest-rate/

Fed Does What’s Expected, Not What’s Needed
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-26/fed-decision-central-bank-does-what-s-expected-not-what-s-needed

Fed’s Policy Pivot May Prove Late and Abrupt, Critics Fret
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/25/business/economy/fed-economy.html

My take:

Can the Federal Reserve engineer a soft landing for the US economy?
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/587953-can-the-federal-reserve-engineer-a-soft-landing-for-the-us-economy

How did the Fed get it so wrong on inflation?

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/581582-how-did-the-fed-get-it-so-wrong-on-inflation

A still-dovish Fed raises the risk of stagflation lite
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/580712-a-still-dovish-fed-raises-the-risk-of-stagflation-lite

China’s Celebrity Economists

The business of China's celebrity online economists
https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/The-business-of-China-s-celebrity-online-economists

A Driver of Grade Inflation in College Courses

Students' Grade Satisfaction Influences Evaluations of Teaching: Evidence from Individual-level Data and an Experimental Intervention
https://www.edworkingpapers.com/sites/default/files/ai22-513.pdf
Abstract:
Student surveys are widely used to evaluate university teaching and increasingly adopted at the K-12 level, although there remains considerable debate about what they measure. Much disagreement focuses on the well-documented correlation between student grades and their evaluations of instructors. Using individual-level data from 19,000 evaluations of 700 course sections at a flagship public university, we leverage both within-course and within-student variation to rule out popular explanations for this correlation. Specifically, we show that the relationship cannot be explained by instructional quality, workload, grading stringency, or student sorting into courses. Instead, student grade satisfaction—regardless of the underlying cause of the grades—appears to be an important driver of course evaluations. We also present results from a randomized intervention with potential to reduce the magnitude of the association by reminding students to focus on relevant teaching and learning considerations and by increasing the salience of the stakes attached to evaluations for instructor careers. However, these prove ineffective in muting the relationship between grades and student scores.

Related:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/01/19/study-grade-satisfaction-major-factor-student-evals
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereknewton/2021/09/28/grade-inflation-is-real/

A Good Survey:

Student Evaluations of Teaching Encourages Poor Teaching and Contributes to Grade Inflation: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01973533.2020.1756817
Abstract
Student Evaluations of Teaching (SETs) do not measure teaching effectiveness, and their widespread use by university administrators in decisions about faculty hiring, promotions, and merit increases encourages poor teaching and causes grade inflation. Students need to get good grades, and faculty members need to get good SETs. Therefore, SETs empower students to shape faculty behavior. This power can be used to reward lenient-grading instructors who require little work and to punish strict-grading instructors. This article reviews research that shows that students (a) reward teachers who grade leniently with positive SETs, (b) reward easy courses with positive SETs, and (c) choose courses that promise good grades. The study also shows that instructors want (and need) good SETs.

 
My take:
https://thehill.com/opinion/education/590971-will-the-us-higher-education-bubble-finally-burst
The choice of college major is of particular salience in influencing lifetime earnings. In an era of widespread grade inflation, undertaking challenging coursework and selecting rigorous majors may offer a clear signal to potential employers and yield a higher return on investment. There is some evidence that college completion rates in recent years have risen in conjunction with a spike in grade inflation, suggesting a decline in the strength of the signaling effect of college degrees. 

Omicron's Short-Term Economic Impact

Omicron’s Economic Toll: Missing Workers, More Uncertainty and Higher Inflation (Maybe)
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/24/business/economy/omicron-economy.html

Omicron fallout and tough labor talks likely to rattle supply chains and fuel inflation
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/01/15/omicron-supply-chain-inflation/

The US Higher Education Bubble

Is the US higher education bubble about to burst?
https://thehill.com/opinion/education/590971-will-the-us-higher-education-bubble-finally-burst
 
Related readings:

Will that college degree pay off? A look at some of the numbers.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/11/01/college-degree-value-major/

College Wage Premium:
https://www.richmondfed.org/-/media/RichmondFedOrg/publications/research/econ_focus/2021/q4/feature2.pdf

Preparedness for College (Quality of K-12 Education System)
https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-fog-of-college-readiness

Drop in college enrollment threatens to cause long-term economic, social consequences
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/01/22/college-enrollment-drop/

U.S. college enrollment dropped again in the fall of 2021, despite the arrival of vaccines.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/13/us/college-enrollment-2021-omicron.html
Enrollment Marches Downward
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/01/13/enrollment-declines-fourth-semester-amid-pandemic
Colleges lost 465,000 students this fall. The continued erosion of enrollment is raising alarms.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/01/13/fall-college-enrollment/
More than 1 million fewer students are in college, the lowest enrollment numbers in 50 years
https://www.npr.org/2022/01/13/1072529477/more-than-1-million-fewer-students-are-in-college-the-lowest-enrollment-numbers- 

Is Bitcoin Really Digital Gold?

Cryptocurrency Doesn’t Amount to Much
https://www.wsj.com/articles/cryptocurrency-doesnt-amount-to-much-bitcoin-stablecoins-lobby-innovation-finance-11643063060

The Case for ‘Digital Gold’ Unravels as Bitcoin’s Plunge Deepens
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-21/the-case-for-digital-gold-unravels-as-bitcoin-s-plunge-deepens
Bitcoin Price Falls Below $35,000 in Tandem with Stock Selloff
https://www.wsj.com/articles/bitcoin-price-falls-below-40-000-in-tandem-with-tech-selloff-11642765835
 
I wrote the following in May 2021:
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/554998-is-bitcoin-the-future-of-money
“If not the future of money, can we make a case for Bitcoin as digital gold? Proponents argue that since Bitcoin, by design, is limited to a maximum of 21 million units, it can act as a stable store of value. Given its short history and its intangible nature, it is unclear that Bitcoin offers a true alternative to traditional gold. Gold has a long history as a medium of exchange, and the yellow metal has impressive physical properties that have caused humans to value it highly for thousands of years. Even today, many societies widely use gold for jewelry and ceremonial purposes. Additionally, from a financial standpoint, Bitcoin is currently too correlated with risky assets to act as an effective inflation hedge”.

Healthcare Sector Staffing Woes

Rich Countries Lure Health Workers from Low-Income Nations to Fight Shortages
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/24/health/covid-health-worker-immigration.html
Huge pay incentives and immigration fast-tracks are leading many to leave countries whose health systems urgently need their expertise.
 
Low-wage workers prop up the nursing home industry. They’re quitting in droves.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/01/23/nursing-home-dc-staffing-omicron/

Should Stock Markets Bet on a 'Powell Put'?

Sorry, Stock Traders, the Fed Won’t Have Your Back
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-24/sorry-stock-traders-the-fed-won-t-have-your-back
 
Wall Street's Big Payday Makes the Fed's Job Harder
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-23/wall-street-s-big-payday-makes-the-federal-reserve-s-job-harder
 
My take:
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/587953-can-the-federal-reserve-engineer-a-soft-landing-for-the-us-economy
The Fed needs to clarify to market participants that its primary mandate is centered on ensuring price stability and maintaining full employment, and that it is not obligated to perennially pursue ultra-easy monetary policy to aid financial markets and keep Wall Street happy.

Downside of the Great Resignation Trend

The Underside of the ‘Great Resignation’
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-underside-of-the-great-resignation-labor-participation-rate-workforce-men-employment-pay-jobs-welfare-ubi-11642777828
“Journalists and economists who cheer on the Great Resignation often stigmatize work in the same breath, writing off low-paid jobs as not worth taking.
“It’s astonishingly condescending to say that some work is meaningless,” Mr. Eberstadt says. “And it shows an astonishing ignorance of how other people live.” It’s wonderful that millions of people are finding better work. But there are millions more who could fill the jobs they’re vacating, and disdain for low-skill work helps keep those people away.

Men Are Getting Left Behind in the Jobs Boom
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-24/the-jobs-boom-is-leaving-more-men-behind
Economic upheaval has been pushing a disproportionate number of men out of the workforce, and a growing number never come back. One solution lies in high school.

Supply Constraints and Inflation Expectations

Prices are rising all over the world, and leaders see no quick fix
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/01/23/inflation-global-prices-biden/

Honey, I Shrank the Economy’s Capacity
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/21/opinion/inflation-us-economy-biden.html
 
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on “modern supply side economics”:
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0565
 
To Tame Inflation, the Fed Needs to Get into Your Head
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-20/inflation-expectations-doctrine-will-get-real-life-test-with-fed-rate-hikes

Inflation Forecasting Is a Truly Dismal Science

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-21/inflation-forecasting-is-a-truly-dismal-science

My take:

Can the Federal Reserve engineer a soft landing for the US economy?
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/587953-can-the-federal-reserve-engineer-a-soft-landing-for-the-us-economy
How did the Fed get it so wrong on inflation?
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/581582-how-did-the-fed-get-it-so-wrong-on-inflation

Market Correction

The Markets Tremble as the Fed’s Lifeline Fades
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/21/business/economy/stock-markets-down-inflation.html
 
Investors face reckoning as stock market has worst week since beginning of pandemic
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/01/21/stock-market-selloff-2022/ 

Why the pandemic’s work-from-home tech darlings are falling back to earth
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/01/23/pandemic-tech-boom-peloton-netflix/

What is Free Speech?

Do Americans Even Know What Free Speech Is?
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-22/what-is-free-speech-democrats-and-republicans-disagree-again 

Résumé - Still Matters

The Pandemic Changed Everything About Work, Except the Humble Résumé
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/22/business/pandemic-work-resumes.html 

Résumé-Writing Tips to Help You Get Past the A.I. Gatekeepers
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/19/business/resume-filter-articial-intelligence.html
More companies than ever are using software to screen their mountains of job applications. Getting seen by a human recruiter takes some effort.

The Digital Dollar

Federal Reserve is taking the next step toward possibly launching a digital dollar
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/01/20/federal-reserve-digital-dollar/
 
Related:
https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/money-and-payments-20220120.pdf

The Rising Cost of Inflation

The pandemic has led to the largest price spikes at fast-food restaurants in two decades.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/21/business/fast-food-prices-inflation.html

‘That raise meant nothing’: Inflation is wiping out pay increases for most Americans
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/01/22/wages-inflation/

Geopolitics and the Global Economy

Inflation’s Biggest Risk Is Geopolitical Unrest
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-20/inflation-s-biggest-risk-is-geopolitical-unrest 

As Turkey’s economy struggles, Erdogan goes it alone
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/01/21/erdogan-turkey-economy-inflation/ 

Currency Strength and Purchasing Power

Yen's lost decades: Japanese buying power sinks to near 50-year low
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Markets/Currencies/Yen-s-lost-decades-Japanese-buying-power-sinks-to-near-50-year-low 

US Healthcare Bureaucracy

The frustrating Covid-19 test reimbursement process is a microcosm of US health care
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22893116/covid-19-free-tests-health-insurance-reimbursement 

Covid-19 - Pandemic to Endemic

Now that science has defanged Covid, it’s time to get on with our lives
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/19/science-covid-ineradicable-disease-prevention

Housing Market - Bubbles vs Fundamentals

Something Has to Give in the Housing Market. Or Does It?
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/upshot/home-prices-surging.html
There appears to be no quick reprieve coming for rising prices: “It’s not a bubble, it really is about the fundamentals.”

Are We in Another Housing Bubble?
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/28/opinion/housing-bubble-us.html

When Will Be a Good Time to Buy a House?
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/01/when-good-time-buy-house/621409/

Just How Much Will Soaring U.S. Mortgage Rates Bite?

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-20/personal-finance-just-how-much-will-soaring-u-s-mortgage-rates-bite

My piece from April 2021:
Is the US housing boom a cause for concern?
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/550331-is-the-us-housing-boom-a-cause-for-concern

Money Illusion - Real versus Nominal Wage Gains

Nice raise. Too bad about inflation.
https://www.vox.com/recode/22933594/pay-raise-price-inflation-employers-great-resignation

Gain in U.S. Median Wage at End of 2021 Was Well Below Inflation
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-19/gain-in-u-s-median-wage-at-end-of-2021-was-well-below-inflation 

Inflation Has Turned $15 an Hour Wages into a Setback
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/inflation-has-turned-15-an-hour-wages-into-a-setback/2021/09/17/6b6c2174-17ab-11ec-a019-cb193b28aa73_story.html

What’s Your Raise Really Worth? Inflation Has Something to Say About It.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/labor-shortages-give-low-pay-workers-a-raise-inflation-eats-it-up-11631637683

No, Inflation Isn’t Good for Workers
https://www.wsj.com/articles/inflation-fed-interest-rates-11627237713 

Bad Public Policy

School Closures Were a Catastrophic Error. Progressives Still Haven’t Reckoned with It.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/progressives-must-reckon-with-the-school-closing-catastrophe.html 

The Big Quit

Everyone Is Quitting. Here’s the Right Way to Do It.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/19/your-money/quitting-your-job-guide.html
From understanding why you want to leave to tackling health insurance and retirement plans, here’s your guide to a graceful exit — without leaving money on the table. 

2021 Winners - Global Shippers and Wall Street Bankers

Shipping Companies Had a $150 Billion Year. Economists Warn They’re Also Stoking Inflation
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-01-18/supply-chain-crisis-helped-shipping-companies-reap-150-billion-in-2021
 
Goldman Sachs Bankers Win Big. Its Investors Aren’t Pleased.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-18/goldman-sachs-bankers-win-big-its-investors-not-so-much

Financial Risk

It’s All Just Wild’: Tech Start-Ups Reach a New Peak of Froth
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/19/technology/tech-startup-funding.html
There’s more money and more bubbly behavior. Investors insist it’s rational.

How Safe Assets Became Investors' Biggest Risk
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-18/how-safe-assets-became-investors-biggest-risk
 
When Will Monetary Tightening Hit Financial Conditions?
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-18/when-will-monetary-tightening-hit-financial-conditions

Pandemic's Impact on Economic Geography

Why a Blue City Is Feeling the Blues

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/17/opinion/new-york-city-wall-street-economy.html
Paul Krugman:
“The odd thing about New York’s troubles is that in some ways the city’s export base has been holding up fine; Wall Streeters aren’t decamping en masse. But what Wall Street has stopped doing, for now at least, is going to the office — because finance turns out to be one of those industries in which a lot of work can be done remotely. This in turn means that financial workers aren’t buying lunch, shopping downtown, going out to eat and so on”

As Florida home prices spike, middle-class residents wonder if they can afford to stay
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/florida-affordable-housing-crisis/2022/01/18/8369ac0c-72ea-11ec-b202-b9b92330d4fa_story.html
 
Corporate America is coming around to remote work. But more big changes lie ahead.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/01/15/remote-work-omicron/

China and the World Economy

Supply Chain Woes Could Worsen as China Imposes New Covid Lockdowns
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/16/business/economy/china-supply-chain-covid-lockdowns.html
 
China’s Economy Is Slowing, a Worrying Sign for the World
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/16/business/economy/china-economy.html 

China’s Births Hit Historic Low, a Political Problem for Beijing
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/17/world/asia/china-births-demographic-crisis.html

Pandemic's Lingering Effects on the Labor Market

Corporate America is coming around to remote work. But more big changes lie ahead.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/01/15/remote-work-omicron/
 
Can You Afford to Join the Great Resignation?
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-17/personal-finance-can-you-afford-to-lie-flat-and-join-the-great-resignation

How the Pandemic Ripped a Hole in Working-Age America
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-18/how-the-pandemic-ripped-a-hole-in-working-age-america

An Extraordinary Volcanic Eruption

How the Tonga volcano generated a shock wave around the world
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/01/16/hunga-tonga-volcano-tsunami-eruption/

America’s Meatpacking Industry – A Case Study

Building a Better Meatpacking Industry
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/15/opinion/meat-meatpacking-industry.html 

Revolt of the Global Middle Class

Why the global middle class is in revolt
https://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/economy-international-politics/2022/01/why-the-global-middle-class-is-in-revolt
Rising prices, falling incomes and pandemic stresses have sparked social unrest and authoritarian crackdowns in middle-income countries across the world. 

US Politics

Is Biden's presidency doomed?
https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/13/opinions/bidens-approval-rating-history-zelizer/index.html

Can randomly selected citizens govern better than elected officials?
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22878118/jury-duty-citizens-assembly-lottocracy-open-democracy 

mRNA Vaccines - Origin Story, Economic and Public Policy Issues

Halting Progress and Happy Accidents: How mRNA Vaccines Were Made
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/15/health/covid-mrna-vaccines-origin-story.html 

Kati Kariko Helped Shield the World from the Coronavirus
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/08/health/coronavirus-mrna-kariko.html

For Billion-Dollar COVID Vaccines, Basic Government-Funded Science Laid the Groundwork
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/for-billion-dollar-covid-vaccines-basic-government-funded-science-laid-the-groundwork/
Much of the pioneering work on mRNA vaccines was done with government money, though drugmakers could walk away with big profits
 
Are Vaccine Manufacturers Profiteering?
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/11/04/vaccine-manufacturers-are-profiteering-history-shows-how-to-stop-them-519504

Nord Stream 2 - A Geopolitical Drama

The pipeline at the center of geopolitical drama
https://www.vox.com/22881709/nord-stream-2-russia-ukraine-germany-united-states-cruz 

How Civil Wars Start

How Civil Wars Start by Barbara F Walter review – sounding the alarm
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jan/13/how-civil-wars-start-by-barbara-f-walter-review-sounding-the-alarm

‘How Civil Wars Start,’ a Warning About the State of the Union
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/03/books/review-how-civil-wars-start-barbara-walter.html

Foreign Policy Hypocriscy

When will the U.S. Stop Lying to Itself About Global Politics?
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/13/opinion/us-russia-putin-ukraine.html 

The Harsh Price of U.S. Profit in Latin America
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/01/09/harsh-times-mario-vargas-llosa-novel-guatemala-us-coup-latin-america/

Angry America

A Nation on Hold Wants to Speak with a Manager
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/01/business/customer-service-pandemic-rage.html
In our anger-filled age, when people need to shop or travel or cope with mild disappointment they’re “devolving into children.”

America Is Falling Apart at the Seams
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/13/opinion/america-falling-apart.html

Stock Market Outlook

After Another Great Year for Stocks, Peril Lingers
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/14/business/mutual-funds/stock-market-peril.html
 
Stock Market Normality Returns, and It Hurts
https://www.wsj.com/articles/stock-market-normality-returns-and-it-hurts-11641984822 

Market bubbles are bursting – here's what investors should buy and sell
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/investing/funds/market-bubbles-bursting-investors-should-buy-sell/

Politics and Economics in the Pandemic Era

The Secret Triumph of Economic Policy
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/13/opinion/pandemic-economic-recovery.html

Politics is trumping economics. It might end badly.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/13/politics-is-trumping-economics-it-might-end-badly/

Four Reasons to Keep Worrying About Inflation
https://www.wsj.com/articles/four-reasons-keep-worrying-inflation-price-level-real-wage-services-goods-bottleneck-powell-11642095203

How Covid-19 Has Widened the Gap Between Rich and Poor Countries
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-covid-19-has-widened-the-gap-between-rich-and-poor-countries-11642156207 

Millions Have Lost a Step into the Middle Class, Researchers Say
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/14/business/middle-class-jobs-study.html 

Decline in College Enrollment

Drop in college enrollment threatens to cause long-term economic, social consequences
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/01/22/college-enrollment-drop/

U.S. college enrollment dropped again in the fall of 2021, despite the arrival of vaccines.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/13/us/college-enrollment-2021-omicron.html
 
Enrollment Marches Downward
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/01/13/enrollment-declines-fourth-semester-amid-pandemic
 
Colleges lost 465,000 students this fall. The continued erosion of enrollment is raising alarms.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/01/13/fall-college-enrollment/
 
More than 1 million fewer students are in college, the lowest enrollment numbers in 50 years
https://www.npr.org/2022/01/13/1072529477/more-than-1-million-fewer-students-are-in-college-the-lowest-enrollment-numbers- 

Is Amazon Doing Too Much?

The true cost of Amazon’s low prices
Critics say the “everything store” does too much. Is 2022 the year antitrust hawks come for Amazon?
https://www.vox.com/recode/22836368/amazon-antitrust-ftc-marketplace 

Is America Facing a Scarcity Problem?

A Simple Plan to Solve All of America’s Problems
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/scarcity-crisis-college-housing-health-care/621221/
 
Omicron’s Spread Means More Food Outages at U.S. Grocery Stores
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-06/omicron-s-spread-means-more-food-outages-at-u-s-grocery-stores
 
Four reasons you’re seeing empty grocery store shelves
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/01/11/grocery-store-empty-shelves-again/ 

Are CEOs Overpaid?

Apple paid Tim Cook almost $100m last year
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/01/07/apple-paid-tim-cook-almost-100m-last-year/
 
CEO Pay and Inequality
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/10/pandemic-has-exposed-persistent-myth-canada-world/ 

Time to Act - Fed is Behind the Curve

December prices rise 7 percent, compared to a year ago, as 2021 inflation reaches highest in 40 years
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/01/12/december-cpi-inflation/
Related: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/inflation-charts/
 
The experts are finally grasping the real reason for inflation. Now, it’s time to act.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/12/experts-are-finally-grasping-real-reason-inflation-now-its-time-act/
 
Jerome Powell Pitches Benevolent Interest-Rate Hikes Again
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-11/jerome-powell-pitches-benevolent-interest-rate-hikes-again 

Macro Forecasting is Hard

Here’s another thing the pandemic has screwed up: Economic forecasts
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/01/11/jobs-pandemic-shepherdson-omicron/ 

Technology and Rising Inequality

Economists Pin More Blame on Tech for Rising Inequality
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/11/technology/income-inequality-technology.html 

Washington’s Insider Trading Problem

Washington, D.C., Has an Insider-Trading Problem
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/01/washington-d-c-has-an-insider-trading-problem.html 

What is the Purpose of Reading/Studying Great Literature?

This Is the Way the Humanities End
https://www.chronicle.com/article/this-is-the-way-the-humanities-end
 
Why the Core Matters for a New Generation
https://www.chronicle.com/article/why-the-core-matters-for-a-new-generation
 
What’s So Great About Great-Books Courses?
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/12/20/whats-so-great-about-great-books-courses-roosevelt-montas-rescuing-socrates 

Economic Statecraft and International Affairs

The Quad needs an economic pillar to stand on
https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/The-Quad-needs-an-economic-pillar-to-stand-on 

Washington should prioritize economic statecraft and stop thinking with its missiles.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/01/09/us-southeast-asia-china-biden-economic-strategy-geopolitics/

Could a deal with India help fix Britain’s skill shortage?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/01/09/let-indian-workers-britain-says-cbis-bilimoria/

The Inflation Debate - Latest

Is there an end in sight to supply chain disruption?
https://www.ft.com/content/21242e3b-298b-4a6f-a35f-32fdde905952
 
Greenflation Is Very Real and, Sorry, It’s Not Transitory
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-10/greenflation-is-a-crucial-step-in-the-energy-transition-central-banks-take-note
 
The Federal Reserve Needs to Get a Lot More Hawkish
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-10/the-federal-reserve-needs-to-get-a-lot-more-hawkish
 
The flaws in the Fed’s approach to inflation
https://www.ft.com/content/f14f140d-3351-426c-a999-3b1496e57528 

State of the US Labor Market

Why manufacturing has seen the biggest spike in workers quitting
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/09/why-manufacturing-has-seen-biggest-spike-workers-quitting/
 
2021 shattered job market records, but it’s not as good as it looks
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/01/08/2021-shattered-records-but/ 

The Great Resignation: Why more Americans are quitting their jobs than ever before
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/great-resignation-60-minutes-2022-01-10/

Will Asset Bubbles Finally Deflate?

The Bond Market Refuses to Accept Economic Reality
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-12/the-bond-market-refuses-to-accept-economic-reality
Related:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-12/-don-t-fight-the-fed-high-grade-debt-buyers-turn-more-cautious
 
The cure for spiraling inflation threatens a market crash
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/01/12/cure-spiralling-inflation-threatens-market-crash/
 
The end of the ‘liquidity supernova’ from central banks
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/01/11/end-liquidity-supernova-central-banks/

Risk Bubbles Are Deflating Everywhere, Some Market Watchers Say
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-08/risk-bubbles-are-deflating-everywhere-some-market-watchers-say
 
Surging Bond Rates Threaten to Muzzle Dip-Buying Stock Bulls
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-08/surging-bond-rates-threaten-to-muzzle-dip-buying-stock-bulls
 
Crypto Diehards Are About to Find Out If It Really Was a Bubble
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-08/crypto-and-bitcoin-btc-diehards-may-see-market-bubble-burst-by-fed 

A house price correction is on the cards if interest rates keep rising
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/01/09/house-price-correction-cards-interest-rates-keep-rising/
 
Why shares of homebuilders just plunged
https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/10/investing/premarket-stocks-trading/index.html

The Housing Bubble Debate
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-10/there-was-no-housing-bubble-in-2008-and-there-isn-t-one-now

Inflation Up and Unemployment Down

It’s Not Just CPI That Came in Hot in 2021 — the Unemployment Rate Did Too
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-07/it-s-not-just-cpi-that-came-in-hot-in-2021-the-unemployment-rate-did-too
 
Dashing Fed’s Hopes, Low Unemployment Becomes an Inflation Threat
https://www.wsj.com/articles/dashing-feds-hopes-low-unemployment-becomes-an-inflation-threat-11639650607 

India's Big Infrastructure Bet

Omicron's Economic Impact

Mounting omicron infections force businesses to scramble, threatening economic recovery
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/01/06/omicron-economy-worker-shortage/ 

Stocks, Bonds, and the Fed

Will Investors Go Along with a Weaker ‘Fed Put’?
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-06/will-investors-go-along-with-a-weaker-fed-put

What Happens When Bonds Lose Money
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-06/bond-investors-brace-for-more-disappointment-after-down-year
With the Federal Reserve focused on fighting inflation, rate hikes could mean losses for the “safe haven” side of your portfolio.

Goldman Sachs Sees ‘New Conundrum’ Capping Treasury Yields Surge
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-06/goldman-sachs-sees-new-conundrum-capping-treasury-yields-surge

Pimco Sees Munis as Haven from Bond-Market Pain as Fed Hikes
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-06/pimco-sees-munis-as-haven-from-bond-market-pain-as-fed-hikes 

Inflation could linger longer than previously expected, Federal Reserve officials discussed in December
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/01/05/fed-inflation-minutes/
 
Fed Leaves Gradualism Behind with Urgency on Rates, Assets
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-05/fed-leaves-gradualism-behind-with-urgency-on-rates-assets
 
Debate Emerges Over How to Shrink Fed’s $8 Trillion Bond Pile
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-05/debate-emerges-over-how-to-shrink-fed-s-8-trillion-bond-pile

Can the Federal Reserve engineer a soft landing for the US economy?
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/587953-can-the-federal-reserve-engineer-a-soft-landing-for-the-us-economy 

The Return of the Sprawl

How the Pandemic Supercharged Sprawl
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-01-05/a-supernova-of-suburban-sprawl-fueled-by-covid 

American Democracy - A Status Update

FRANCIS FUKUYAMA: One Single Day. That’s All It Took for the World to Look Away from Us.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/05/opinion/jan-6-global-democracy.html

A year after the Capitol insurrection, the world still sees something broken in America’s democracy
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/01/05/capitol-insurrection-global-american-democrcay-broken/

Republican “populists” who now celebrate the insurrection are products of the same elite networks that have always run the country. By Stephen Marche

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/ivy-league-apologists-january-6-gop-elitism-populsim/621153/
“Given that America has been let down, repeatedly, by members of the same expert class, why does it keep relying on them?
​The answer lies in the specific nature of Ivy League elitism, which is an aristocracy of networks. Ivy League graduates make up 0.4 percent of the country. They are significantly overrepresented in Fortune 500 C-suites, in the House of Representatives, in the Senate, in academia, and in the media. Biden/Harris was the first presidential ticket in 44 years without an Ivy League alumnus on board. For a decade, the U.S. Supreme Court consisted of nothing but Ivy League graduates. And these entities are exclusive and self-perpetuating. Legacies at Harvard are accepted at a rate of nearly 34 percent, compared with just 5.9 percent of ordinary people. Being born to it isn’t the only way in: Buying admittance is the simplest. (Charles Kushner gave Harvard $250,000 a year for 10 years to guarantee admission for his meritless son.)
​Whoever attends has been established in the architecture of power before they have had a chance to do anything, and that is key: The network gives power”. 

Related: https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/real-threat-to-american-democracy-by-michael-lind-2022-01

Dynamism as a Public Philosophy
https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/dynamism-as-a-public-philosophy
The populist turn of the American right has created a policy affinity between nationalist conservatives and mainstream progressives. Both seem to agree that an emphasis on dynamism has undermined our economy's ability to prioritize workers, families, and communities. But in fact, the trouble facing America's heartland is more likely the result of a lack of dynamism than an excess of it.
 
The Republican Party Is Succeeding Because We Are Not a True Democracy
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/03/opinion/us-democracy-constitution.html
 
The Radicalization of J.D. Vance
As he runs for the Senate, the ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ author has gone from media darling to establishment pariah. Is his new, fiery, right-wing persona an act? Or is something more interesting going on?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/01/04/jd-vance-hillbilly-elegy-radicalization/