Economics and International Affairs Blog

“Like classical liberalism, the internet may also be a good idea in urgent need of updating. Much as the individualism and freedom of classical liberalism have been distorted into the inequalities and ethical transgressions of modern capitalism, so the internet’s culture of “permissionless innovation” has been abused, transformed into the centralized, controlled network of today. The original dream of an unfettered global public sphere is probably over. Understanding why that happened is the first step to reclaiming at least part of the original vision and to mitigating the most damaging effects of digital nationalism.”

European Economies - Interesting Items

COOL GRAPHIC – Per-Capita Income Comparison of Eurozone Economies

https://bruegel.org/2019/06/gni-per-head-rankings-the-sad-stories-of-greece-and-italy/

Italy versus Spain

https://www.economist.com/europe/2019/03/21/the-difference-between-italy-and-spain

The Happy, Healthy Capitalists of Switzerland

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/02/opinion/sunday/switzerland-capitalism-wealth.html

EU Agricultural Subsidies - The Money Farmers: How Oligarchs and Populists Milk the E.U. for Millions

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/03/world/europe/eu-farm-subsidy-hungary.html

How Brexit will End

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/11/04/how-brexit-will-end

UPDATE:
IMF Warns Europe to Make Emergency Plan for Economic Slump
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-06/europe-warned-to-prepare-for-the-worst-as-imf-sees-clouds-darken

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Economic Development - Interesting Items

Transition Economies – Thirty Years After the Collapse of the Berlin Wall

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/most-postcommunist-citizens-worse-off-by-kristen-r-ghodsee-and-mitchell-a-orenstein-2019-11

Africa’s Demographic Transition – Challenges Ahead

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/africa-youth-low-political-socioeconomic-engagement-by-george-lwanda-2019-11

Ethiopia’s Economy Is Booming, but at What Cost?

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/08/ethiopia-china-economy/594799/

Millennials ‘Make Farming Sexy’ in Africa, Where Tilling the Soil Once Meant Shame

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/27/world/africa/farming-millennials.html

Africa needs a green revolution

https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2018/11/03/africa-needs-a-green-revolution

Africa is attracting ever more interest from powers elsewhere

https://www.economist.com/briefing/2019/03/07/africa-is-attracting-ever-more-interest-from-powers-elsewhere

Shayera Dark notes:

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/overcoming-western-media-stereotypes-of-africa-by-shayera-dark-2019-01

“This penchant to accentuate the negative does more than reduce Africa to stereotypes; it also feeds the one-dimensional narrative of Africa as a war-torn, disease-ridden, poverty-stricken hellscape where all hope dies. This inclination to fit people and events into simple plot lines leads to what Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie calls the “danger of a single story.” A limited viewpoint, repeatedly promulgated, comes to frame all coverage and emerges as the only truth.”

Hiding the Real Africa

https://archives.cjr.org/reports/hiding_the_real_africa.php

Friday, November 1, 2019

Trade and Global Outlook

The Global Outlook Could Be Worse Than ‘Low for Long’

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-11-01/world-economy-s-biggest-threat-is-trade-tensions

Inflation, Unemployment, Interest Rates and the Fed

Jobs Are Plentiful. Big Pay Raises Aren’t.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/01/upshot/jobs-are-plentiful-big-pay-raises-arent.html

The Fed’s View on Inflation Is Quietly Shifting. Here’s Why.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/01/business/economy/federal-reserve-inflation.html

The Housing Market Needs More Than Low Mortgage Rates

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/31/business/economy/fed-mortgage-rates.html

Federal Reserve Cuts Interest Rates for Third Time in 2019

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/30/business/economy/federal-reserve-interest-rates.html
Related:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-01/traders-reduce-bets-on-2019-fed-easing-after-jobs-report

FOMC Statement - OCT 2019 Meeting:

https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20191030a.htm

Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in September indicates that the labor market remains strong and that economic activity has been rising at a moderate rate. Job gains have been solid, on average, in recent months, and the unemployment rate has remained low. Although household spending has been rising at a strong pace, business fixed investment and exports remain weak. On a 12-month basis, overall inflation and inflation for items other than food and energy are running below 2 percent. Market-based measures of inflation compensation remain low; survey-based measures of longer-term inflation expectations are little changed.

Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Committee seeks to foster maximum employment and price stability. In light of the implications of global developments for the economic outlook as well as muted inflation pressures, the Committee decided to lower the target range for the federal funds rate to 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 percent. This action supports the Committee's view that sustained expansion of economic activity, strong labor market conditions, and inflation near the Committee's symmetric 2 percent objective are the most likely outcomes, but uncertainties about this outlook remain. The Committee will continue to monitor the implications of incoming information for the economic outlook as it assesses the appropriate path of the target range for the federal funds rate.

In determining the timing and size of future adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate, the Committee will assess realized and expected economic conditions relative to its maximum employment objective and its symmetric 2 percent inflation objective. This assessment will take into account a wide range of information, including measures of labor market conditions, indicators of inflation pressures and inflation expectations, and readings on financial and international developments.

Voting for the monetary policy action were Jerome H. Powell, Chair; John C. Williams, Vice Chair; Michelle W. Bowman; Lael Brainard; James Bullard; Richard H. Clarida; Charles L. Evans; and Randal K. Quarles. Voting against this action were: Esther L. George and Eric S. Rosengren, who preferred at this meeting to maintain the target range at 1-3/4 percent to 2 percent.