Economics and International Affairs Blog

US Labor Force Participation - Will 'Missing Workers' Return?

Who Are America’s Missing Workers?
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/12/business/economy/labor-participation-covid.html
The labor market appears hot, but the share of people who are either working or actively looking for a job still hasn’t quite recovered.

Flood Risk and Real Estate Values

Real Estate Listings with Flood Scores Shift Home-Shopper Habits
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-12/real-estate-listings-with-flood-scores-shift-home-shopper-habits
Redfin users who were shown home flood scores went on to view lower-risk properties, an experiment by the company found.

Homebuyers With Access to Flood-Risk Data Bid on Lower-Risk Homes
https://www.redfin.com/news/redfin-users-interact-with-flood-risk-data/

War on Terror - Costly Endeavor with Mixed Results

The enormous costs and elusive benefits of the war on terror.
https://www.vox.com/22654167/cost-deaths-war-on-terror-afghanistan-iraq-911

With Government Paralyzed and Militias Fighting, Iraq’s Instability Deepens
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/08/world/middleeast/iraq-failed-state-militias.html

The Afghan Abyss
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/biden-administration-disastrous-afghanistan-policy-by-brahma-chellaney-2022-08

A Better World Order

How to Build a Better Order
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/world/build-better-order-great-power-rivalry-dani-rodrik-stephen-walt
Limiting Great Power Rivalry in an Anarchic World

Nobody Wants the Current World Order
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/world/nobody-wants-current-world-order
How All the Major Powers—Even the United States—Became Revisionists

Why U.S.-Chinese Tensions Put Developing Countries at Risk
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/sri-lanka/sri-lankan-debt-crisis-harbinger

How China Wants to Replace the U.S. Order
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2022/07/china-xi-jinping-global-security-initiative/670504/

Andrew Sheng’s thought-provoking piece is worth reading:
Whose world? What order? Time has passed for the West to call the shots
https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3183734/whose-world-what-order-time-has-passed-west-call-shots

The other side of US exceptionalism
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/us-exceptionalism-china-challenge-international-order-by-dani-rodrik-2022-06
Harvard economist Dani Rodrik offers a biting critique of US foreign policy:
To those who wonder why we should care about the decline of America’s relative power, US foreign-policy elites respond with a rhetorical question: Would you rather live in a world dominated by the US or by China? In truth, other countries would rather live in a world without domination, where smaller states retain a fair degree of autonomy, have good relations with all others, are not forced to choose sides, and do not become collateral damage when major powers fight it out. The sooner US leaders recognise that others do not view America’s global ambitions through the same rose-tinted glasses, the better it will be for everyone.

Rising Consumer Credit – A Cause for Concern?

Consumer Credit Is Soaring in the US. So What?
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-09-12/is-soaring-consumer-credit-bad-for-us-economy
Americans are borrowing at an unprecedented pace, but it’s way too soon to suggest it means they are having a tougher time making ends meet.