China Dominates Global Manufacturing
http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21663332-chinese-manufacturing-remains-second-none-still-made-chinaThursday, September 10, 2015
Austerity and the Eurozone Periphery
Austerity in Europe
The Economist
notes –
“Portugal, Ireland,
Italy, Greece and Spain—the PIIGS, as investment bankers’ shorthand has it—were
in the direst fiscal straits in the crisis and, naturally, have been the most
austere since. Italy has reduced its underlying primary deficit by 4.7% of GDP;
the others, by more than 8% of GDP. These figures are huge: 8% of GDP is
equivalent to average government spending on pensions in the OECD. No one
should accuse the Greek government, in particular, of not cutting back enough:
the figures reveal tightening of a whopping 17.2% of underlying GDP between
2009 and 2015. At the other end of the scale, Germany has barely had to cut
back at all, and in fact the OECD expects it to loosen its purse-strings
slightly this year. No wonder the PIIGS have squealed.”
Related – Fiscal Adjustments:
https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2014/wp14179.pdfCentral Banks and Inflation Expectations
Do central banks really influence household inflation
expectations?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-10/this-new-study-questions-a-key-assumption-central-bankers-make-about-themselvesThe Most Influential Economics Departments
Stanford looks poised to become the top economics department
-
Most influential economics departments:
Noah Smith suggests University of California – Berkeley
Paul Krugman considers MIT economics department to be the
most influential in the world:
More recently, some of the younger and more innovative
departments in Europe have been doing quite well:
http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21632506-tale-two-french-economists-and-their-rival-schools-toulouse-v-paris
http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21632506-tale-two-french-economists-and-their-rival-schools-toulouse-v-paris
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Another Financial Scandal
Following scandals involving the LIBOR market and the
Forex market, it now appears that the US Treasury market (the world’s largest
bond market) may have been rigged:
The WSJ piece states –
“At the center of
these actions are questions about whether bank traders have colluded to bolster
their own profits by depressing prices at U.S. government debt auctions.
…
The accusations
come on the heels of investigations into alleged bank misconduct in everything
from foreign-exchange markets to interest-rate benchmarks affecting trillions
of dollars of securities, cases that have resulted in billions of dollars in
fines.”
Mathematics and the Refugee Crisis
A math formula to determine the distribution of refugees –
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/09/formula-european-union-refugee-crisis/404503/Related -
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard on Europe’s refugee/migration
crisis
Impressive German Response
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-09-09/why-germany-welcomes-refugeesTechnology and Economic Value Added
Many techno-optimists/techno-enthusiasts claim that GDP
measurement does not capture all of the benefits of modern technologies (such
as the smartphone). What is conveniently ignored by such folks are some of the
negative or deleterious effects of modern technologies (distracted
students/poor attention span of the millennial generation; time wasted on
social media related activities; watching endless viral videos of dumb people
doing dumb things).
An interesting example of the negative effects of modern
technologies is provided in a recent WSJ article:
Car Crashes Are On the
Rise and Warren Buffett Blames Texting
http://www.wsj.com/articles/car-crashes-are-on-the-rise-and-warren-buffett-blames-texting-1441800119
The article states –
“A sudden rise in
traffic deaths surprised big car insurers in the first half of 2015, meaning higher
premiums for drivers who are now traveling in record numbers…
Distracted driving,
especially the use of smartphones to talk, text or even watch videos while on
the road, could be an overlooked contributor, said Warren Buffett, Berkshire
Hathaway’s chief executive. One in four car crashes involves cellphone use,
according to NSC estimates, even though most states have laws banning text-messaging
and hand-held cellphone use while driving.”
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