More than 40 percent of homeowners seeking help from the Obama administration’s flagship effort to rescue those at risk of foreclosure have dropped out of the program. The latest report on the program suggests foreclosures could rise in the second half of the year and weaken an ailing housing market.
Jobless benefits extension passes Senate test
July 20, 2010 By
More than 2.5 million unemployed Americans are one step closer to having their unemployment benefits restored.
D.C. Elites and ‘Real Americans’ Are More Similar Than You’d Think
July 20, 2010 By
A recent Politico poll has opened up “D.C. elites” to yet another round of criticism. They’re so unlike normal Americans, you see. Forty-nine percent of them think the country is heading in the right direction (versus 27 percent of the general population)
Housing Starts in U.S. Slide More Than Forecast as Credit Ends
July 20, 2010 By
Housing starts fell in June to the lowest level in eight months after the expiration of a U.S. government tax incentive caused sales to slump.
Reform Bill: Geithner to Inherit Sweeping Influence
July 16, 2010 By
The dramatic expansion of financial regulation approved by Congress this week bears the stamp of no one more than Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and gives him vast powers to determine the final form of the new rules.
Do conservatives care about the deficit? Do Democrats?
July 16, 2010 By
Matt Yglesias asks the question and assembles some evidence. The two modern conservative presidents, George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, “both presided over massive increases in both present and projected deficits.”
“The Uncertainty Excuse Needs to Come to an End”
July 14, 2010 By
Barbara Kiviat says it’s time for businesses to stop whining:
The uncertainty excuse needs to come to an end, by Barbara Kiviat: Health care reform passed. Now it looks like financial re-regulation will, too.
Polifinancial Forecasting
December 23, 2009 By 2 Comments
As Mark Thoma notes, when the original 3rd quarter growth was announced, the BEA headline figure of 3.5% GDP was big news because it represented a reasonable growth recovery stage. One direct policy implication of this was it took wind from the sails of secondary fiscal stimulus.
Two revisions later — first down to 2.8% and yesterday to 2.2% — and things don’t look nearly as rosy. I wholeheartedly agree that policymakers need better forecasting tools; there were other private sector analysts with better forecasts even without the benefit of government data.
The Emerging Market Take Over
December 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment
It’s coming…
The Emerging Market Take Over
On a purchasing-power parity basis, emerging markets are set to account for more than half of global growth, for the first time ever. Whether ISI has the exact timeframe down to the year is less important than the leadership change.
Readings on Financial Regulatory Reform
December 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment
When the author of Principles of Economics suggests some weekend reading, you will rarely be disappointed.
Readings on Financial Regulatory Reform
By Greg Mankiw
The Fed Can Help, But Fiscal Policy Is The Key To Job Creation
December 18, 2009 By 4 Comments
Thoma is right on the money — quantitative easing is a rare beast to begin with and monetary policy is a blunt instrument. I’ve already engaged the possibility that Fed “Independence is a Red Herring.” At very least, critics can and should look for job creation elsewhere.
A downstream speculation of this debate: is the Fed in the right business with a dual mandate? Full employment seems by definition politically charged — price stability is a more refined mandate for the Fed toolkit.
The Fed Can Help, But Fiscal Policy Is The Key To Job Creation
By Mark Thoma | Dec 18, 2009
Small Business Confidence Plunges — Where Will Jobs Come From?
December 9, 2009 By Leave a Comment
I happen to know for a fact that the Administration is working hard on these issues relating to small business, but it doesn’t make it any less concerning…
Small Business Confidence Plunges — Where Will Jobs Come From?
Two-thirds of job creation in postwar recoveries came from small business. And small business is in terrible shape. The only comprehensive poll of small business sentiment is the Discover Small Business Index. Its most recent poll shows a collapse of confidence between October and November, with a majority of small business owners having cash flow problems.
Romer-Romer Squared
November 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment
An interesting take on the influential Romer-Romer criticism of the Federal Reserve. Either way it goes this is an important debate.
On Mark Thoma: The Perpendicular
July 5, 2009 By Leave a Comment
It’s fitting that one of the earlier posts should give homage to Mark Thoma.
The Perpendicular
By David Warsh, Economic Principles
The morning that I visited him last week, Mark Thoma had fielded back-to-back calls first thing from Reuters and Bloomberg. The day before, The Wall Street Journal had sought to arrange for a photograph; the day after, N. Gregory Mankiw, of Harvard University, proudly pointed on his blog to a Thoma item about a speech that Mankiw had made some years before, as former adviser to George W. Bush. Paul Krugman, of The New York Times and Princeton University, had done as much the week before. No wonder, then, that during a recent meet-and-greet, the president of Thoma’s university, upon discovering himself to be shaking hands with the proprietor of Economist’s View, made a fuss and introduced the self-effacing professor to the assembled throng.
Jason Paez (