New and old India: Open and shut
Mumbai: When the Indian central bank raised rates this week, for the fourth time this year, the Bank’s governor, Duvvuri Subbarao, said he hoped the change would help keep a lid on the country’s inflation – but to really make a difference he was counting on the rain. “If it rains, the monetary policy works”, [...]
Read MoreOsborne in India
Mumbai: It rains a lot in Mumbai in July. Sheets of rain. Frequently, and without notice. I’m here with the chancellor’s delegation and no-one has brought an umbrella. It goes with the general theme of the trip: go with the flow. There will be no lectures, no talk of poverty, or human rights – just [...]
Read MoreWho Are the "Others?"
The WSJ has an article today about Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd’s efforts to promote FDIC Chair Sheila Bair as the head of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Near the end, it notes the support for Harvard Professor Elizabeth Warren, the leading contender, but then tells readers that: “others worry that choosing someone [...]
Read MoreThe Post Again Uses Xenophobic Fears to Push Its Deficit Agenda
The Washington Post simply cannot let go on its deficit obsession. The day after a new GDP report indicates that the unemployment rate will remain near double-digit levels long into the future, the Post’s lead editorial warns people that something really bad could happen ten years out if we don’t deal with the deficit. As [...]
Read MoreWealthy Countries May Become Less Crowded and the NYT Wants Us to Be Scared
The NYT reported on new projections from the Population Reference Bureau showing continuing increases in population in the developing world and slow or negative growth in wealthy countries. Low birth rates in the wealthy countries are projected to lead to a rise in the ratio of retirees to workers. The NYT described this prospect as [...]
Read MoreFinal Demand and the Inventory Cycle
Economics seems to be the science of forgetting. All the great truths that were pounded into our heads when we grad students, or even undergrads, seem to be missing from the thinking of those making pronouncements on the economy and economic policy. For example, the housing wealth effect, a well-established economic doctrine firmly rooted in [...]
Read MoreIt’s Friday Morning; That Means It’s Time to Beat Up David Brooks
Normal 0 As we all know, there are two types of people in the world: those who say that there are two types of people in the world, and those who don’t. David Brooks tells us today that he is in the former category. He etches out two fundamental positions in economic policy debates. [...]
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