Finance and Growth: The Direction of Causality
Too much finance is highly correlated with slower growth. But which comes first?
Read more...Category Archives: Dubious statistics
Bill Black: Obama Loved Austerity and the New Democrats Remain Addicted to It
Black blasts Obama for prescribing austerity and presenting it as good for Americans when it is good only for financiers and the rich.
Read more...Does Immigration Boost Growth? A Look at Data From Around the World
Comparative data on immigration doesn’t support the tidy economists’ story that it good for growth…at least not recently.
Read more...Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Trump Effect Won’t Stop Credit Crunch
Forecasts for the US depend heavily on what Trump might actually get done. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard thinks Mr. Market is out over his skis.
Read more...Nomi Prins: My Political-Financial Road Map for 2017
Some specifics of why political risk and central bank policy will make for a wild ride in 2017.
Read more...A Moral Challenge to Economists
Economists hide behind specious claims of neutrality and efficiency to advocate policies that often have negative moral and social impact.
Read more...Can Uber Ever Deliver? Part Six: Latest Data Confirms Bleak P&L Performance While Stephen Levitt Makes Indefensible Consumer Welfare Claims
More on Uber’s questionable prospects and the dubious defenses offered by boosters, in this case, “Freakonomics” professor Stephen Levitt.
Read more...Wolf Richter: New Census Data Shows Why the Job Market is Still “Terrible” (as Trump said)
Lambert here: I blame Putin. By Wolf Richter, a San Francisco based executive, entrepreneur, start up specialist, and author, with extensive international work experience. Originally published at Wolf Street Hardly any improvement for individuals since the Great Recession. When Donald Trump campaigned on how “terrible” the jobs situation was, while the Obama Administration touted the […]
Read more...The Fundamental Flaw in Muddied Brexit Thinking
Brexit negotiators seem clueless about how to get out of their own way. Here’s why.
Read more...Capitalism in the Time of Trump?
Neoliberal capitalism has led to underinvestment, lowering productivity and increasing inequality. Will Trump make things better or worse?
Read more...Macroeconomics in the Crossfire (Again)
Economists are finally ‘fessing up to the fact that macroeconomics was never all that good and has regressed in recent decades.
Read more...Can Uber Ever Deliver? Part One – Understanding Uber’s Bleak Operating Economics
Uber’s financials statements and economics shows a complete lack of progress towards profit and no reason to expect significant improvement.
Read more...Wall Street Journal Puts Foot in Mouth and Chews Via False Claim That Tax Law Change Would Lead US Companies To Move Cash to US
Yet again, we ebunk the myth that tax gaming leads US companies to hoard cash overseas. Tax accounting has nada to do with where money sits.
Read more...Bill Black: Bloomberg Notices Paul Romer’s Indictment of Macroeconomics
World Bank economist Paul Romer calls out obvious defects in macroeconomics, and is treated as a bomb-thrower.
Read more...Economists and Trump: Straight Talk on Trade
Economists maintained a party line of never letting a bad word be said about more open trade even though they knew it would produce losers.
Read more...