Ireland: a Recovery Built on Sand
How official statistics exaggerate Ireland’s performance, largely due to its status as a tax haven/offshore financial center.
Read more...Category Archives: Economic fundamentals
A New Stability and Growth Pact? Let’s Drop the Technocratic Veil!
On how economic growth models constrain policy debates and choices among Eurocrats, and why that is no accident.
Read more...Leaked Memo Reveals IMF (Still) Wants Out of Greece Bailout and Plots to Pressure Germany to Act
A new leak shows the IMF as the least bad actor of the Troika, which given its record as a neoliberal fist in third world countries, speaks volumes about European politics.
Read more...Is the Oil Price-GDP Link Broken?
Explanations of the oil price decline are starting to acknowledge deflationary factors, even though the “d” word seems to be outside the pale .
Read more...How Much Has Global Economic Power Really Shifted?
Why the shift in economic power from advanced to developing economies has not gone as far as most accounts would have you believe.
Read more...Can Sanders Win Over Rich Voters in New York?
After Wisconsin, the next round of primaries in concentrated in more affluent East Coast states, and Clinton does well with rich voters. Can Sanders make enough headway with them?
Read more...Is an Aussie Debt Crisis Around the Corner?
Australia’s macro numbers are looking more worrisome by the minute. Is this a trajectory to a debt crisis?
Read more...Wolf Richter: Job Cuts Pile Up
An increase in job cuts announced suggests an employment turning point is nigh.
Read more...Paul Ryan Sorry for Calling Americans “Takers.” Let’s Talk About the Real Takers.
Rana Foroohar’s new book, Makers and Takers: The Rise of Finance and the Fall of American Business, addresses what Paul Ryan conveniently left out.
Read more...Gaius Publius: The Rebellion Will Not Go Away
Rebellion watch: Why the natives will remain restless.
Read more...Marshall Auerback: Donald Trump Understands the Nexus Between Trade and Immigration
By linking immigration and trade, however crudely, Trump has exposed the broader paradox and inherent contradictions which lurk between the two.
Read more...Brexit: This is What We Call a Muppet Show
An update on the Brexit referendum.
Read more...Negative Interest Rates – Are There Any Positives?
The more you look at negative interest rates, the harder it is to find anything to like.
Read more...Senators Try to Scuttle Syngenta/ChemChina Merger, in a Harbinger for U.S. Posture Toward Chinese Investment
This is a big week for the future of American industry. Chinese Premier Xi Jinping will meet one-on-one with President Obama on the sidelines of a summit in Washington. The Chinese will apparently use the meeting to make a new offer on a bilateral investment treaty that would pave the way for more foreign direct […]
Read more...Good Booms, Bad Booms: Why Only Some Credit Booms End in a Crisis
Credit booms are not rare and usually precede financial crises. However, some end in a crisis while others do not. This column argues that credit booms start with an increase in productivity, which subsequently falls much faster during ‘bad booms’. When this decline is severe enough, it changes the informational regime in credit markets, leading to a drying up of credit. A crisis may be the result of an exhausted credit boom and not necessarily of a negative productivity shock.
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