Category Archives: Economic fundamentals

Low Unemployment with Falling Capacity Utilization… Not a Good Sign for Fed Liftoff

Why the Fed should delay its long-anticipated “liftoff”.

Corbynomics 101: A Guide to People’s QE (PQE)

Why the three big charges commonly made against Corbyn’s “People’s Quantitative Easing” or PQE, are all wet.

Credit Rating Agencies and Brazil: S&P as Neoliberal Enforcer

Mind you, the rating agencies are far from the only neoliberal enforcers as far as emerging economies are concerned. But it is nevertheless instructive to compare an official rationale with data.

Cereals, Appropriability, and Hierarchy

Conventional theory suggests that hierarchy and state institutions emerged due to increased productivity following the Neolithic transition to farming. This column argues that these social developments were a result of an increase in the ability of both robbers and the emergent elite to appropriate crops. Hierarchy and state institutions developed, therefore, only in regions where appropriable cereal crops had sufficient productivity advantage over non-appropriable roots and tubers.

Nomi Prins: Mexico, Federal Reserve Policy and Danger Ahead for Emerging Markets

Mexico’s problems could again ripple through Latin America where eroding confidence, volatility, and US dollar strength are already hurting economies and markets.

Wolf Richter: Corporate Revenue Recession Spreads past Dollar, Energy

Now that 495 of the S&P 500 companies have reported second quarter earnings, something has become abundantly clear: 2015 is going to be a nasty year for corporate revenues.

Why is China finding it hard to fight the markets?

China’s market drama started in June this year with the collapse of the Shanghai stock exchange, followed by frantic interventions by the Chinese authorities. As if the estimated $200 billion already spent on propping up stock prices were not enough, China found itself in another battle with the market, defending the RMB against depreciation pressures after the PBoC devalued the RMB by nearly 2% on August 11. The cost of the foreign exchange intervention to keep the RMB stable is estimated at $200 billion.

Ilargi: The Real Refugee Crisis Is In The Future

Perhaps Angela Merkel thought we didn’t yet know how full of it she is. Perhaps that’s why she said yesterday with regards to Europe’s refugee crisis that “Everything must move quickly,” only to call an EU meeting a full two weeks later. That announcement show one thing: Merkel doesn’t see this as a crisis. If she did, she would have called for such a meeting a long time ago, and not some point far into the future.

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Category Archives: Economic fundamentals

Low Unemployment with Falling Capacity Utilization… Not a Good Sign for Fed Liftoff

Corbynomics 101: A Guide to People’s QE (PQE)

Credit Rating Agencies and Brazil: S&P as Neoliberal Enforcer

Cereals, Appropriability, and Hierarchy

Nomi Prins: Mexico, Federal Reserve Policy and Danger Ahead for Emerging Markets

Wolf Richter: Corporate Revenue Recession Spreads past Dollar, Energy

Why is China finding it hard to fight the markets?

Ilargi: The Real Refugee Crisis Is In The Future

CEOs Call for Wage Increases for Workers to Address Inequality! What’s the Catch?

Currency Depreciations Don’t Boost Exports as Much as They Used To

Real Household Net Worth: Look Out Below?

Wolf Richter: Americans’ Economic Outlook Plunges

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