Category Archives: economics

It’s a new month tomorrow, and it’s a Friday, which means it’s payrolls day. Sudeep Reddy has a good preview of what the jobs report might bring; forecasts range from a decrease of 125,000 (thank you Mish) to an increase … Continue reading →

When I’m given the choice – which is not very often, I must admit – I choose to spend/invest my money as close to home as possible. What does that mean, in practice? That I like to buy gifts from … Continue reading →

On January 22, 2007, I wrote a slightly confused blog entry called "in defense of leverage", which tried to explain that debt and equity are not nearly as different as people often think. Exactly one year later, on January 22, … Continue reading →

Steven Landsburg has a provocative op-ed in the New York Times today. Essentially, he says that we should do absolutely nothing about American workers who are on the losing side of globalization: All economists know that when American jobs are … Continue reading →

Tim Harford on Ikea: When a typical London home costs £300,000, why are cheap sofas to put in it still such a tempting offering? Unfortunately, Harford doesn’t answer his own question. Maybe it’s precisely because houses are so expensive that … Continue reading →

The most money the IMF ever lent to the emerging world in one quarter: $13.7 billion (Q3, 2001) Total capital infusions from emerging-market sovereigns into US and European banks in Q4 2007: $28.4 billion (Via Setser, natch; he reckons that … Continue reading →

This is I think one of the most bearish speeches by a sitting finance minister I have ever read; I certainly can’t recall anything like it from any US Treasury Secretary. In it, Hank Paulson seems to be channelling Nouriel … Continue reading →

Paul Krugman has an interesting chart, showing US exports rising even as residential investment has been falling. Indeed, he writes, “thanks to the weak dollar, they’ve risen almost enough to offset the housing plunge”. Now this is one of those … Continue reading →

Are you tired yet of the debate about whether or not we are in, or might even already have entered, a recession? Given that nobody knows and nobody can know, the whole thing seems a little bit pointless to me. … Continue reading →

David Leonhardt says that we’re living in a “golden age of inexpensive wine,” and I’d agree, although I might take issue with anybody who describes Yellow Tail as “terrific”. I’d also agree with Leonhardt’s main point, which is that alcohol … Continue reading →

Market Movers wishes both all its readers a very merry Christmas. Today, I think, is a good day to go out and buy a lottery ticket. For one thing, buying lottery tickets can be an economically rational thing to do. … Continue reading →

Aaron Schiff notes, quite rightly, that eBay uses anticompetitive tactics in order to retain its market share: One of the things that probably makes it hard to compete with eBay is that eBay ‘owns’ the reputations of its users. If … Continue reading →