Econ70

The Friday File: Last month, Venezuela’s hyperinflation rate was a staggering 223.1%, and according to IMF forecasts, it could reach 1 million percent for the full year. If Venezuela’s inflation gets no worse, it would be just the 23rd worst…

For the week ending 9/15/18, initial unemployment claims fell to 204,000, their lowest level since 11/15/69, yes, 1969! The four-week moving average declined to 205,750, its lowest level since 12/6/69. Moreover, claims have been below 300,000 since 3/7/15, the longest…

After peaking in 2014 at 78.9 years, US life expectancy has declined for two years running, falling to 78.7 in 2015 and 78.6 in 2016. This is the first time life expectancy has declined two years in a row since…

While the Trump administration inexplicably works overtime to stop the vertical AT&T/Time Warner merger, the bigger question is will the DOJ fight the more troubling horizontal T-Mobile/Sprint merger? The firms argue, with some supporting data, that the merger will indeed…

Inflation-adjusted median household income rose to $61,372 in 2017, up 1.8% from 2016, and up smartly from the 2012 cyclical trough of $54,569. Despite the recent rise, median income is not meaningfully higher than the 1999 pre-recession peak of $60,062.…

The Friday File: When legal weed stores first opened in WA in 7/14, the average price/gram was $32.48. By 1/1/15, it was $21.07, by 1/1/16, $12.32, and by 9/18 $7.45, and it’ll get cheaper. The price initially fell because it…

10 years after Lehman Brothers failed, risk has migrated. In 2008, the six largest banks had $9 trillion in assets; the four largest asset managers, $5 trillion. Today, the same banks have $10 trillion, but the same four lightly regulated…

Here’s how Hurricane Florence will impact economic data: initially, weekly first-time unemployment claims will rise, with the amount of the increase quickly telling us the hurricane severity. September auto sales will fall, but October sales will spike due to buyers…

Elliot was the keynote speaker at the 2018 New Mexico Housing Summit sponsored by the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority in Albuquerque, September 12, 2018. Listen to the podcast interview Elliot did with Santa Fe radio before:

Y-o-Y job openings are up 11.9%, hires are up just 3.3%, and the number hired has declined three months in a row. Moreover, job openings exceed the number of unemployed by 659,000; they surpassed zero for the first time in…