Econ70

Majority Minority Nation

06/14/2012

It’s official, white non-Hispanic births are less than 50% of all births. Of the 4 million babies born during the year ending 7/11, 50.4% were to minorities, up from 48.6% a year earlier. Among adults over 50, African-Americans are the…

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Good Bye Elinor

06/13/2012

Elinor Ostrom, the only female economist to win the Nobel Prize, died earlier this week. Her area of focus was on how best to share common resources, like fisheries, water, air, forests, and grazing lands. Her conclusion; communities with common…

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The Reign in Spain

06/12/2012

Yield’s on Spanish sovereign debt are skyrocketing, despite the latest $125 billion bailout. If Spanish banks fail, the cash-strapped government must bail them out. Unfortunately, failing banks have been the biggest buyers of Spanish debt. Given collapsing bond prices, an…

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Pump it up!

06/11/2012

With a weakening world economy and a strengthening US dollar, commodity prices are falling and that’s good news. In particular, the price of West Texas Intermediate crude has fallen from a 52 week high of $110.85 to $81.50, a drop…

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The Sound of Music

06/08/2012

The Friday File: Digital piracy hurts artists and record companies, but consumers? By constructing indexes of music quality based on critics’ opinions, radio play, and sales volume, there’s no evidence of a decline. The indexes all show music quality rising…

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Money, Money, Money

06/07/2012

Given weak job numbers, a slowing world economy, and escalating financial stresses from Europe, the Fed will probably act. Since it can’t buy more long-term Treasuries (it nearly owns them all) or increase the size of its balance sheet (Republicans…

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Baskets of Money

06/06/2012

While Chris Bosh is the 3rd best player on the Miami Heat, without him they can’t win a championship. When he plays, the Boston Celtics can’t double-team Dwayne Wade freeing him to be aggressive. With Bosh out Wade is vastly…

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Be Like Us

06/05/2012

The core euro problem is the dramatic differences in economic performance of the 17 member countries. Germany’s a star, the PIIGS aren’t. By sharing the euro devaluation is not possible. Moreover, the Germans won’t tolerate inflation, and labor mobility is…

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Supersized Stupidity

06/04/2012

While capping the size of sugary beverages sold at NYC theaters, restaurants and sports facilities is noble, it’s so easily bypassed, “I’ll have three 16-oz sodas and three straws” it’s worthless. Since peaking in ’98, consumption of carbonated sugary drinks…

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Big Mac Attack

06/01/2012

The Friday File: The Economist, using only the price of a Big Mac, created “the Big Mac Index” to measure the costs of living in each country. Knowing this, Argentina’s Prime Minister pushed McDonalds to keep the price of Big…

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