Economy

By Sober Look Economists continue to insist that there is no connection between Fed's monetary expansion and increases in commodity prices, particularly agricultural products globally (discussed here). Here is a typical comment:  If it is…

By Sober Look Canada continues to face rising consumer debt levels. Since the post on Canadian housing risks (here), we've gotten a number of comments that Canada's housing is not overpriced (for example if measured in terms of gold). And…

The following is an excerpt of an article written for the Dallas Fed this month by William R. White, a well-known Canadian economist who served as Chief Economist for the Bank of International Settlements until 2008 and was also one of the…

Editor's note: As controversial as the subject of peak oil is, the comments about global warming and other environmental problems are equally controversial. This site does not subscribe to the view that global warming concern is overblown…

By Sober Look Here are some of this morning's key economic news coming out of China. Given that China has been the largest component of the global GDP growth, the situation is worth monitoring closely. 1. China's stock market hit a new…

I am off again this week and doing short duty on the blog. But I want to say a few words about the ECB and its impending monetisation plans given Mario Draghi's decision to pull out of the Jackson Hole event sponsored by the Kansas City…

By Sober Look As expected, more of Spain's regions are asking for a bailout. The program to help the regions was set up in July (see discussion) to create Spain's internal version of the "Stability Bond". With the regional fiscal problems…

By Michael Pettis In the last issue of my newsletter much of the first half was dedicated to a discussion of recent events in Spain and Italy and why they reinforce the argument that several countries will be forced to leave the euro and…

By Sober Look Analysts often talk about how the weak euro helps exporters in the Eurozone, particularly Germany because of its massive export sector. But is Germany the main beneficiary? Which other nations want the euro to weaken further?…

By Rick Bookstaber There is a recent story in the New York Times on the growing use of labor-saving robots to increase production efficiency and, by replacing low-cost overseas labor, to return production to our shores. But the operative…