Political Economy

Watching the TV news here is Spain at the moment is often a rather discomforting and sad affair. The normal menu seems to consist of a constant stream of ministers who have to appear before the cameras and the public to explain something…

Exit polls show Gillard as the winner. Here is the Taiwanese animated version of recent Australian politics. Enjoy.

By Claus Vistesen. I know this is a cheap shot, but still. Team Macro Man picks up an all time favorite over at MM and asks 20 questions (check this out for other answers) to which I have offered 20 answers., Will the 10yr Treasury…

By John Lounsbury. I was privileged to attend a meeting at the Treasury Department in Washington on Monday afternoon, August 16. The two hour plus meeting was hosted by Senior Treasury Officials. There were three discussion leaders:…

This is me thinking out loud (on paper). Comments are appreciated. During crisis we often see economics come toe-to-toe with ideology because government becomes a more openly active player in our lives. This crisis has been no different.…

The dollar-yuan was fixed today at CNY6.8015 today. It closed yesterday near CNY6.7750 and was fixed yesterday at CNY6.7768. The greenback's broad rally yesterday contributed to the sharply higher fix today. Subsequently, the dollar eased…

Recently Press Secretary Robert Gibbs made an unsuccessful attempt to pin blame for the Obama Administration's failed economic policies on the "professional left." Gibbs said "those people ought to be drug tested" and…

The coverage of nonfarm payrolls is pretty exhaustive, so there isn’t much to add. The massive inflow/outflow of temporary census workers has not only distorted the underlying trends a bit, it’s also confused the reporting. The headline…

By John Mauldin A report just out from the Center for Policy Analysis, by Courtney Collins and Andrew J. Rettenmaier (solid academic types from Mercer University and Texas A&M respectively), that indicates that state and local pension…

Well, this is certainly not the first time I have had cause to complain about the quality of the journalism and economic reporting served up over at the Economist, and I’m damn sure it won’t be the last. But this latest example of shoddy (I…