wages

Is China currently rebalancing? The currency has been appreciating, the PBoC has hiked interest rates four times, and wages have been surging. Because of all of this I am often asked if China has finally begun the long-waited rebalancing…

As labour costs in China rise, economists are beginning to think about replacing labour with capital, something we have already seen as a major factor in suppressing wage gains in developed economies. This is also in line with what…

The latest figures from the US show that the consumer price index rose 0.5% in March, whilst the core personal consumption expenditure price index rose only 0.1%. This column explains the roles of these competing measures and argues that US…

Here's a great graph of US income tax rates back to when personal income taxes were started. You can see the marginal rate for personal income has come way down from its 1945 peak. A few months ago, Michael Hudson answered the question,…

On Saturday I wrote about the Scylla and Charybdis of anchoring inflation expectations, geared toward developed economies in North America and Europe. You tighten too aggressively and you get unwanted disinflation or deflation. You remain…

Bernanke (and Dudley) have been testifying that inflation is not an issue. But what signs and maps are they reading? Bernanke specifically invokes inflation expectations as being most important, and he contends they are low. They both note…

By Marc Chandler A disproportionate amount of mind share has been devoted to the financial aspects of the crisis. Investors and policy makers alike may be distracted by this over-emphasis and thus leaving them vulnerable to other aspects…

By Frederick Sheehan Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has once again received space on the editorial pages of the Financial Times. He does not deserve, so shall not receive, a rebuttal. But, it is probably still worth a…

If you look at U.S. equity valuations based on value metrics like the Shiller P/E, stocks are rather expensive right now. Because many factors within an individual business cycle are mean-reverting, to the degree one wants to conduct…

This chart was put together by David Rosenberg of Gluskin Sheff. It shows that wage growth in the U.S. is not keeping pace with inflation. For the statistical recovery to continue sustainably, we will need to either see this trend reversed.…