In the 663 page report from the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (remember them???), the 2000-2011 real estate boom and bust is blamed on relatively predictable conditions. Just glancing at their chapter titles and conclusions, you can see that they blame…
B(T)FF… Best Trading Friends Forever
We can say that Mexico believes her top trading partner is the United States because the value of her exports to the US (2013: $370,826,831) added to the value of her imports from the US (2013: $370,746,056) is exceeded by none of her other…
Tall and Short Populations
Princeton economist Angus Deaton estimates that it will take 500 years for Indian women to reach the height of English women. In The Great Escape, Dr. Deaton explains that a population could be short because of nutrition or disease. When babies…
One Reason That Chocolates Are More Expensive
In an econlife post from September 2013, we presented a spending ladder that emerging market nations like the BRICs–Brazil, Russia, India, China–might climb. At each rung, spending surges and then flattens at that higher level until consumers can afford to climb…
Changing Female Images
Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg said, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” When econlife looked at women and the symphony orchestra several weeks ago, we first saw a world that, in 1970, was 95% male. Musical directors only saw men…
The Plight of the Night Owl
I must start with my bias. I am a night owl. So too were Winston Churchill and Charles Darwin, James Joyce and Glenn Gould. In one interview, Ann Beattie said, “I really think people’s bodies are on different clocks. I…
Humor in Fed Transcripts
Below, just a reminder of one piece of the Great Recession before looking at the Fed transcripts. Lehman Brothers is the orange line. With a typical 5-year lag, the transcripts of the 2008 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meetings…
The Huge Impact of the Panama Canal Delay
The Panama Canal’s renovation was supposed to be done at the end of next year. However, the locks contracting group now is saying that the work is $1.6 billion more expensive than they expected–around 50% more– and they want extra…
Law & Order and Jimmy Fallon
States can use taxes for more than revenue. Our story begins when NYC lost the $79 million that Law & Order generated annually because NBC cancelled the show. Just feeding the actors for 14 years meant $1.5 million to David’s Gourmet Catering and…
Unexpected Consequences From Fuel Economy
Hoping to cut costs at the pump and buy less foreign oil, President Obama said in his 2014 State of the Union address that medium and heavy duty vehicles would be the next target. A part of the CAFE mandate…
