Economics Roundtable

Job Losses - I

This graph all too clearly illusttrates the current situation.


Job Losses - II

U.S. payroll employment is now almost 300,000 jobs below the worst month in the previous recession.

After a massive downward revision in the past year's payroll employment figures, the total for January 2010 is 129,527,000. The minimum payroll employment in the previous recession was 129,822,00 for August 2003.


Click on the chart for a larger version.


A Positive Number

The revised November change in U.S. payroll employment is +4,000. This is the first positive number since December 2007. Positive is good.

The other side of the coin is that December 2009 payroll employment was 130,910,000. December 1999 payroll employment was 130.532,000. The increase of 378,000 jobs in 10 years is not so good. The labor force increased by 12,882,000 over the same period.


A Troubling Chart

The chart below shows percentage changes in U.S. payroll employment over the previous ten years.
 

Click on the chart for a larger version.

If payroll employment does not increase for January and February, payroll employment for February 2010 will be less than payroll employment for February 2000.

The chart below shows percentage changes in U.S. payroll employment (blue) and civilian labor force (red) over the previous ten years.
 

Click on the chart for a larger version.


Good Economics

Bruce Yandle lists the reasons why Cash for Clunkers is a Loser. Among other things, it is the latest example of The Broken Window Fallacy, which was clearly explained by Frederick Bastiat, 1801-1850.

James Hamilton gives a clear explanation of why comparing the level of government debt in 1945 to the projected level of government debt in ten years is not comforting, but is downright scary.

Gregory Mankiw neatly explains the "third factor" consideration in the difference between correlation and causation. Paul Krugman adds a comment, and Mankiw responds.


100%

The Economics Roundtable includes 100% of the Wall Street Journal's Top 25 Economics Blogs plus 120 more.


No Ads!

David Warsh explains why Mark Thoma does not take ads at Economist's View and adds insightful commentary on economics bloggers.


Thinking About Jobs

Jeff Frankel lays out a balanced view of the current employment statistics.

Last Month: Jeff Frankel says that the labor market has NOT yet signalled a turning point. Check the graph of weekly hours at the bottom of the page.


Clive Granger, 1934-2009

We have lost an original thinker of the first magnitude. Clive W. J. Granger.


Auctions and Politicians

Catch up on the background for one of the newest areas of Economics Engineering.


The Clark Medal: A Hindcast

David Warsh identifies the likely winners of the John Bates Clark Medal for even-numbered years. The award has, of course, been announced only in odd-numbered years. Who did we miss?


Why Card Issuers Engage In Rate-Jacking

Adam Levitin of Credit Slips explains another "benefit" of securitization. The economics of this market structure are stunningly bad.


The Geithner Plan

Will it work? Paul Krugman says no.
The New York Times' Room for Debate includes Simon Johnson, Brad DeLong, and Mark Toma.


Equilibrium and Meltdown

George Waters addresses the economic crisis and the state of macroeconomics.


Gzing! Gzing! Gzing!

David Warsh offers a fascinating account of the invention of earmarks. Catch his review of So Damn Much Money: The Triumph of Lobbying and the Corrosion of American Government, by Robert G. Kaiser.


VoxEU -- Free Online Book

Rescuing our jobs and savings: What G7/8 leaders can do to solve the global credit crisis -- Contents Page

Richard Baldwin, Barry Eichengreen

"Without rapid and coordinated action by G7/8 leaders, this financial crisis could turn into a jobs crisis, a pension crisis and much more. This column introduces a collection of essays by leading economists on what the G7/8 leaders should do this weekend. The dozen essays present a remarkable consensus on a few points: we need immediate, coordinated global action that includes recapitalisation of the banks."


Economic Principals

Congratulations to David Warsh on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of EP.


The First Global Financial Crisis
of the 21st Century

A VoxEU.org Publication

Edited by Andrew Felton and Carmen Reinhart

Download the book.

Read the announcement
and/or download selected chapters.

Review: the topic itself is important, but this book also marks a new direction for online discussion.


Great Articles by Famous Economists

The Library of Economics and Liberty includes The Concise Encyclopeida of Economics. To see how many well-known economists have contributed browse by category .


EconModel

The Economics Roundtable is sponsored by EconModel.

The Classic Economic Models cover micro, macro, and financial markets.


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Private Sector Development Blog

"A market approach to development thinking”


March 12, 2010, 5:34 pm, 665737
Some readers have complained in the past that they have gotten error messages when trying to submit comments to the blog. We've put in a request with our software provider to look into the problem, but in the meantime, please send an email to rru@worldbank.org if you encounter a ...


March 10, 2010, 3:34 pm, 664344

Perhaps the title is a rhetorical question, but I felt obliged to ask it after seeing the latest parody of a World Bank initiative. If you've been ignoring CNN, you may have missed the news that the World Bank Institute recently launched a massively multiplayer game called Evoke designed ...


March 2, 2010, 5:34 pm, 659626

The first day of this year's Financial and Private Sector Development Forum is about to wind down. I had the opportunity to attend several fascinating discussions, including:

A workshop on catastrophic risk insurance in the Caribbean A discussion on building venture capital opportunities in developing countries A look at Africa's ...


March 1, 2010, 11:34 am, 658583

Does Haiti (or Chile) need a Marshall Plan to help recover from the ruins of natural disasters? How has the War on Poverty progressed in the United States? What about the Gates Foundation's War on Malaria?

Foreign Policy editor Moises Naim has ...


February 26, 2010, 1:34 pm, 657382

The World Bank's new chief economist for Financial and Private Sector Development, Asli Demirgüç-Kunt, has entered the blogosphere with the new All About Finance blog. In her first post, Asli considers whether the financial crisis ought to make us consider turning bureaucrats into bankers. She responds with a resounding "no"!

Research is ...


February 23, 2010, 5:34 pm, 655420

Mark Thoma takes a look at who pays the cost of the recession:

The recession is taking away opportunity for the young to gain employment experience, and many who are employed are working below their abilities in jobs they are likely to get stuck in for many years, ...


February 22, 2010, 7:34 pm, 654774

Bloomberg has announced that the worst is yet to come for the euro, thanks to ongoing Greek woes.

The last time I discussed Greece was in this post last November:

The unfolding events in Dubai bring into question the stability of the global recovery, which has largely been fueled by extraordinary government support ...


February 22, 2010, 1:34 pm, 654530

The New York Times has an interesting story on the controversy surrounding improvements to South Africa's bus lanes. The government has been building special bus-only lanes and ...


February 18, 2010, 11:34 am, 652487

Picking up from yesterday's microfinance discussion, let's have a look at what's happening in Kenya. Over at CGAP, Kate McKee discusses the relationship between microfinance and consumer protection. Through interviews with a Kenyan driver who runs his own taxi company, McKee highlights three ...


February 17, 2010, 7:34 pm, 652061

Editor's Note: Heinz P. Rudolph is a senior financial sector specialist in the Financial and Private Sector Development Vice Presidency of the World Bank Group.

This is the 12th in a series of policy briefs on the crisis—assessing the policy responses, shedding light on financial reforms currently under debate, and ...



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