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
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.
Ecological Economics
"A Cross-Disciplinary Conversation”
I've been thinking about changing the name of this blog for quite a while. I never intended to steal the trademark name "Ecological Economics" from its rightful owners. Instead, my hope was that I might draw a few key players from that arena into the blogosphere to add ...
Over at Mother Jones, Kevin Drum declares Cap and Trade dead as a doornail. Drum adds that "we're not going to get a lovely and elegant carbon tax in its place. For now, carbon pricing is dead."
To better understand why this is not such a ...
Folks at Globalization and the Environment provide evidence as to why I've been so skeptical about the Carbon Trading game. Japan is staging up to buy its way out of Koyoto commitments with no pain — buying from willing Eastern European sellers who find themselves with a surplus of ...
At a Nov. 16 Congressional Budget Office "Director's Conference on Climate Change", CBO Director Peter Orszag argued in favor of a carbon tax relative to an at-least-for-now inferior alternative of a cap-and-trade policy [Issues in Climate Change, Statement of CBO Director - PDF]. Here is ...
Bloomberg: Carbon tax should replace carbon trading, CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent, Newsday.com, Dec. 13: … "[Cap and trade is] a very inefficient way to accomplish the same thing that a carbon tax accomplishes," [NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg] said. "It leaves itself open to special interests, corruption, inefficiencies." ...
Today, the Global Forest Coalition and the Global Justice Ecology Project strongly condemn—on both human rights and environmental accounts—recent carbon trade announcements/resolutions at the UN Bali Glogal Climate Change Conference. "They are going to use the failed model of carbon trading to supposedly protect forests, but just like agrofuels, the ...
Can you envision a country that plans to rid itself of both Coal and Nuclear Energy source-dependence? Germany is on track to do so:
Tired of being told to "go shopping" whenever a national or international crisis occurs?
Tired of hearing that "recycling" will save us?
Note: Recycling is a very good idea, just "not enough."
Want to know how our so-called Consumer Society was manufactured?
Want to know why the linear "produce, manufacture, CONSUME" model is ...
On mainstream news this morning I heard our Utah Governor declare US gas prices "outrageous". Memorial Day national news coverage labeled them "sky high." Wrong! Gas prices only seem outrageous to we Americans who George W. Bush correctly noted are "addicted to oil".
Europeans, by contrast, have lived ...
It is nice to see that Willem Buiter shares my skepticism about Cap and Trade Carbon schemes relative to Carbon Taxes. It is nice because his London School of Economics credentials eclipse mine, and those are just the beginning of why he is held in high esteem in both ...