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I was looking for information on how cultures affect growth and stumbled on this 12.5 year old article in The Economist: Diversity and development might seem to sit oddly together. But they are intimately linked, and the report seeks to show that they are not related in the way many people assume. The UNDP’s press release says unambiguously that “there is no evidence that cultural diversity slows development”, and dismisses the idea that there has to be a...

Strong euro stuff! Eurozone Trade Surplus Widens Ahead Of ExpectationsThe Eurozone trade surplus rose to €25.9 billion in November 2016 from €22.9 billion in the same month of the previous year, above market consensus of €22 billion. Exports increased 6 percent while imports went up at a slower 5 percent. Considering the first eleven months of the year, the trade surplus increased to €248.2 billion, compared with €214.3 billion in the same period of 2015. Weak US economy...

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This email just arrived from the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD), where my son is currently enrolled in one of the elementary schools: Long Beach Unified is conducting a survey of all students, staff and parents on the culture and climate of our schools. The surveys, all of which are available for review on our website, are an important part of our accountability plan. Your input is very valuable so please watch your in-box tomorrow for an email titled...

from Peter Radford I don’t want to spend much time on Trump and his version of economics primarily because I am not sure what it is. Nor, I think, does he. One thing worth mentioning is that there is an unprecedented disconnect between the economics profession and the incoming President. Just about every economist I know says that Trump will be bad for the economy, and that the best we can hope for is that his notoriously poor attention span will prevent him from doing much. For a much...

from Asad Zaman Even though very few people have more than a vague idea about them, macroeconomic theories deeply affect the lives of everybody on the planet. Writings of Piketty, Stiglitz and many others, as well as personal experience of the 1% — 99% divide, have created increasing awareness of the deep and increasing inequalities which characterize modern capitalist economies. However, the link between inequality and macroeconomic theory has not been pointed out clearly. The fact that...

from David Ruccio Like many liberal economic nationalists, who are concerned about both inequality and economic growth, Michael Lind attempts to make a distinction between “takers” and “makers.” As against conservative economic nationalists, who blame immigrants and the welfare-dependent poor, Lind focuses his attention on the “rent-extracting, unproductive rich” for undermining the dynamism and fairness of contemporary capitalism. The term “rent” in this context refers to more than...

from Dean Baker It really is shameful how so many people, who certainly should know better, argue that automation is the factor depressing the wages of large segments of the workforce and that education (i.e. blame the ignorant workers) is the solution. President Obama takes center stage in this picture since he said almost exactly this in his farewell address earlier in the week. This misconception is repeated in a Claire Cain Miller’s NYT column today. Just about every part of the story...

Less than expected and held up by vehicle sales which were about flat for the year and are unlikely to be any better than that in 2017, and therefore not contributing anything to growth: Highlights Outside of cars, consumers weren’t in much of a spending mood this holiday season. Retail sales did post a very solid gain in December, up 0.6 percent, but without autos the gain falls to only 0.2 percent. And exclude gasoline as well, which isn’t really a common holiday gift, and...

from Peter Radford Here’s a well known quote: “For really I think that the poorest he that is in England hath a life to live, as the greatest he; and therefore truly, sir, I think it’s clear, that every man that is to live under a government ought first by his own consent to put himself under that government … and I do think that the poorest man in England is not bound in a strict sense to that government that he hath not had a voice to put himself under.” Thus spoke Colonel Rainsborough...