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HighlightsDespite another fall in rates, the purchase index is not pointing to acceleration for home sales, down 2.0 percent in the June 17 week with year-on-year growth slowing 4 percentage points to 12 percent. Low rates, however, are an immediate plus for refinancing where the index rose 7.0 percent. And rates are indeed low, at an average 3.76 percent for conforming loans ($417,000 or less) which is down 3 basis points in the week and at its lowest since May 2013. Not...

from Edward Fullbrook I publish also in philosophy, and yesterday evening it occurred to me that a passage I wrote as part of a philosophy book a few years ago might be of interest to economists open to reconsidering their metaphysics.  So here it is. [Beauvoir’s] view of desire and value begs to be compared, (and Beauvoir herself makes this comparison), to the one which underpins the stylized notion of rationality, tendentiously called ‘rational choice theory.’  Although indigenous to...

from David Ruccio Soon after I read Brad DeLong’s post on “The Economist as…?: The Public Square and Economists,” I contacted my long-time friend and collaborator Antonio Callari, who is the Sigmund M. and Mary B. Hyman Professor of Economics at Franklin and Marshall College and an authority on the history of economics. I am pleased to publish his guest post here. If you read Brad DeLong’s reflections on the role of economists in the public square you would be justified in reaching two...

from Lars Syll Now, I don’t care to discuss the alleged complaints American Indians have against this country. I believe, with good reason, the most unsympathetic Hollywood portrayal of Indians and what they did to the white man. They had no right to a country merely because they were born here and then acted like savages. The white man did not conquer this country … Since the Indians did not have the concept of property or property rights—they didn’t have a settled society, they had...

Looks to me like it’s still decelerating? From the American Chemistry Council: Chemical Activity Barometer Continues Solid Growth in June; Signals Higher U.S. Business Activity Through End Of The YearRead more at http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/#fcgmQuzJH31oFHbc.99 Wage ‘pressures’ indicators, after all this time, are finally moving up towards what would have been considered historically very low levels, so time to slam on the brakes? (Not that rate hikes are slamming on...

Still nothing happening here:More imports, fewer exports:

from Dean Baker Sorry folks, this isn’t Trump University, I don’t have the plan for you to get rich quick. But it is important for everyone to understand exactly why Bill Gates is very rich. It’s called “copyright protection.” If that sounds strange, imagine a world where everyone could make as many copies as they liked of Windows, Microsoft’s Office Suite and any other software at no cost. They would only have to send Bill Gates a thank you note, if they felt like it. Bill Gates is...

Source: ONS. According to the same ONS: Looking at the estimates by country of birth, between January to March 2015 and January to March 2016:UK born people working in the UK increased by 94,000 to 26.25 million. Non-UK born people working in the UK increased by 330,000 to 5.24 million Some months ago I was in London. The subway was populated by a mix of Asian looking super models and Polish construction workers. And by the occasional tourist, heading, with his son, 14, to a football...

from Dean Baker Paul Krugman devoted his column on Friday to a mild critique of the drive to take the United Kingdom out of the European Union. The reason the column was somewhat moderate in its criticisms of the desire to leave EU is that Krugman sympathizes with the complaints of many in the UK and elsewhere about the bureaucrats in Brussels being unaccountable to the public. This is of course right, but it is worth taking the issue here a step further. If we expect to hold people...