Tag Archives: US/Global Economics

Introduction to how the Netherlands are going about to fix a housing shortage issue. Topping involves adding another floor or layer to an already existing building in the Netherlands for housing purposes. According to government officials, the results of such an effort is great: at least 100,000 homes can be realized with topping up. Topping is also popular in the Netherlands according to the government. More and more municipalities, housing...

A history lesson of what not to do and yet may still come to pass. October 5th, 2024 by Prof. Heather Cox – Richardson Letters from an American More politics rather than economics. Some of it does fit. The concept is political for an upcoming election. William McKinley is having a moment (which I confess is a sentence I never expected to write).  Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is elevating McKinley, a representative...

Running on Empty tonight. VA sent me a letter asking for all the information I believe was already sent to them. Some I have found rather quickly by exploring U of M records. Platelet counts for certain periods when they just almost disappeared. I need to talk to them tomorrow and see what the issue is or was. I have been in some of the little towns near Switzerland Rietheim-Weilheim, Germany comes to mind. Nice read . . . enjoy. Villages...

if long-term interest rate r is less than the trend growth rate of GDP g Yesterday (technically very early today) I promised a post on why long-term Treasury interest rates are very important. In particular it is very important if the long-term interest rate r is less than the trend growth rate of GDP g. If r<g then the public sector intertemporal budget constraint is not binding. This means that public policy is not even Pareto efficient. In...

Why have they increased so much. The US Treasury constant maturity 10-year interest rate has increased dramatically since the FED started fighting inflation (after falling dramatically during the Covid 19 epidemic). The increase is not unusual — Monetary policy effects GDP and employment through medium and long term interest rates, especially including the interest rate on 30 year mortgages. But I think it should be surprising. Before going...

Subscriber to Reich’s column so I steal a commentary now and then. Funds given to Semiconductor corporations are being used to buy back stocks rather than invest in new capabilities and facilities. In 2010, we took hits on pricing by as much as a 20% increase in pricing. A take it or leave it proposal. Sure there was increased demand which has nothing to do with cost. Indeed, the price increase did similar to what Robert discusses below....

Big Pharma has become a familiar whipping boy in the debate over healthcare costs. CAR-T therapies to treat certain cancers, for example, can cost between half a million and a million dollars for a single treatment course. What’s the prospect of a cancer cure worth to you?GLP-1 receptor agonists like semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound) are transforming the lives of obese patients. For most people, these drugs will have...

It should come as no surprise to regular AB readers that the US for-profit healthcare system is a disaster for everyone except the executives and stock-holders. Here’s yet another confirmation:“A report out Thursday shows that the United States’ for-profit healthcare system still ranks dead last among peer nations on key metrics, including access to care and health outcomes such as life expectancy at birth. “The new analysis from the...

I am reading this short piece and wondering how many people will commit to full electric? I do not see this occurring for a while. The batteries just do not last long enough for many people to accept electric vehicles today. Hybrids are going to be around for a while till the technology catches up. I am thinking 5 years out before there is a battery which will handle a large load for a long period of time before needing recharge. How fast can you...

These guys are ahead of us. What Scared Ford’s CEO in China, WSJ Jim Farley had just returned from China. What the Ford Motor chief executive found during the May visit made him anxious: The local automakers were pulling away in the electric-vehicle race.  In an early-morning call with fellow board member John Thornton, an exasperated Farley unloaded.  The Chinese carmakers are moving at light speed, he told Thornton, a former Goldman...