Economic (with housing) links
Nice empirical piece on increases in income equality in the US since 1980.
Looking at other aspects of financial markets, such as margins and leverage.
About dominant narratives and the difficulties in working out whether the TARP bailouts did any good. Prominent Chinese economist worries about boom and bust in the Chinese economy.
Study finds low levels of consumption multiplier for government spending. Tracing where the US stimulus money goes:
The money is not going to areas that would more directly stimulate the economy but instead to provide ongoing life support to deficit-ridden federal, state and local agencies.
But with the US federal government doing so much more, corporations are lining up to get their hands on taxpayer-provided goodies.
About regulations as repeated games of action and response. An Austrian economist (Steve Horowitz) comments on the financial crisis, financial regulation and central banking.
The UK has had its worst six months for public finances on record. Arguing against raising the top marginal rate to 50%. I thought we had played this policy experiment …
Indian heart surgeon offers cutting edge cardiac procedures at a fraction of the cost:
The approach has transformed health care in India through a simple premise that works in other industries: economies of scale. By driving huge volumes, even of procedures as sophisticated, delicate and dangerous as heart surgery, Dr. Shetty has managed to drive down the cost of health care in his nation of one billion.
"Japanese companies reinvented the process of making cars. That's what we're doing in health care," Dr. Shetty says. "What health care needs is process innovation, not product innovation."
And again. He aims to open up a large facility thereby bringing medical tourism to the Cayman Islands.
If the government pays for something, it rations it: generating controversies such as this. More. The NHS on itself:
Only the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, the Wal-Mart supermarket chain and the Indian Railways directly employ more people.
Diseconomies of scale, anyone? There was an old Cold War joke that went: the NHS and the Red Army are the two biggest employers in Europe, and the defence of Western Europe rests on the hope that the latter is as inefficient as the former.
A talk about economic gangsters. About the book. Juarez, Mexico as a city where gangs successfully (if that is the word) compete with the state. The largest narco-gang, La Familia, is religious. Religion provides a good binding agent, which particular religion matters less: British troops are finding (and fighting) Taliban fighters with British accents and tattoos, in part a drug-gang connection.
Governments driving up demand and restricting the supply of housing has led to a rise in rents in Oz. Evidence that home loan stress was a major factor in the defeat of the Howard Government.
1950 Time cover story on the builder who pioneered mass developments.
Housing prices in California continue to be inflated. With adverse effects on job prospects and employment.
Examining prospects in the UK housing market. Though suburbia is getting more positively regarded.
Another success for local government as investor:
Nearly 35 years after taxpayers spent $55.7 million building the Pontiac Silverdome and a year after a $20 million sale fell through, city officials have sold the arena once called the most desirable property in Oakland County.
The price: $583,000.
My local government is the most indebted in Melbourne, mainly because it decided it had some comparative advantage in being a property developer. Guess what, it did not.
With the total abandonment of any local currency, formerly hyperinflation-ridden Zimbabwe has been transformed:
In February 2009 Zimbabwe was the only country in the world without debt. Nobody owed anyone anything. Following the abandonment of the Zimbabwe Dollar as the local currency all local debt was wiped out and the country started with a clean slate.
It is now a country without a functioning Central Bank and without a local currency that can be produced at will at the behest of politicians. Since February 2009 there has been no lender of last resort in Zimbabwe, causing banks to be ultra cautious in their lending policies. The US Dollar is the de facto currency in use although the Euro, GB Pound and South African Rand are accepted in local transactions.
Price controls and foreign exchange regulations have been abandoned. Zimbabwe literally joined the real world at the stroke of a pen. Money now flows in and out of the country without restriction. Super market shelves, bare in January, are now bursting with products. …
There are common denominators in all hyperinflations. Generally government finances reach a point where large budget deficits cannot be financed by taxes or borrowings. The choices come down to austerity (with the government cutting back its spending) or by funding the deficit by creating local currency through the printing press, leading to the inflation tax. This is always a political decision, but the line of least resistance is the printing press. Cutting government expenditures and laying off bureaucratic staff is anathema to most politicians.
In Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe has made it his mission to remain President for life. This has caused him to infiltrate his supporters into the army and police force. He also used Government finances as a way of funding patronage. His use of the printing press was liberal and nobody was prepared to stand up against him. This eventually led to inflation gathering momentum to the point where the armed forces were getting rebellious - they wanted more money. When Mugabe caved in to these demands, the Zimbabwe Dollar plunged.
Shortly after Mugabe was elected President in 1980, the Zimbabwe Dollar was worth more than the US Dollar. The ongoing abuse of the financial system eventually produced a runaway inflation. The largest bank note issued in Zimbabwe was for One Hundred Trillion Dollars ... These notes are now collector’s items and I had to part with US$2 to a street vendor to acquire the note …
Looking at other aspects of financial markets, such as margins and leverage.
About dominant narratives and the difficulties in working out whether the TARP bailouts did any good. Prominent Chinese economist worries about boom and bust in the Chinese economy.
Study finds low levels of consumption multiplier for government spending. Tracing where the US stimulus money goes:
The money is not going to areas that would more directly stimulate the economy but instead to provide ongoing life support to deficit-ridden federal, state and local agencies.
But with the US federal government doing so much more, corporations are lining up to get their hands on taxpayer-provided goodies.
About regulations as repeated games of action and response. An Austrian economist (Steve Horowitz) comments on the financial crisis, financial regulation and central banking.
The UK has had its worst six months for public finances on record. Arguing against raising the top marginal rate to 50%. I thought we had played this policy experiment …
Indian heart surgeon offers cutting edge cardiac procedures at a fraction of the cost:
The approach has transformed health care in India through a simple premise that works in other industries: economies of scale. By driving huge volumes, even of procedures as sophisticated, delicate and dangerous as heart surgery, Dr. Shetty has managed to drive down the cost of health care in his nation of one billion.
"Japanese companies reinvented the process of making cars. That's what we're doing in health care," Dr. Shetty says. "What health care needs is process innovation, not product innovation."
And again. He aims to open up a large facility thereby bringing medical tourism to the Cayman Islands.
If the government pays for something, it rations it: generating controversies such as this. More. The NHS on itself:
Only the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, the Wal-Mart supermarket chain and the Indian Railways directly employ more people.
Diseconomies of scale, anyone? There was an old Cold War joke that went: the NHS and the Red Army are the two biggest employers in Europe, and the defence of Western Europe rests on the hope that the latter is as inefficient as the former.
A talk about economic gangsters. About the book. Juarez, Mexico as a city where gangs successfully (if that is the word) compete with the state. The largest narco-gang, La Familia, is religious. Religion provides a good binding agent, which particular religion matters less: British troops are finding (and fighting) Taliban fighters with British accents and tattoos, in part a drug-gang connection.
Governments driving up demand and restricting the supply of housing has led to a rise in rents in Oz. Evidence that home loan stress was a major factor in the defeat of the Howard Government.
1950 Time cover story on the builder who pioneered mass developments.
Housing prices in California continue to be inflated. With adverse effects on job prospects and employment.
Examining prospects in the UK housing market. Though suburbia is getting more positively regarded.
Another success for local government as investor:
Nearly 35 years after taxpayers spent $55.7 million building the Pontiac Silverdome and a year after a $20 million sale fell through, city officials have sold the arena once called the most desirable property in Oakland County.
The price: $583,000.
My local government is the most indebted in Melbourne, mainly because it decided it had some comparative advantage in being a property developer. Guess what, it did not.
With the total abandonment of any local currency, formerly hyperinflation-ridden Zimbabwe has been transformed:
In February 2009 Zimbabwe was the only country in the world without debt. Nobody owed anyone anything. Following the abandonment of the Zimbabwe Dollar as the local currency all local debt was wiped out and the country started with a clean slate.
It is now a country without a functioning Central Bank and without a local currency that can be produced at will at the behest of politicians. Since February 2009 there has been no lender of last resort in Zimbabwe, causing banks to be ultra cautious in their lending policies. The US Dollar is the de facto currency in use although the Euro, GB Pound and South African Rand are accepted in local transactions.
Price controls and foreign exchange regulations have been abandoned. Zimbabwe literally joined the real world at the stroke of a pen. Money now flows in and out of the country without restriction. Super market shelves, bare in January, are now bursting with products. …
There are common denominators in all hyperinflations. Generally government finances reach a point where large budget deficits cannot be financed by taxes or borrowings. The choices come down to austerity (with the government cutting back its spending) or by funding the deficit by creating local currency through the printing press, leading to the inflation tax. This is always a political decision, but the line of least resistance is the printing press. Cutting government expenditures and laying off bureaucratic staff is anathema to most politicians.
In Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe has made it his mission to remain President for life. This has caused him to infiltrate his supporters into the army and police force. He also used Government finances as a way of funding patronage. His use of the printing press was liberal and nobody was prepared to stand up against him. This eventually led to inflation gathering momentum to the point where the armed forces were getting rebellious - they wanted more money. When Mugabe caved in to these demands, the Zimbabwe Dollar plunged.
Shortly after Mugabe was elected President in 1980, the Zimbabwe Dollar was worth more than the US Dollar. The ongoing abuse of the financial system eventually produced a runaway inflation. The largest bank note issued in Zimbabwe was for One Hundred Trillion Dollars ... These notes are now collector’s items and I had to part with US$2 to a street vendor to acquire the note …