Mark Thornton Archives
Natural Disasters, It Turns Out, Are Bad
It seems that we may never rid ourselves of the broken-window fallacy. it's not only that disasters just have a silver lining: economists have long believed that natural disasters and wars are actually good for the economy! Until recently they have not made any attempt to empirically test their views. Now the good news. A recently published paper in Economic Inquiry by Cuaresma, Hlouskova, and Obersteiner brings the positive benefits of disasters into question. FULL ARTICLE
Recession
GDP was up 0.6% for the second straight quarter. If you consider population growth we are in a recession. If you consider the phony baloney inflation statistics, then we are in a recession. If you look at consumer confidence and public opinion polling we are in a recession. If you go to your local mall and talk to the store managers you will find that we are in a recession. The only place that we are not in a recession apparently is in the "official world" of Washington DC.
Looking into the GDP report we find further evidence of a contracting economy, recession and the possibility of a looming depression. Sales of final goods fell by 0.2%. People cut back across the board except in areas where they had little or no control such as medical, housing, and utility expenses. Investment in housing, equipment, and non-housing structures are all falling at a noticeable pace. The only positive areas are exports (we are giving away our production on the cheap because of the falling dollar) and defense spending. Inventories also rose and that also "contributes" to GDP. All three of these "winners" really reflect badly on the US economy.
The cycle continues................
Fun with Money Supply
Here is a nice tool available on Mises.org, linked from the Markets page: it is an Austrian definition of the money supply as compared with other standard measurements, updated as data become available.
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