Monthly Archives: August 2010
Reihan Salam on Structural v. Cyclical Unemployment
Reihan Salam rebuts Brad Delong’s case against structural unemployment by imagining up a hypothetical: Let’s assume that demand for manufactured goods is high, but that the cost of employing new workers has increased, thanks to a panoply of regulations and … Continue reading
Video Game Deflation
Blue Force: A police adventure game from Jim Walls, who did the first three games of the excellent Police Quest-series for Sierra. Set in the fictional sleepy beach village of Jackson Beach, with approximately 7 accessible locations. Released in 1993 … Continue reading
Filed under Video Games
Robert Barro Picks a Hard Fight
In today’s Wall Street Journal, economist Robert Barro finds the culprit for persistently-high unemployment: extending eligibility for unemployment insurance to 99 weeks: To get a rough quantitative estimate of the implications for the unemployment rate, suppose that the expansion of … Continue reading
Are we in a “bond bubble”?
The debate over the federal government’s fiscal policy often revolves around signals from the bond market. When yields on Treasuries—particularly the benchmark 10-Year Treasury Note—rise, this means that investor demand for federal debt is falling, and that the Treasury has … Continue reading
Filed under Economics
The Over-Optimism of the Medicare Trustee’s Spending Estimates
If you have a passion for medical finance (or just a thing for self-flagellation), you’ve already curled up with the Medicare Trustee’s annual report for 2010 [PDF]. Inside, you’ll find this data, cited approvingly by Paul Krugman as evidence of … Continue reading
Filed under Economics, Health Care
On Medicare, Double-Counting, and Intragovernmental Debt
Megan McCardle is exacerbated at the accusation that the government is double-counting Medicare cuts passed as part of health care reform, because it using them both to extend the solvency of the Medicare Part A trust fund and pay for … Continue reading
Filed under Economics, Health Care
Doubling-Down on the Dumb
Evidently, there’s a joint venture pilot program between Fannie Mae and some states that allows “qualified” home-buyers to get a mortgage with only $1,000 down. Granted, the program is only in three states, and participants are supposed to be vetted … Continue reading
Filed under Economics
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