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October 31, 2005
Oil company profits
Why aren't the big oil companies reinvesting their huge profits?
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Posted by James Hamilton at 10:47 AM permalink | Comments (70)
October 29, 2005
New GDP data and recession probabilities
The Bureau of Economic Analysis yesterday released its advance estimates for the third quarter, reporting real GDP grew at an annual rate of 3.8%.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 12:39 PM permalink | Comments (4)
October 27, 2005
Proposition 80
Here's some background on the problems in the California electricity market over the last 10 years and why I believe that Californians should vote no on Proposition 80.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 07:24 AM permalink | Comments (31)
October 24, 2005
China GDP Statistics
More and more people are concluding that those unbelievable China GDP statistics are, well, unbelievable.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 07:51 PM permalink | Comments (27)
Ben Bernanke: new Fed chair
Let me add my enthusiastic endorsement of the choice of Ben Bernanke to replace Alan Greenspan for chair of the Federal Reserve Board to the positive support earlier expressed at Marginal Revolution, the Big Picture, New Economist, Economist's View, and Angry Bear.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 12:20 PM permalink | Comments (11)
October 23, 2005
Ford joins the club
Having commented on a number of occasions about General Motors' woes, and striving to be an Equal Opportunity PunditTM, it's only fair to give credit where credit is due. Ford this week showed that it can compete with the best of them in terms of losing money, posting a loss on its North American operations of $1.2 billion for the third quarter and $2.4 billion over the last 15 months. I'm not sure what advice to give Ford. But here's what I think we might expect from U.S. policy makers.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 05:59 PM permalink | Comments (52)
October 22, 2005
Oil supply: trying to digest some of the recent developments
Here I report on some new data on the intermediate-term prospects for oil supply
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Posted by James Hamilton at 09:37 PM permalink | Comments (6)
October 21, 2005
Here and there around the web
Catching my eye here and there around the web: latest housing indicators may not be as bullish as they seem, what to make of all the indictments, price-gouging is all-American, and more insights into fuel use per dollar of GDP.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 09:05 AM permalink | Comments (16)
October 19, 2005
Is the trade deficit set to stabilize as import prices rise?
Some thoughts on the latest trade price data.
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Posted by Menzie Chinn at 09:19 AM permalink | Comments (11)
October 18, 2005
GM losses and other economic news
No matter how amazing your accomplishments, it's always nice to try to set your goals even higher. I was pretty impressed when General Motors managed to lose $1.2 billion on its North American operations in the second quarter of this year. But yesterday GM announced it had outdone even this, losing $1.6 billion on its North American operations in the third quarter.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 09:28 AM permalink | Comments (41)
October 16, 2005
How important is saving?
Tyler Cowen of Marginal Revolution (along with a number of my own readers) has asked about this statement by Michael Mandel:
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Posted by James Hamilton at 02:29 PM permalink | Comments (28)
October 14, 2005
Inflation's back?
Does today's CPI release indicate that inflation has returned?
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Posted by James Hamilton at 12:07 PM permalink | Comments (33)
October 12, 2005
Whither the dollar?
What the interest differentials say
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Posted by Menzie Chinn at 01:15 PM permalink | Comments (24)
October 11, 2005
Stagflation
Do recent energy shocks mean we might see a replay of the 1970's stagflation? I believe not, and here's why.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 10:10 AM permalink | Comments (43)
October 09, 2005
Macro effects of oil shocks-- what should we be looking for next?
I recently prepared an entry on the macroeconomic effects of oil shocks for the new edition of the Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Here I sketch some of the material from that essay and explore the implications for where the economy may be headed next.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 07:42 PM permalink | Comments (19)
October 07, 2005
Oil prices coming down
Oil prices have been coming down significantly this week. Is that good economic news?
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Posted by James Hamilton at 10:35 AM permalink | Comments (14)
October 05, 2005
HR 3893
Having discovered that this summer's behemoth energy bill in fact did nothing to help with the problems uncovered by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Congress is ready to try again with HR 3893, which was reported out of committee last week. This one actually has some good ideas in it.
Posted by James Hamilton at 03:52 PM permalink | Comments (22)
October 04, 2005
Fixing the Current Account Deficit
If the current account deficit matters, how can we fix it?
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Posted by Menzie Chinn at 12:21 PM permalink | Comments (44)
October 03, 2005
What's good for GM...
U.S. automakers can't be very pleased about September sales figures.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 08:04 PM permalink | Comments (128)
October 02, 2005
But you said that more saving was a good thing
After many of us have been arguing for some time that an increase in the U.S. personal saving rate was key for promoting long-run growth and reducing the trade deficit, the American consumer finally obliged with a 0.5% drop in consumption spending in August. But analysts such as Angry Bear and Macroblog see this as an ominous development. So which is right-- is more saving a good thing or a bad thing for the economy?
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Posted by James Hamilton at 07:51 AM permalink | Comments (16)