World Growth and the United States Economy

The ever-insightful Mark Perry has a fascinating chart on his Carpe Diem blog: "EU-15" refers to Europe.  Accounts of America falling behind are not accurate, though the last few years have been difficult. We have …
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Steve Jobs

I sometimes hear that nobody ever dies wishing he had spent more time at the office. I bet that plenty of people die regretting the things they could have accomplished but didn't. Like, a guy …
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China’s Long-term Economic Future

If you do business in China, or contemplate doing business there, you should understand the controversy over the country's long-term future. In a nutshell, there's reason to doubt that China will continue to grow until …
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Guest blogging

Some of my posts will be showing up on the Oregon Business blog, which is a great way to find the latest business news about Oregon. My posts also show up frequently on Seeking Alpha …
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Advice for Freshmen: Not Just Economics

Harvard economics professor Greg Mankiw offers advice to entering college freshmen, which includes a great nugget: LEARN SOME STATISTICS High school mathematics curriculums spend too much time on traditional topics like Euclidean geometry and trigonometry. …
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Federal Deficit is Making Us Poorer

The Washington Times published my commentary entitled, "Europeanization is no vacation: The federal budget deficit is making us poorer."  Key point: expect higher tax rates, and thus lower economic growth, due to the budget deficit.
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Mortgage Defaults and Consumer Spending

I've gotten several questions recently asking if consumer spending is being propped up by mortgage defaults, especially the "strategic mortgage defaults."  My take is: yes, but just by a little bit.  Here's the story. People …
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