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The Midterm Elections in the United StatesDean Baker
The Hankyoreh, October 21, 2018
Dean Baker / October 21, 2018
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The Cost of Extending Medicaid Coverage in Georgia Would be Between $30 and $45 Per PersonCEPR / October 21, 2018
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NYT Does Some Mind Reading of Republican Members of Congress on Drug Pricing PolicyCEPR / October 20, 2018
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Sechs Lügen über den internationalen HandelDean Baker
Blickpunkt WiSo, 18. Oktober 2018
Dean Baker / October 19, 2018
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Yglesias Strikes Out in Attacking John Judis "Nationalism"I don't especially want to defend nationalism, given the folks who wave this flag these days, but Matt Yglesias gets a few things wrong in criticizing John Judis' NYT piece earlier this week.
To start with he quotes Judis:
"As long as corporations are free to roam the globe in search of lower wages and taxes, and as long as the United States opens its borders to millions of unskilled immigrants, liberals will not able to create bountiful, equitable societies, where people are free from basic anxieties about obtaining health care, education and housing.”
...and then tells us "this is flatly untrue."
Okay, let's take a step back. Is Yglesias really arguing that if we had open borders, so that literally hundreds of millions of people from the poorest countries on the planet could come to the US, that it would not mean a decline in living standards for the workers already here? That seems more than a bit far-fetched.
Of course, we did not have open borders, so the real question is did the levels of immigration we had prevent us from having a generous welfare state? Here Yglesias would be on solid ground in saying no. Most research indicates that immigration of the level we have seen has not hurt the wages of native-born workers, although it does depress the wages of earlier immigrants, making the catch-up process longer than it otherwise would be.
CEPR / October 17, 2018
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Washington Post Says that Protectionism for Its Friends is "Free Trade"CEPR / October 17, 2018
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Latin America and the Caribbean
Petrocaribe Protests: What You Need to Know Before October 17Jake Johnston / October 16, 2018
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Catastrophic Hurricanes Should Force US to Reassess Climate PolicyDean Baker
Truthout, October 15, 2018
Dean Baker / October 15, 2018
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Jobs, Pensions Lost in Sears Bankruptcy, but Hedge Fund King Gets PaidEileen Appelbaum / October 15, 2018
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Scott Walker's Economic Record in Wisconsin: Nothing to Brag AboutCEPR / October 15, 2018
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Lessons in Inequality #42,767: Why Don't GE's Directors Get Fired?CEPR / October 13, 2018
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Corporate Debt ScaresAs we mark the 10th anniversary of the peak of the financial crisis, news outlets continue to feature pieces how another one, possibly worse, is just around the corner. This mostly shows that the folks who control these outlets learned absolutely nothing from the last crisis. As I have pointed out endlessly, the story was the collapse of the housing bubble that had been driving the economy. The financial crisis was an entertaining sideshow.
There is one story in the coming crisis picture that features prominently — the corporate debt burden, as discussed here. (This Bloomberg piece is actually well-reasoned.) The basic story is a simple one: corporate debt has risen rapidly in the recovery. This is true both in absolute terms, but even in relation to corporate profits.
The question is whether this is anything that should worry us. My answer is "no."
The key point is that we should be looking at debt service burdens, not debt, relative to after-tax corporate profits. This ratio was was 23.1 percent in 2017, before Congress approved a big corporate tax cut. By comparison, the ratio stood at more than 25 percent in the boom years of the late 1990s, not a time when people generally expressed much concern over corporate debt levels.
It is true that the burden can rise if interest rates continue to go up, but this would be a very gradual process. The vast majority of corporate debt is long-term. In fact, many companies took on large amounts of debt precisely because it was so cheap, in some cases issuing billions of dollars worth of 30-year or even 50-year bonds. These companies will not be affected by a rise in interest rates any time soon.
But clearly, there are some companies that did get in over their heads with debt. There are two points to be made here.
CEPR / October 12, 2018
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Rental Inflation Varies Sharply by CityKevin Cashman / October 11, 2018
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Overall Inflation Slows to 2.3 Percent in September, Due to Falling Energy PricesOctober 11, 2018 (Prices Byte)
Dean Baker / October 11, 2018
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Labor Market Policy Research Reports, October 2018CEPR regularly publishes a curated collection of original research from academic institutions and nonprofits on the state of the US labor market. The compilation is part of our ongoing effort to promote informed debate on the most important economic and social issues that affect people's lives.
The Brookings Institution
Seasonally and Weather-Adjusting the Monthly Jobs Numbers
An economist reexamines this month’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) employment report using three alternative projection methods to account for seasonal weather patterns.
CEPR and / October 10, 2018
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Latin America and the Caribbean
La elección presidencial en Brasil es sobre la lucha por la democraciaMark Weisbrot / October 10, 2018