Archive for Business cycle

Stock Market Still Utterly Dependent on Easy Money

The Fed’s announcement today sent stocks soaring. From a CNBC story: U.S. stocks surged on Wednesday, with the Dow marking its best session of the year, as investors celebrated a rally in the energy sector and the Federal Reserve’s pledge to be patient in raising interest rates. Stocks rose after the Federal Reserve retained the […]

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The Fed Chairs Have a Habit of Hazing

As I make clear in my recent interview with Tom Woods, I think that Bernanke painted himself (and the US economy) into a corner, then handed the paintbrush over to Janet Yellen. In case I sound “paranoid,” let’s review our history: ==> Paul Volcker took over as Chair of the Fed in August 1979. A […]

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More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Inventory Adjustments in GDP Accounting

Whether it’s government debt-burdened grandchildren, marginally productive capital, or inventory adjustments in GDP accounting, I don’t rest until I have resolved the issue to my own satisfaction–even if the rest of the world has moved on by that point. Anyway, drawing on a neat idea from “Transformer” in the comments here, I discuss this issue […]

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RBC Bask

I am very surprised I can’t find a good example of this, and yet I can’t…. I have read at least two popular Keynesian bloggers (of the fame of Karl Smith and Matt Yglesias, I’m not talking about You-Know-Who) critique the standard Real Business Cycle account of recessions along these lines: “OK, let’s assume for […]

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