EconTech

I got some complaints (why do people email, isn’t it easier to comment?) that my algebra leaved something to be desired in my previous post on this. I thought the details were rather obvious, and I left H and L as being the real expenditure for a single unit of a high and low quality [...]

Trade and inequality, revisited — Rooftops edition

Another way of investigating the relationship between inequality and trade with poor countries implies that China may actually help the poor, suggests new work from University of Chicago economists Christian Broda and John Romalis.
Instead of focusing purely on what’s produced outside of the country, Broda and Romalis turn their [...]

I’ve heard from a lot of people railing against inflation always and everywhere. Mostly, these are people who seem to know very little about economics but continue to have very strong opinions about it (Ron Paul). Krugman explains one positive effect of inflation. But in all things, moderation.
In praise of expected inflation

Real rates go negative
There [...]

Inflation is an interesting subject. The introduction to it is of the ‘pure’ kind which is very easy to deal with conceptually. The reality is much more difficult. The Chicago Fed has constructed a data set to disaggregate inflationary measures into various socioeconomic groups. Still, issues like volatile energy prices, divergent housing prices across regions, [...]

Argentina’s inflation numbers are looking cooked, if not burnt. Hopefully the real figures aren’t too bad.
 
IMF asks Argentina to clarify inflation figures
By Jude Webber in Buenos Aires
Published: February 11 2008 21:31 | Last updated: February 11 2008 21:31
The International Monetary Fund has asked Argentina’s statistical institute, Indec, to clarify inflation data and methodology that has [...]