Archives: June 2006

Surprising Economic Fact of the Day

Posted by: Michael Mandel on June 26, Categories: Fiscal Policy

Today the 10 year Treasury rate hit 5.23%, exactly where it was the day after George Bush's inauguration in January 2001. That is, the federal budget went from $5.6 trillion...

The History of Dark Matter

Posted by: Michael Mandel on June 26, Categories: Trade

I honestly don't know whether this is good news or bad news. Here's an excerpt from a recent book on Britain before World War I. The average rate of return...

Summing up Dark Matter

Posted by: Michael Mandel on June 23, Categories: Trade

Brad Setser has a very comprehensive post where he grinds through the data on foreign income, entitled "So, is Michael Mandel right? Did intangible income (dark matter) ride to the...

The Return of Dark Matter

Posted by: Michael Mandel on June 16, Categories: Trade

What a nice surprise this morning. I looked at the latest current account data, and discovered, lo and behold, that in the first quarter the U.S. earned more money on...

Net worth rises even without real estate

Posted by: Michael Mandel on June 12, Categories: Investments

Real adjusted net worth per capita is rising even without including housing. Here's what the chart looks like...we still haven't reached the boom peak, but the long-term trend is up,...

Net Worth--and the Dollar--Rise Again

Posted by: Michael Mandel on June 12, Categories: Trade

The amount of (pessimistic) nonsense that is written about the U.S. economy is truly extraordinary. The usual rap is that the U.S. is borrowing its way into oblivion--and eventually we...

A Clever Test of the Internet’s Leveling Power

Posted by: Michael Mandel on June 06, Categories: Tech

Another item from Peter Coy (for which I thank him greatly): An intriguing new research paper argues that the Internet is eroding the competitive edge of elite universities. In the...

Retirement Glass: Half Full or Half Empty?

Posted by: Michael Mandel on June 06, Categories: Investments

If I had a dollar for every scare story about Americans not saving enough for retirement, I could retire tomorrow. That's why I enjoyed reading the new study from the...

Put a TGR in Your Tank

Posted by: Michael Mandel on June 05, Categories: Energy

Here's a guest item from Peter Coy, the economics editor here at BW who writes a lot on energy: Martin Feldstein probably lost a lot of friends this morning. The...