Economische aanraders: Veren of Lood biedt u op zondag wekelijks een inkijkje in (minstens) 10 belangrijke of informatieve artikelen en interviews die de voorafgaande 7 dagen op economisch terrein verschenen op onafhankelijke sites.

De kop is de link naar het oorspronkelijke artikel, waarvan de samenvatting of de eerste (twee) alinea’s hier gegeven worden.

Sinds december 2015 nemen we ook een paar extra links op naar artikelen die minder specialistische kennis vereisen. Deze met *** gemerkte artikelen zijn ons inziens ook interessant voor lezers met weinig basiskennis van economie.

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The Keynesian Cult Has Failed: “Emergency” Stimulus Is Now Permanent – Charles Hugh Smith
24 mei
Can we finally admit that eight years of following the Keynesian coloring-book have not just failed, but failed spectacularly?
What do we call a status quo in which “emergency measures” have become permanent props? A failure. The “emergency” responses to the Global Financial Meltdown of 2008-09 are, eight years on, permanent fixtures. Everyone knows what would happen if the deficit spending, money-printing, zero interest rates, shadow banking, asset purchases by central banks and all the rest of the Keynesian Cult’s program stopped: the status quo falls apart.
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Economic ideas you should forget – Bruno Frey, David Iselin
26 mei
It is high time to forget some economic ideas that hinder progress in the field. Some examples include the assumption that GDP is the best way to measure economic progress, or the belief that economic growth will eventually improve the welfare of the population as a whole. This column discusses some of these ideas and argues that economics is a progressive science that is enriched by the ‘creative destruction’ of ideas.
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“Is Inflation Understated” in Canada? You Bet: National Bank – Wolf Richter
23 mei
We have long lamented the persistent understatement of soaring US housing costs in the Consumer Price Index, and thus the understatement of overall inflation as experienced by people with a roof over the head. But now two economists from the National Bank of Canada spell out their doubts about the housing inflation component in Canada’s overall CPI.
The Consumer Price Index in Canada rose 1.6% in April year-over-year seasonally adjusted, Statistics Canada reported last week, same as in March, but down from 2.0% in February. Over the past four years, CPI inflation ranged from 0.4% to 2.4%.
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External wealth and the real exchange rate: Precaution versus mercantilism – Woo Jin Choi, Alan Taylor
22 mei
Widening global imbalances, driven by reserve accumulation, can help us investigate how real exchange rates are determined. Standard theory would predict real exchange rate appreciation when there is an increase in net foreign assets. This column uses recent data from 75 countries to argue that, in practice, there is the opposite correlation in the particular case of reserve accumulation, notably in countries with higher capital controls and in developing countries.
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Is Your Cost of Living Rising? Why the Elites Aren’t Worried About Inflation – Charles Hugh Smith
26 mei
If you want to understand why we’re fragmenting as a society, start by looking at the asymmetric burdens imposed by inflation.
In our household, we measure real-world inflation with the Burrito Index: How much has the cost of a regular burrito at our favorite taco truck gone up?
The cost of a regular burrito from our local taco truck has gone up from $2.50 in 2001 to $5 in 2010 to $6.50 in 2016.
That’s a $160% increase since 2001: 15 years in which the official inflation rate reports that what $1 bought in 2001 can supposedly be bought with $1.35 today.
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Visualizing The Expanding Universe Of Cryptocurrencies – Tyler Durden
27 mei
Bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency, and its meteoric rise has made it a mainstay of conversation for investors, media, and technologists alike.
In fact, as Visual Capitalist’s Jeff Desjardins details, the innovation of the blockchain is changing entire markets, while causing ripples with central banks and the financial industry. At time of publication, the bitcoin price now hovers near US$2,200, a massive increase from this time last year.
But the true impact of Bitcoin is actually far more reaching than this – it’s actually helped to birth new markets for over 800 other cryptocurrencies and assets that are available for online trading. And while the market for bitcoins is worth nearly $40 billion itself, the rest of these cryptocurrencies are actually worth even more in combination.
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***Financial integration in the Eurozone should not be a tough sell – Teunis Brosens
24 mei
Much progress has been made in recent years to improve the financial integration of the Eurozone. This column argues that while banking union promotes stability, markets remain fragmented and consumers aren’t yet fully enjoying the fruits of integration. With Brexit on the horizon, it is up to the remaining EU member states to foster competition and efficiency in financial services by completing the banking union, harmonising national regulation, and accelerating the realisation of a true capital markets union.
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***The Trump Budget: Real Cuts vs. the Media Version of “Cuts” – Ryan McMaken
25 mei
One of the cardinal rules of government accounting and rhetoric is to call any slowdown in the growth rate of government spending a “cut.” This gives the impression that less is being spent when more is being spent. It’s just that less is being spent than the government had planned on spending otherwise.
With the discussion over the Trump budget this week, there’s lots of talk of cuts, but it’s important to remember that there are absolutely no cuts whatsoever in the actual amount of money the government plans to spend.
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Europe’s Faustian Bargain with Big Finance An Interview with Walden Bello
24 mei
Europe’s social democrats played a central role in unleashing the financial sector that created the European economic crisis that continues to today.
YYou’ve looked closely into how the financial crisis that erupted in 2008 played out in different parts of the world. What did the financial crisis in Europe have in common with the US crisis?
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An investigation of the root causes of the Greek crisis – Paul-Adrien Hyppolite
27 mei
The Greek crisis is typically seen as a sovereign debt crisis. Using a new dataset, this column explores the dynamics of national wealth accumulation in Greece over the past two decades. It argues that, despite certain idiosyncrasies, the Greek crisis can be better characterised as a balance of payments crisis. This implies that Greece shouldn’t be seen as an outlier amongst the periphery Eurozone countries.
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*** Will Quant Funds Trigger the Next Stock Market Crash? – Wolf Richter
22 mei
Quant-focused hedge funds – they specialize in algorithmic rather than human trading – gained $4.6 billion of net new assets in the first quarter, and now hold $932 billion, or about 30% to the $3.1 trillion in total hedge-fund assets. At the same time, investors yanked $5.5 billion out of non-quant hedge funds. This comes on top of last year when investors had yanked $83 billion out of non-quant hedge funds and had poured $13 billion into quant funds.
Trading by quant funds has soared to 27.1% of all stock market trading, up from 13.6% in 2013, according to a series of reports by the Wall Street Journal. These trades can last from minutes to months. Quant funds are different from algo-driven high-frequency trading (HFT) where trades last only milliseconds. And they’re different from ETFs which also use algorithms.
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Wine, Art, and Ferraris: The Bubble in Luxury Goods – Mark Thornton
24 mei
The Bernanke-Yellen bubble is impacting many sectors of the economy. Agriculture land, motor vehicles and auto loans, banking, bonds, contemporary art, corporate stocks, higher education and student loans, mergers and acquisitions, ocean shipping and cruise lines, social media, technology, housing, real estate, and land markets have been noticeably affected.
Credit-fueled bubbles generally have a wide-ranging effect on the economy, but might all this just be a sign of sustainable economic growth?
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Resist… the temptation to hide away in a tiny home – Ask Umbra
23 mei
I never expected that the most controversial piece of green living advice I could deliver would be: “Meet your neighbors.” After all, you and your neighbors have so much in common! You share a street, a building stairwell, a bodega where you each buy the exact same flavor of taquitos at 2 a.m.
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Corporate America’s “Reverse Yankees” Shoot to Record in ECB Absurdity, But Who Are the Losers? – Wolf Richter
21 mei
Apple is doing it, everyone is doing it: US companies are issuing record amounts of bonds denominated in euros. On Thursday, Apple announced in an SEC filing that it would issue €2.5 billion in euro bonds, the proceeds of which will be used to fund share buybacks and dividends to be paid in dollars. These bonds will come in two tranches: €1.25 billion of 8-year notes and €1.25 billion of 12-year notes, with coupon payments of 0.875% and 1.375% respectively.
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^***The Golden Conspiracy – Jim Rickards
25 mei
Is there gold price manipulation going on? Absolutely. There’s no question about it. That’s not just an opinion.
There is statistical evidence piling up to make the case, in addition to anecdotal evidence and forensic evidence. The evidence is very clear, in fact.
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Disclaimer: De VoL-redactie selecteert deze artikelen op interessante inzichten, of naar wij denken nuttige informatie. Wij kunnen echter geen enkele aansprakelijkheid aanvaarden voor de gevolgen van beslissingen die op grond hiervan door lezers zijn genomen, zakelijk zomin als privé.