Handbook of Subprime

Adam Ashcraft and Til Schuermann present a comprehensive report on subprime market. Understanding the Securitization of Subprime Mortgage Credit.

What a Credit Party

Floyd Norris talks about the prospect of corporate credit market in NYT.

Krugman on Trade

Paul Krugman talks about "trouble with trade" on NYT.

Beijing is Choking on Growth

Choking on Growth from NYT. An example of the trade off between economic growth and environment protection.

US Housing Price

It looks like that the housing slump has years to go if the history reapeats like that in '91 -'95. The folloing graphs are based on the latest data (Oct, 2007) from S&P/Case-Shiller series.
I am from NW so I can understand the strong housing market in Seattle and Portland. What is going on in Charlotte?

States' Population

WSJ shows this states' shifting population between 2006 and 2007 from Census Bureau.

Give the Fed A Break

Greg Mankiw says in NYT about what we should do to avoid a recession. The answer is nothing: Just let the Fed do his job.

It's A Wonderful Life

Amid the recent housing slump and credit crunch, people talk about this classical movie, "It's A Wonderful Life (1946)," which is a story of a banker (James Stewart). I just watched it. It is a great movie! Here is the ending part of the movie.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

2005 PPP GDP

World Bank issues the new version of PPP (purchasing power parity) GDP report in 2005 for international comparsion. Table is here. Explanantion is here.
Here are some numbers of PPP $ GDP per capita:
India $2,126
China $4,091
Mexico $11,317
Korea $21,342
Taiwan $26,068
Japan $30,290
UK $31,580
Canada $35,078
US $41,674
Luxembourg $70,014

Authors@Google

Google has a video series of author speeches:
Here are some that interest me:
Michael Bloomberg talks about corporate governance.
Paul Krugman talks about recent financial crisis.
Joseph Stiglitz talks about globalization.

What's New in Econometrics?

NBER SUMMER INSTITUTE 2007 hosts a series of lectures "What's New in Econometrics?" The speakers are Guido Imbens and Jeffrey Wooldridge.
For whose of you who don't know what's like about econometrics classes in graduate school, this would be a good demonstration. It is very technical and somewhat surreal.

National Economic Outlook

Fed Dallas's National Economic Outlook.

Interview with Eugene Fama

Fed Minneapolis has an interview with Eugene Fama.
As usual, Fama suggests that we should put money in the passive mutual fund instead of active mutual fund; small stocks instead of large; value stocks instead of growth.
He doesn't know much about housing market, hedge fund, etc because there is no long enough data until now.

Sovereign Funds

Gary Becker and Richard Posner see Sovereign Funds from different angles.

Paul Krugman on Credit Crisis

Paul Krugman's "After the Money's Gone" on NYT.

Kenneth Arrow Speaks Up

Kenneth Arrow speaks up on global warming. I think there will be little dispute on this issue from now on.

Fed is Busy

Fed has been busy these two days.
On Dec 11, Fed cut the rate. But Wall Street seemed to not buy it.
So on Dec 12, Fed had another move: injected liquidity.
However, econbrowser.com cannot understand the market's reaction. Neither do I!

Chinese Supply Chain

A video from Melissa Brown, Association for Responsible and Sustainable Investment in Asia (ASRiA) discusses challenges of the Chinese supply chain and the needs for proactive responses by investors and companies.

Alan Greenspan on Mortgaga Crisis

Alan Greenspan's "The Roots of Mortgage Crisis" on WSJ. He mentioned that bubbles cannot be safely defused by monetary policy before the speculative fever breaks on its own.

Holiday Train

Tonight we went to our town station to see the Holiday Train sponsored by Canadian Pacific Railroad. It was a very nice experience and their band is pretty good.

About Data

Economics Briefling Blog has this article about data and economic forecasting. What a scary fact!! The author, Robert Wallach, referred to Alan Greenspan's book serveral times. It seems that Alan has a better understanding on data than most of us.

Here is an earlier article from the author talking about "Behind the Subprime Crash."

Video Interviews with the Nobel Laureates in Economics

You can watch many video interviews with the Nobel Laureates in Economics.

An Inspiring Lecture From A CS Professor

A colleague of mine recommends this to me:
An inspiring lecture video from Randy Pauch, a computer science professor in CMU, about imagineering, creativity and his life experience.

Major Foreign Holders of Treasuries

Guess who are the major foreign holders of the US Treasury securities?
First is Japan and second is China, which is not surprising. But the third is UK ?!?

Oil Movements

This map from FT.com shows the world's largest oil producers, consumers, and oil flows.
Data is from BP.

What is C.D.O.?

A fabulous graphical presentation of CDO.

Rogoff on Dollar

The US currency's dominant status is being threatened both by the rise of other economies and its own innate instability. Rogoff's recent comment on dollar, "Dog days for the super dollar."

What Should I Do After Graduation?

Bureau of Labor Statistics presents its Employment Projections for 2006-2016.
According to it, you should not go to these industries and these occupations.

Feldstein on Recession

Martin Feldstein suggests something in the WSJ article: "How to Avert Recession?"
1. Expansionary monetary policy: more interest rate cut.
2. Expansionary fiscal policy with automatic stabilizer because it can

• Be more efficient
• Avoid asset bubble
• Avoid weakening dollar

3. Freezing mortgage rate which will begin to adjust in 2008 is not a good idea.

Investment Bankers

Enjoy these funny videos from "Bremner, Bird and Fortune" about investment banker and recent credit crunch.
Video 1
Video 2

Where Are New York Manhole Covers From?

They are from India.
An article with photos from New York Times tells us where and how they are made.

To be or not to be, that is the question

William Poole provides a comprehensive and fabulous article on the issue of moral hazard, market bailouts and the "Fed Put" amid current financial turmoils.

Shrinking Wall Street

This article, "Is the sky falling on both Wall street and Main street?" mentions that the current housing slump and credit crunch would affect mostly on the US financial and residential investment sectors.

Shocking Economics

From this video, you may get a better idea of the size of the US economy in the world.

China Stock Bubble Begins to Bust?

I am not sure about the answer to the title but I think that China's stock market bubble will bust sooner or later.
Basic Chart for SSE Composite Index - Yahoo! Finance
The question I am concerned now is how long will the post-bubble bear market be. 2 years, 5 years, or 10 years or more?

The Chinese Economy: Can We Keep the Heat Alive?

A Forum by Aspen Institute - The Chinese Economy: Can We Keep the Heat Alive? Two economists have different points of view on China's economy prospect.
Video 1: Pessimistic
Video 2: Optimistic

IMF Forum: China and India

IMF Book Forum - China and India Expanding Roles in the World Economy on December 14, 2006.

How the US Recession Is Determined?

This article has a very detailed explanation about how the US recession is determined and dated by a NBER committee.

Interviews with Alan Greenspan

With promotion of his memoirs, former Fed chairman-Alan Greenspan had serveral interviews on different issues.

Video: Alan on income inequality.
Video: Alan on the housing bubble and slump in CBS 60 minutes.
Video: Alan on Nixon, Ford, Regan in CBS 60 minutes.
Video: Alan on Bush in CBS 60 minutes.
Video: Alan on Clintons in CBS 60 minutes.

Video of July 2003 US Economic Outlook Testimony: Congressman Bernard Sanders vs. Alan Greenspan on the problems of inequality, outsources, etc in the US economy.

China Moving

A video from "People and Power: China Moving" shows the immigration from rural to urban area in China.
Part 1: Shanghai.
Part 2: Rural China

Brits Get Rich in China

A video shows the risk and premium of investment in China.

Part 1:


Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7.

Sock Industries in Two Countries

Part 1: The sock industry and tariff in the US.
Part 2: The rise and fall of sock industry in Honduras.
From Adam Davidson NPR

Conversations with Brad DeLong

Another conversation with UC Berkeley economist: Brad DeLong.

Conversations with Richard Freeman

Here is a video from UC Berkely, "Conversations with History: Richard Freeman" on globalization, labor markets, and inequality.

Hello, World!

Hello everyone. Welcome to my blog. This blog will provide daily obseravtions and collection of news, information, aticles, and videos on the issues of global economies, finance, and business, etc.