The State of Macro

Macroeconomics is in a state of soul searching. Serious questions have to be answered for our discipline to remain relevant. Questions like "What happened a year ago?" and "Why did the Macroeconomists not see this coming?" are valid questions.

Here is David Brooks' take from the New York Times. Here is Greg Mankiw's take. Both sources I respect a great deal, and they are interesting perspectives but I am not sure I buy either of them personally.

Federal Reserve's Target

The Federal Reserve is as complicated and hidden as organizations get. They are assigned the task of conducting Monetary Policy, and this action works best in the dark. Just like any other economic agent the Fed is challenged with trade-offs. They often have to decide between unemployment and inflation. Fighting the latter is a trademark of the previous three Federal Reserve chairmen. This article talks about how the vice chair of the Federal Reserve nominee will fight the unemployment problem. Lets hope that trade-off does not become a crucial decision faced by the Fed anytime soon.

More on Trade

The fact that free trade is even debated is very frustrating to economists. We can all prosper by free trade, but politics often get in the way. This article is more evidence of this. (More of this has been talked about in the past, for more info look to the "trade" label at the end of the article).

Obama's Agenda

Two Contracts, the first is the intrade contract for a public option being passed and signed into law by the end of June. The second for what intrade calls "Obamacare" (basically the reconsiliation process kicked around in the news right now). Big difference here. Basically the public option looks dead, while the current push looks probable. So the question is "Is Obama pushing too hard for his adgenda?" The answer (according to David Brooks) is who are you asking.

Here is what reads as an unbiased article by someone who is known as 'the' conservative at the New York Times (which is known as left leaning... confusing, right?).