Jan 18 The Answer to the Exchange Rate Debate: Chinese Inflation By Elizabeth Shell The Chinese currency debate has developed a new twist in recent months: Chinese inflation. The argument, made by Columbia University economics professor Geng Xiao in an updated story of ours running on Tuesday's broadcast, is that the rise in… Continue reading
Jan 14 What Worries Economists in 2011: From Lower Housing Prices To a Crisis in Europe This will not come as news to our Twitter followers (tweetees?), but we spent last weekend at the annual economics convention, held this year in Denver. Every January we buttonhole economists of various stripes and political persuasions to pose… Continue reading
Jan 13 More Than One Million Homes Foreclosed on in 2010 We've devoted a fair portion of our reporting over the past year to home ownership and foreclosure. Some of those stories ran again, with updates, during the last week of the year. Today comes the official tally for 2010:… Continue reading
Jan 12 Is the Fed a Scam? Name: Charles, San Francisco Question:The Fed Chairman and President Obama often complain that the banks are just not making enough private loans, while at the same time offering banks a strong incentive to buy risk-free T-Bonds with money borrowed from… Continue reading
Jan 11 What IF the Banking System Failed? Name: Paul, El Cerrito, Calif. Question: I have been a dedicated viewer of your segments on the NewsHour for years. Unfortunately, even with your fine reporting, I am still confused about the ramifications of the financial meltdown in 2008. I… Continue reading
Jan 10 Moral AND Ethical to Strategically Default? Rounding out our series today, those of you considering strategic default might find particular encouragement from the web chat with law professor Brent White of the University of Arizona, who thinks it both legally and morally okay. "It's interesting… Continue reading
Jan 07 Today’s Job Numbers I was all set to label our monthly post on the unemployment data "Hold Your Horses" or "Not So Fast," a warning not to overplay the apparently sizable drop in the official unemployment rate from 9.8 percent to 9.4. But… Continue reading
Jan 06 Who Do You Hurt When You Walk Away? By Elizabeth Shell More from the strategic default debate today. Economist Luigi Zingales of the University of Chicago, also in our original story, argues there are damaging spillover effects ("negative externalities") when homeowners strategically default. "By walking away, not only do you… Continue reading
Jan 05 Strategic Default: Right or Wrong? By Elizabeth Shell We've been concentrating on the housing crisis over the past several days here on the Business Desk. For the rest of the week we'll be focusing on the issue of strategic default. If you're an underwater homeowner who can afford… Continue reading
Jan 05 Paul Solman As You’ve Never Seen Him Before Paul gets even more animated than usual -- with a new crib, new specs, new accent -- to tell you about our latest story, So You Have a Liberal Arts Degree and Want a Job?… Continue reading