Inevitable changes and reversion to long term trends

Technological changes do happen, turning past production functions obsolete. Sometimes there is a certain gradualism that enables economic agents and institutions to adjust; sometimes, time is too short for it. The present economic and financial circumstances seem to...

Joe the Plumber and oil prices

Here is what Joe knows: he has been paying on average US$ 110 per barrel of oil for the first 9 months of this year, or 66% more than last year’s average price of US$ 66 per barrel. Moreover, he has been paying three times more than long term average prices of oil of...

Trying to understand US financial stress

It is not easy to ascertain the depth of the present financial crisis, to differentiate real economic costs from accounting practices that link asset values to markets where prices are no longer reliable, to get to the essence of the problem out of too many...