Dean Baker

Contrary to the assertion that the NYT presented to readers in reference to flash trading on stock, more trading does not necessarily increase a market’s efficiency (defined in terms of getting the price right). There is a body of research on “noise trading,” that shows that increased trading can be associated with movements away from […]

NPR assures listeners that we don’t have to worry about the tariffs on Chinese tires starting a trade war in large part because President Obama’s economic team are committed free traders. Of course this is not true, they are committed to placing non-college educated workers in direct competition with low-paid workers in the developing world, […]

NPR told listeners yesterday (caught me traveling) that the world will have to take bitter medicine to eliminate global imbalances. The only problem is that their analysis makes no sense. It tells listeners that the U.S. trade deficit is the result of high budget deficits, which pushed up interest rates, therefore leading to a high […]

The WSJ cited a bond trader, David Ader, as saying the real interest rate on Treasury bonds is the highest since the 80s. Determining the real interest rate depends on expectations of inflation, which are difficult to know. However, the interest rate on 10-year inflation indexed Treasury bonds is just 2.15 percent, well below its […]

Retail sales came in higher than generally expected in August, with non-car sales rising 1.1 percent from July. This statistic is less impressive than it seems. If gas sales are taken out of the picture, then the increase in August was just half as large. If we look over the last two months, the rise […]

Real wages have followed an unusual pattern in this downturn, but NYT columnist David Leonhardt misses much of the picture in his column today. Leonhardt tells readers that most workers are seeing their real wages rise in this downturn. That is not quite right. The real story of real wages is that hourly wages were […]

The headline of a front page article on the tariff on Chinese tires told readers that: “threat of trade war with China sparks worries in debtor U.S.” The article found some economists who expressed concern that China would buy fewer bonds from the U.S. government. If it looked further, the Post could have also found […]

We know this because the subhead of a front page article told readers that: “more support if public option dropped.” This was based on a new poll that showed that opposition to health care reform fell modestly if the public option was dropped from the plan. The Post could have also opted to highlight another […]

It would be good if at least some of the news stories on the tire tariffs gave a bit of background. When China was admitted to the WTO it agreed to allow the United States to impose tariffs to temporarily counteract the disruptive effects of an import surge. The agreement did not require the United […]

President Obama told a group of people at a health care rally yesterday about a Treasury study that: “found that nearly half of all Americans under 65 will lose their health coverage at some point over the next 10 years … and that more than one-third will go without coverage for longer than one year.” […]