Ronald Bailey of Reason reports on the Copenhagen Consensus 2008 Conference. The Conference is run by Bjorn Lomborg who wrote The Skeptical Environmentalist. The Conference brings together 55 leading international economists to reach a consensus on how to address some of the world’s most difficult problems:
More than 55 international economists, including 5 Nobel Laureates, will [...]
Back in March I linked to an article by Jeffrey Frankel that explains the rise in commodity prices as a function of interest rates. Since then, Fed Governor Donald Kohn has attempted to rebut Frankel’s argument. I found his argument unpersuasive:
Some observers have questioned whether the news on fundamentals affecting supply and demand in commodities [...]
The number of people filing for first time unemployment benefits rose 4,000 in the week ending May 24th, to 372,000, according to the Labor Department. Economists were expecting 370,000 new claims for the week. Having witnessed extremely volatile measurements in the past few weeks, it is wise to consider the four-week moving average of initial [...]
Orders for durable goods declined 0.5% in April, much better than expected, as orders for electronics offset a sharp drop in transportation orders. Economists were expecting a decline of 2.8% for the month. It is the second straight monthly decline, but, because of the report, some economists were quickly questioning if the U.S. economy would [...]
