The Unassuming Economist

Ashvin Ahuja, an economist with the IMF, has made a study of property prices in China. Follow the link to compare China’s housing market with others around the globe.

Hong Kong

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Is the increase in unemployment cyclical or structural? In an article released today by the IMF, Mai Dao and I summarize some new evidence on this topic. A recovery in output, using monetary and fiscal policy tools, takes too long to lift the boats of the long-term unemployed, and even then does not give them much of a lift. But whether it’s cyclical or structural, unemployment takes a severe human toll and merits a decisive policy response,

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Here’s the video from a talk at the IMF at which economists Nouriel Roubini (a.k.a. Dr. Doom) and Mark Zandi were pessimistic about the near-term economic outlook but split on how things might look a couple of years from now. Zandi said we might get 5% growth in the US in 2012. Read the full article…

• Is the recent increase in unemployment cyclical or structural?

• Is there is a link between inequality, over-borrowing and financial crises?

My article in The Globalist discusses these issues, among others. The article provides a summary of an October 22 workshop on “The Unemployment Crisis: Costs, Causes, Cures” held at the IMF; the PowerPoint presentations from the workshop are available here. And here’s a link to the final version of my IMF Staff Position Note on “The Human Cost of Unemployment: Assessing It, Read the full article…

Real estate markets have been a source of strength during past economic recoveries, but this time is different. Read the story and see the presentation.

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