Wrap Up for May 2020

The Atlanta Fed notes that for every ten layoffs, three new hires also occurred.

"How did COVID-19 disrupt the market for U.S. Treasury debt?"

Tim Duy argues for a coordinated public health effort.

It would be quite a mistake for MMT to ignore the demand for base money.

Will rural Texas hospitals and clinics survive COVID-19?

Policymakers can't afford to extend the emergency too long.

"More equity financing, less leverage, and abolishing tax debt subsidies" would be a good start.

Adam Tooze talks finance, past and future, with Tyler Cowen.

COVID-19 as a reallocation shock.

Rising wages aren't a good thing in this recession.

"What have we learned here?" Morgan Housel also writes, "No business model or investing strategy is proven until it survives a calamity." That said: In a recent post I should have referred to business models which welcome low income consumers, as capable of being recession resistant, rather than recession proof.

The pandemic has created additional burdens for physicians.

Of late in the U.S. only heart disease has killed more people than COVID-19.

Faced with clear risks, we still fail to act.

Lars Christensen is confident that employment levels in the U.S. should improve greatly by fall.

Branko Milanovic discusses his new book with Russ Roberts.

Instead of rationing public spaces, why not create more spaces which make room for shared social functions.

What form might a more activist state take?

Could the pandemic bring about positive change?

"50 Ideas that changed my life."

"Martin Hellwig on the Recent German Constitutional Court Ruling and its Potential Eurozone Implications"

U.S. federal research spending is at its lowest level in 60 years.

Emerging markets are going to need more effective debt management.

Identity has become too closely correlated with economic value.

"Our estimates indicate that a 10 minute increase in commuting decreases the probability of married women to participate in the labor market by 4.6 percentage points."

Housing will be a big concern in the near future.

Alex Danco reviews Debt: the First 5000 Years

Were it not for inflationary distributional struggles, monetary policy would not be so political.
And, monetary policy has proven increasingly political, given the realities of the pandemic.

Tim Harford suggests Humankind as definitely worth the read.

Jobs which presently can be salvaged, also tend to be the ones which are higher paid.

Sometimes a roadmap runs short of its destination.

Some positive developments for nurse practitioners.

Shifting realities in what middle class lifestyles still offer.

Paul Romer continues an earlier conversation with Tyler Cowen.

If low density boosters are correct, what happens to suburbia and the countryside?

Both Alberto Alesina and Oliver Williamson took political and economic frictions seriously.

More on Alesina:
He knew "where the big ideas were".
He changed how "scholars study the interactions between politics and economics".
Edward Glaeser remembers his colleague and friend of 28 years. 
"A free-spirited economist"
Larry Summers remembers Alesina.

Concerns about "the collapse of independent primary care".

"Deviations from the Neutral Level of NGDP."

Can we maintain a stable economic level in the months ahead?

"...a Darwinian moment for trends."

"Despite countless examples around the U.S. of individual courage and sacrifice, the failure is national."

"Fiscal space has limits, too" At a minimum, what does debt sustainability require?