G20: “In Washington, London and Pittsburgh, we took decisive steps to stimulate the world economy, restore growth, recapitalise financial institutions, launch an ambitious program to reform the financial sector, maintain open markets and clamp-down on tax havens. Significantly, we established the Financial Stability Board (FSB), tripled the resources available to the IMF, and put in… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: September 2013
Wage Income and Elective Retirement Contributions from Form W-2, 2008–2010
IRS – Kevin Pierce and Jon Gober, Summer 2013: “For Tax Year 2008, some 140.7 million individual income taxpayers earned approximately $5.7 trillion in wages, tips, and other compensation, as reported on Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement. Both the total number of taxpayers and amount of wages declined 2 percent over the next 2… Continue Reading
Report – The Humanities and Social Sciences
The Heart of the Matter – The Humanities and Social Sciences for a vibrant, competitive, and secure nation. American Academy of Arts & Sciences. 2013. [This report] “identifies three overarching goals: 1) to educate Americans in the knowledge, skills, and understanding they will need to thrive in a twenty-first-century democracy; 2) to foster a society… Continue Reading
Home Prices Increase in Most Metro Areas during Second Quarter
“Median home prices continued to rise in the majority of metropolitan areas in the second quarter, with the national year-over-year price showing the strongest gain in seven-and-a-half years, according to the latest quarterly report by the National Association of Realtors®. Despite rising prices and higher mortgage interest rates, a companion breakout of income requirements to… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Defense Headquarters, Global Positioning System, Homeland Defense, Pesticides, Small Business Research, Space, Defense Management
Defense Headquarters – DOD Needs to Reassess Options for Permanent Location of U.S. Africa Command, GAO-13-646, Sep 9, 2013 Global Positioning System – A Comprehensive Assessment of Potential Options and Related Costs is Needed – GAO-13-729, Sep 9, 2013 Homeland Defense – Action Needed to Improve Cost Reporting for DOD’s Aerospace Control Alert Mission – GAO-13-785, Sep 9, 2013 Pesticides – EPA Should… Continue Reading
Global and euro imbalances: China and Germany
Global and euro imbalances: China and Germany by Guonan Ma and Robert N McCauley – Working Papers No 424 – September 2013. “We analyse global and euro area imbalances by focusing on China and Germany as large surplus and creditor countries. In the 2000s, domestic reforms in both countries expanded the effective labour force, restrained wages, shifted income towards profits and increased… Continue Reading
Intraday dynamics of euro area sovereign CDS and bonds
Intraday dynamics of euro area sovereign CDS and bonds by Jacob Gyntelberg, Peter Hördahl, Kristyna Ters and Jörg Urban Working Papers No 423 September 2013 “The recent sovereign debt crisis in the euro area has seen credit spreads on sovereign bonds and credit default swaps (CDS) surge for a number of member states. While these events have increased interest in understanding the dynamics… Continue Reading
Triennial Central Bank Survey of foreign exchange and derivatives market activity in April 2013
“The BIS Triennial Central Bank Survey is the most comprehensive source of information on the size and structure of global foreign exchange and OTC derivatives markets. By increasing market transparency, the Survey aims to help policy makers and market participants to better monitor patterns of activity and exposures in the global financial system. National survey results are… Continue Reading
CRS – Armed Conflict in Syria: Background and U.S. Response
Armed Conflict in Syria: Background and U.S. Response. Jeremy M. Sharp, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs; Christopher M. Blanchard, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs. September 6, 2013 “The popular-uprising-turned-armed-rebellion in Syria is in its third year, and seems poised to continue, with the government and an array of militias locked in a bloody struggle of… Continue Reading
UN World Happiness Report 2013
“As with last year’s report, we have again assembled the available international happiness data on how people rate both their emotions and their lives as a whole. We divide the available measures into three main types: measures of positive emotions (positive affect) including happiness, usually asked about the day preceding the survey; measures of negative… Continue Reading
The response of tail risk perceptions to unconventional monetary policy
The response of tail risk perceptions to unconventional monetary policy by Masazumi Hattori, Andreas Schrimpf and Vladyslav Sushko – Working Papers No 425, September 2013 “We evaluate the response of perceived tail risks in financial markets to the implementation of unconventional monetary policy by the U.S. Federal Reserve. Using information from out-of-money equity index options, we find that perceived risks decline significantly in… Continue Reading
Leaders endorse new G20/OECD principles on long-term investment financing
News release: “G20 Leaders today endorsed an OECD-launched initiative to encourage the flow of institutional investment towards longer-term assets, such as infrastructure and renewable energy projects, in order to strengthen the global economy. Currently, pension funds, insurers, mutual funds and sovereign wealth funds hold more than USD 80 trillion in assets. Pension funds alone managed over… Continue Reading
