On June 17, the International Monetary Fund issued an update to its World Economic Outlook. It finds that there has been a slight slowdown in growth worldwide, with emerging economies continuing to outpace growth in advanced economies.
Also on June 17, the IMF issued an update to its Global Financial Stability Report. It finds that concerns about debt sustainability continue to weigh heavily on financial markets.
On June 15, the House Small Business Committee held a hearing on reducing regulatory burdens on small businesses.
On June 13, the Commerce Department published a study of foreign direct investment in the U.S.
In a June 11 commentary, Stanford economist John Taylor praised Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty for aspiring to a 5 percent per year real growth rate for the U.S. economy, which Taylor said is achievable.
In a June 14 response, University of California, Berkeley, economist Brad Delong took issue with Taylor’s calculations, saying that 3.5 percent per year growth is about the best we can do given the growth of productivity and the labor force, which are the key determinants of long-term GDP growth.
On June 15, Donald Marron, a member of the Council of Economic Advisers under George W. Bush, posted a commentary saying that Taylor was being overly optimistic in his assumptions about growth of the labor force, work hours, and productivity. Marron concludes: “Taylor’s scenario thus assumes that everything breaks right for the U.S. economy for a full decade, with remarkable job growth and remarkable productivity growth in the economy as a whole. Not impossible but, unfortunately, not likely either.”
The June issue of the Survey of Current Business contains an article on the rate of return on assets for nonfinancial corporations. The gross rate of return rose to 8.9 percent in 2010, up from 7.5 percent in 2009. Among industries, the rate of return is highest in the information-communications-technology sector; lowest in the mining-utilities-construction sector.
The same issue also carried an article about trends in consumer spending since 1959. It finds a big increase in consumption of services and a sharp decline in spending on goods, especially food, clothing and footwear.
On May 13, Kroll Consulting issued the latest edition of its Global Fraud Report.
Bruce Bartlett is an American historian and columnist who focuses on the intersection between politics and economics. He blogs daily and writes a weekly column at The Fiscal Times. Bartlett has written for Forbes Magazine and Creators Syndicate, and his work is informed by many years in government, including as a senior policy analyst in the Reagan White House. He is the author of seven books including the New York Times best-seller, Imposter: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy (Doubleday, 2006).
