Since the second U.S. housing bubble began to inflate in July 2012, the median sale price of new homes has increased on average by about $23 for every $1 increase in median household income. This represents a faster average pace of growth than was recorded during the inflation phase of the first U.S. housing bubble. As with the first U.S. housing bubble, which sparked off its inflation phase back in November 2001, the... More

As a result of the increase in federal regulations, the average American household receives about $277,000 less annually than it would have gotten in the absence of six decades of accumulated regulations.

Although we still do not know what the degree of tapering will be, the chart assumes that the Fed pace of easing is cut in half (to $42.5 billion per month) in October and then to zero in the summer of 2014.

While there are some signs of economic improvements in certain parts of the Eurozone, the deleveraging of the banking system and nonexistent loan growth does not bode well for a near-term recovery.

What role do activist shareholders play in challenging how corporations are run?

A new study suggests that individuals with low numerical ability were more likely to default on their mortgages when the housing bubble burst, regardless of what type of mortgage they had.

Last year 12m people in the world had $1m or more in investible assets. That is 1m more “high-net-worth individuals” than in 2011. North America reclaimed its position from Asia-Pacific as home to more extremely wealthy people than any other region, but its lead is unlikely to last, as Asia has many of the fastest-growing economies.

Now that California residents have voted $7 billion in new taxes on themselves, the state legislature is taking advantage of the new revenues to restore previous cuts to their salaries. The state's legislators are already the highest paid in the country.Who are the others?

Is it real, or exaggerated?

The June 30, 2012 valuation for the Detroit Police and Fire Retirement System is out and it claims that the system is 96.1% funded.  So why the need for the cuts recently announced by the city's fiscal manager? What’s the problem? Basically that the valuation is a joke.  It doesn’t honestly value the pension liabilities it recognizes while ignoring others and  pretends to have more money than it... More

Student loan reform needs to introduce competitive pressure into the student loan system. De-linking the cost of specific colleges from decisions on loan awards is one way of achieving this goal.

Global consumption of primary energy has grown by 30% over the past decade. But almost all of that growth has come outside the rich world.

Effective corporate rates by industry in the U.S.

Economic statistics undercount the impact of data-driven industries on the economy. Government restrictions on the movement and uses of data could restrain the growth of this economy.

Although there is  a tendency for public discussions of Medicare’s financing problems to focus on general health care cost inflation, a far more important factor in the near term is the sheer number of beneficiaries coming onto the Medicare rolls as the baby boomers head into retirement.

We now spend $20 billion on farm subsidies, which often flow to the wealthiest and biggest farms.

After two decades of deflation and stagnation — and now depopulation – perhaps the Japanese economy has crossed some tipping point and is beyond salvation.

Even though entrepreneurship is a powerful force that engenders local and economic growth, it is not obvious that government policy can create entrepreneurship.

Coming in with the highest per capita collection rate is New Jersey at $2,819, and Alabama comes in at the other end of the spectrum with a per capita collection rate of $539.

The states where workers are most enthusiastic about their jobs, and least enthusiastic, according to a new poll.

Changes to the deductions for mortgage interest and property tax payments, under discussion in Washington as a possible part of tax reform, might not reduce prices much at all, and some reforms might even boost prices.

America's jobs market has improved, and markets are now reckoning the Fed will start to taper its bond purchases in coming months. This has put pressure on bond prices and investors have fled riskier assets; bond fund outflows reached a record in the week ending June 5th. Here are assets most sensitive to the Fed’s balance sheet.

A new study demonstrates the growing burden that pension costs are having on the budgets of major urban school districts.

Other advanced nations have found a way of reducing corporate tax rates that improves economic efficiency, lowers the cost of capital for their companies and may even increase the progressivity of their tax system.

US pumped more domestic oil out of the ground last week than it imported, for first time since 1995.

The 50 counties of upstate NY are not sharing in the rebound in jobs that the rest of the state has experienced.

Why the spring "surge" in state income tax revenue? Part of it is the improving economy, but a big culprit is the increase in federal capital gains taxes.

How much money did U.S. investors raid from the future at the close of 2012?

Were there truly a STEM shortage — were demand for STEM majors to exceed supply — one would expect that unemployment statistics for recent STEM graduates would be outstandingly low. The reality?

A new study reveals that “[a] record 40% of all households with children under the age of 18 include mothers who are either the sole or primary source of income for the family.”But who are the 40 percent? The majority—two-thirds—are single mothers.

Since the 2007 financial crisis debt levels have fallen in America, Britain and Germany, but they have continued to rise in countries such as France, Italy and the Netherlands, where property prices are still declining. In 2012 household debt in the Netherlands was a whopping 285% of disposable income.

In addition to all the payroll taxes, benefit taxes, and premium payments, Medicare would need another $39.6 trillion in order to pay what it has promised over the next 75 years. Even if that much money was available to Medicare, the program would once again be unable to pay its hospital bills in full in 2089.