News and Notes from 2008 and older
For what's really new - see the 2009 News and Notes
12/16
The December issue of NABE News is online, with a look at the upcoming Policy Conference, news of the data agencies, member profiles, and all our regular features.
12/14
The October issue of Business Economics is online, with articles by Ben Bernanke, Sheila Bair, Edward Lazear, Matthias Fifka, Claire Starry and Gerald Bernstein, Nayantara Hensel, Richard Koss, Andrew Gross and Jozsef Poor.
10/24
The October issue of NABE News is out.
The Houston chapter has a new website
We've set up a Twitter feed to relay news about the Annual Meeting. You can find it at http://twitter.com/business_econ. Don't know about Twitter? Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "updates" (or "tweets"; text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter website, via short message service, instant messaging, or a third-party applications. The tweets can be followed by any web-enabled device. "In countries all around the world, people follow the sources most relevant to them and access information via Twitter as it happens—from breaking world news to updates from friends."
9/17
The podcast of the 9/17 teleconference (see item below) is now online.
9/16
NABE will hold a teleconference on "The Financial Crisis" featuring Lyle Gramley, former Fed Governor/Senior Economic Advisor, The Washington Research Group; Laurence Meyer, former Fed Governor/Vice Chairman, Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC; David Wyss, Chief Economist, Standard & Poor’s; Stuart Hoffman, Chief Economist, PNC Financial Services, moderator. The teleconference will be held September 17 at 1:00 pm ET.
8/22
The August edition of NABE News is now online with election results, the annual report of the president, a look ahead at the annual meeting, and all our usual features.
8/5
The July 2008 issue of Business Economics is now online. It features articles on the Fed's communications strategy, the subprime credit market, semiconductor pricing, Mexico's changing demographics, Porter's competitive model, and our regular features.
8/4
The Manufacturing Roundtable will be sponsoring a teleconference August 21 on "Oil Prices and the Cost of Logistics"
7/21
Respondents to the July NABE Industry Survey were more varied than in the decidedly downbeat April survey about recent results and the next few quarters, but they were far from ebullient. NABE members can read the full survey and data online. A summary is available to the public.
6/22
The June issue of NABE News is online, with stories about the annual meeting, the upcoming NABE elections, more on the history of NABE, and our regular features.
Get a first look at the program and speakers for the 50th NABE Annual Meeting, "Addressing Future Econmic Challenges", October 4-7, 2008 at the JW Marriott Hotel in Washington, DC. Speakers at the meeting include: Lawrence Summers, Harvard University; Edmund Phelps, Columbia University; Henry Kaufman, Henry Kaufman & Company; Sheila C. Bair, Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; Michael Mussa, Peterson Institute for International Economics; and Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Board
5/26
The April 2008 issue of Business Economics® is now online, with articles on the wealth effect, monetary policy, the Great Inflation, the natural rate of unemployment, state and local government budgets, and the usual features.
5/18
Although housing and credit markets will gradually loosen their grip, U.S. economic growth is expected to only slowly return to health, according to the May 2008 NABE Outlook. NABE members can read the full survey online and download the data. A summary is available for the public.
4/13
The April issue of NABE News is now online, with coverage of the Washington Policy Conference, looks ahead to the PDS and Annual Meeting, more on the NABE 50th Anniversary, and all our usual features.
4/11
The January issue of Business Economics is now online, with articles on forecasting recessions and real inventory, Nigeria, Inequality, and the regular features.
3/3
NABE members are increasingly concerned over the short-term risks associated with subprime mortgages and other forms of indebtedness, while they continue to cast a wary eye on inflation, according to the March NABE Policy Survey, available online.
2/25
U.S. economic growth is expected to slow to a crawl in the first half of 2008, according to the February 2008 NABE Outlook panel. Members can read the full report here. A summary is available to the public.
2/10
Any NABE member interested in playing in the NABE Fantasy Baseball league, find out more.
1/31
The podcast of the "Fiscal Stimulus" teleconference featuring Rudolf Penner and Douglas Elmendorf is now online.
1/29
The Technology Roundtable will host a teleconference on February 6 on "The Benefits of Neuroeconomics"
1/24
Michael Moran of Daiwa Securities America and David Resler of Nomura Securities International take a look at the Fed's surprise rate cut, and talk about what lies ahead, in a podcast from the National Association for Business Economics.
1/22
The January NABE Industry Survey shows a striking dichotomy -- respondents are much gloomier about the outlook for the economy as a whole, but are more upbeat about their own firm's outlook. NABE members can read the whole survey here. A summary is available for the public.
1/21
Check out NABE's revamped Career Center, with stories about the career paths of NABE members.
12/6
The Bureau of Economic Analysis is looking for public comment on data sharing activities.
11/19
According to the November 2007 NABE Outlook, while the U.S. economy faces a higher risk of recession from credit markets, housing, and energy prices, NABE’s panelists still do not see recession as the most likely outcome. NABE members can read the full survey online and download the data. A summary is available for the public.
The economic advisors to the top presidential candidates debate on November 9, 2007. Participating were: Gene Sperling, Economic Adviser to Hillary Clinton; Michael Boskin, Economic Adviser to Rudolph Giuliani; Leo Hindery, Economic Adviser to John Edwards;
Doug Holtz-Eakin, Economic Adviser to John McCain; Austan Goolsbee, Economic Adviser to Barack Obamain. The debate was sponsored by NABE, the National Economists Club, Altarum, Macroeconomic Advisers, and the Tax Foundation. Watch the debate through streaming video at C-Span, or download an audio podcast from NABE.
9/19
Tripp Frohlichstein, who presented the well-received seminar on “Communicate More Effectively--Inside and Outside Your Company” at the NABE annual meeting in San Francisco, is offering annual meeting attendees a free subscription to a media and speech tips newsletter (about eight issue per year). If you are interested, send an email to him at tripp@mediamasterstraining.com.
8/19
The 2007 Abramson Award winner is Walter McManus for his article “The Link Between Gasoline Prices and Vehicle Sales” in the January 2007 issue of Business Economics. 2007 Abramson Scrolls have been awarded to Matthew Higgins, Thomas Klitgaard, and Cédric Tille, “Borrowing Without Debt? Understanding the U.S. International Investment Position” also in the January 2007 issue, and Jonathan McCarthy and Charles Steindel, “Housing Activity and Consumer Spending” in the April 2007 issue. Find out more about the award in the NABE Hall of Fame.
8/16
Cityscape, published three times a year by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development?s Office of Policy Development and Research, is accepting submissions to its new Refereed Papers section. Cityscape is published both in hard copy and online. We welcome high-quality submissions in all areas of housing and urban policy, from all relevant disciplines. Topics might include economic opportunity and self-sufficiency, fair housing, home ownership and housing finance, housing technology, effectiveness of government programs, international comparative housing policy analysis, regulatory barriers to affordable housing, rural housing, housing for persons with special needs, subsidized housing, university partnerships, urban revitalization and community development. Our referee process is double-blind and timely, and our referees highly qualified. The Managing Editor also will give guidance to authors about the suitability of papers proposed in outline form. Send manuscripts or outlines to Cityscape@hud.gov.
8/14
The August issue of NABE News is now online.
8/7
The Financial Roundtable Teleconference "Turmoil in Credit Markets: Rational Re-Pricing, or, Emerging Credit Crunch?", featuring Martin Fridson, CFA, FridsonVision LLC, Mark Zandi , Moody's Economy.com Inc, and
Joshua Rosner, Graham Fisher & Co, is available as a free podcast download.
8/6
The winner of the 2007 NABE Outlook Award is Joel Naroff, Chief Economist, Commerce Bank, and President, Naroff Economic Advisors. The award is based on minimizing the sum of the squared errors of the quarterly GDP and 10-Year Treasury Bond Note for the forecasts dated November 2006 through May 2007. See a list of past winners at the NABE Hall of Fame.
8/4
The Economic Blogs page has been updated, with nine new ones added and a couple of dead ones pruned.
8/2
Stanford University economist John B. Taylor has a working title for his Adam Smith address: “Surprising Predictions of Monetary Policy Rules.” The former U.S. Treasury official will receive NABE’s Adam Smith Award at the 49th annual meeting in San Francisco, Sept. 9-11.
Taylor also tells NABE News that his current reading of economic data shows a strong global economy that, to a significant degree, has proved beneficial to what he terms the continuing “global financial war” on terrorist funding sources. In his book “Global Financial Warriors: The Untold Story of International Finance in the Post 9/ll World,” he recounts his experiences leading the U.S. Treasury team that worked with Iraqi officials to stabilize that country’s economy and create a financial system.
Despite continuing security concerns, Taylor believes that “by and large the Iraq economy is doing fine.” Guarding against inflation spikes as the Iraq economy moves forward is among the major challenges confronting officials there, he said.
Overall, Taylor thinks that Congress needs to pay more attention to “the financial side of the war on terror” as it debates funding measures for the federal government.
A profile of Taylor, drawing from a wide-ranging phone interview conducted July 31, will be published in the August issue of NABE News, along with profiles of others who will be honored at the annual meeting. Taylor is scheduled to present the 26th annual Adam Smith address at the luncheon session on Monday, Sept. 10.
See registration details and the latest program schedule
7/31
The July issue of Business Economics is online.
7/24
Read the CNBC story, and watch the interview of Ken Simonson by Steve Liesman, about the July 2007 NABE Industry Survey.
6/20
Steve Murdock, Chairman of the Demography and Organization Studies of the University of Texas at San Antonio, has been nominated to be the new director of the Census Bureau. Dr. Murdock is also the Director of the Texas State Data Center.
Dr. Murdock served as the State's chief expert on Census issues for the 1980, 1990 and 2000 censuses. He has advised five Texas governors, five Lieutenant Governors and four Speakers from both parties in Texas on the importance of Census participation and the uses of the economic, demographic, and social data for decision making.
6/18
The Regional/Utility Roundtable teleconference of 6/14 "Pain at the Pump: How High Could Gasoline Prices Go in 2007?" is available as a free NABE podcast.
NABE will be sponsoring two sessions at the ASSA Meetings in New Orleans in January, 2008. The first session is "Recent and Prospective Developments in Monetary Policy Transparency and Communications: A Global Perspective" featuring Kevin Kliesen of the St. Louis Fed, Kazumasa Iwata, Deputy Governor, Bank of Japan, Lucas D. Papademos (Invited), Vice President, European Central Bank, and Discussant Michael Woodford, Columbia University.
The second session is "Accounting for Stock Options in the National Income Accounts" featuring Rosemary D. Marcuss, Deputy Director, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis; Cynthia A. Glassman, Undersecretary for Economic Affairs, U.S. Department of Commerce; S.P. Kothari, Head of Department of Economics, Finance & Accounting, Gordon Y. Billard Professor of Management, Sloan School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and disscusant R. Glenn Hubbard, Dean and Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics, Columbia University School of Business, Columbia University.
6/13
The June issue of NABE News is online, with a look ahead at the annual meeting, a look back at the PDS, information on NABE clubs, an Emmy Award, and all the usual features.
6/4
The Cleveland Association for Business Economics will host an Auto Industry Roundtable on June 13, featuring George Magliano, Director of Automotive Research - North America, Global Insight Inc; Paul Taylor, Chief Economist, National Automobile Dealers Association; Paul Traub Assistant Corporate Economist for DaimlerChrysler Corporation.
The March 27 International Roundtable teleconference on "Emerging Markets and Volatility" featuring Nariman Behravesh, Chief Economist, Global Insight, is now available as a free NABE podcast.
5/30
The April 2007 issue of Business Economics is now online.
5/21
According to the NABE Outlook panel, results for the first portion of the year indicate that the expansion has descended from its cruising altitude. NABE members can read the full survey online. There is a summary for the public.
The May 16 Manufacturing Roundtable teleconfence on "Reducing Greenhouse Gases: How Could it Work and Who Pays the Bill” with Terry Dinan and Ray Kopp , and the May 17 International Roundtable Teleconference on "Asian Capital Markets" featuring David Hale, are both available in the Premium Podcast section.
The March Regional/Utility Roundtable teleconference on “Automotive Supply Chain Impact--Regional and National” with Brett Vassey has been moved to the Free Podcast section.
5/16
Arthur B. Kennickell, Senior Economist and Head of the Microeconomic Surveys Unit at the Federal Reserve Board, will receive the 2007 Julius Shiskin Memorial Award for Economic Statistics. The award recognizes Dr. Kennickell for his leadership of the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances and his achievements as an international expert on the design and implementation of household economic surveys.
5/13
The Health Economics podcast of 2/28 by Kyna Fong, “Medicare Drug Negotiations: Can the Government get a Better Deal?”, is now available as a free podcast.
Read about the latest Forecast Aggregation Experiments by NABE, as they forecast March CPI data on April 17, first quarter GDP growth on April 27, and April employment data on May 3.
5/2
A session from this year's Washington Policy Conference, Prospects for Global Trade Talks and Trade Policy in the New Congress, by Jeffrey Schott of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, has been turned into a free podcast. Download it from the NABE Podcast page, or via an iTunes subscription.
4/23
Nearly every indicator in the April NABE Industry Survey showed slower momentum in the first quarter than previously, with very cautious expectations for the near future. NABE members can read the full report online. A summary is available for the public.
4/20
Shari Drury has won the National Academy of Television Arts & Science Award for Student Excellence in writing for her documentary on NABE/AUBER in the 9/11 attacks. Drury, the daughter of NABE member Michael Drury, filmed interviews with NABE members who were at the WTC. She filmed the interviews during the 2006 Washington Policy Conference. Read more here.
4/18
The podcast of " China's Trillion in U.S. Dollar Reserves - Threat or Opportunity?" by Robert Hormats of Goldman Sachs is now available as a free podcast.
4/11
The April 2007 issue of NABE News, with a look back at the Policy Conference, a look-ahead to the Annual Meeting, memories of Bill Tongue, and the usual features, is now online.
4/10
Elinda Kiss, University of Maryland, has received a Krowe Award “for the professional relationships and commitment that she has developed with her students outside the classroom, as well as excellence in the classroom.”
Ronald L. Promboin, University of Maryland University College, has received a 2007 Teaching Recognition Award from UMUC’s Graduate School of Management and Technology.
4/9
Find out about the 2007 NABE Skills Seminars -- Econometrics for the Business Analyst on August 20-23 in Chicago, and Advanced Statistical Techniques for Economic Forecasting October 15-18 in Atlanta.
Lots of job data in the Economic Calendar this week. The ADP National Employment Report is Wednesday. The Monster Employment Index comes out Thursday, which is also the day of the weekly Initial Jobless Claims Release. Friday will see the Employment Situation from the Department of Labor. Use the Economic Calendar on the NABE home page to link to current releases. NABE members can also go to the archived Economic Calendar for past releases.
3/29
Ben Bernanke's testimony on the economic outlook before the Joint Economic Committee is here.
3/28
The podcast of the NABE International Roundtable teleconference featuring Nariman Behravesh on Emerging Markets and Volatility is now available in NABE's Premium Podcast series.
3/22
The podcast of the NABE Technology Roundtable teleconference featuring Shawn DuBravec of the Consumer Electronics Association is now available in NABE's Premium Podcast series. The January 22 podcast of the Industry Survey teleconference is now available free to members.
3/18
William W. Tongue, President of NABE 1962-63 and one of the founding members of NABE, passed away on March 7. From his obituary in the Chicago Tribune:
William W. Tongue, 91. Beloved husband of the late Beverly; loving father of Barbara and Kathleen. Passed away on March 7, 2007, of complications from a stroke. He was an economist, business consultant and educator, particularly known for business forecasting. Born in Worcester, MA, and raised on Long Island, NY, he was married 67 years to Beverly, nee Cohan, his high school sweetheart. They lived in Park Ridge for 56 years until moving to Arlington Heights in 1998.
Bill received the A.B. and M.C.S. degrees from Dartmouth, and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1947. In his early career he worked for Coe College, the U.S. Office of Strategic Services and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. From 1944 to 1964, he was the Chief Economist for Jewel Companies, Inc. He returned to academics as Professor of Economics and Finance and Head of the Finance Dept. at the University of Illinois-Chicago from 1965 to 1980, and wrote a forecasting newsletter for LaSalle National Bank. He served as President of the National Assoc. of Business Economists 1962 to 1963 and the Midwest Financial Assoc. 1972 to 1973. He was active at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Park Ridge for 65 years, and served on the Board of Directors of Resurrection Hospital and the St. Joseph Light and Power Co.
Bill was an avid golfer, playing 50 years in the Park Ridge Twilite Golf League. He and Beverly also loved traveling. A trip to European financial capitals in 1972 provided the background for his book "How We Can Halt Inflation and Still Keep our Jobs". After moving to Arlington Heights, Bill was on the Board of Directors and Vice President of the Luther Village Owners Corp. from 2002 to 2005. Survivors include daughters Barbara Duggan of Ridgewood, NJ, and Kathleen Alligood of Fairfax, VA; grandchildren Stephen, Kathleen, Suzanne Duggan and Katherine Sauer; and surviving members of the Tongue family. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, March 31, at 2 p.m., in St. Mary's Episcopal Church, 306 S. Prospect, Park Ridge. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts can be sent to the William W. Tongue Scholarship Endowment at the Univ. of Chicago, c/o Noel Salinger, 5801 S. Ellis Ave., Office #306A, Chicago, IL 60637.
There are housing releases on the Economic Calendar this week. Monday will be the National Association of Home Builders Housing Market Index. Tuesday will be Housing Starts, and Friday will be Existing Home Sales. Every Wednesday is the Mortgage Bankers Association Weekly Application Survey
3/16
The teleconference on the subprime mortgage market titled "We Call It Subprime for a Reason" is now available as a free NABE podcast. Download it from the NABE Podcasts page, or get it via a free subscription to the NABE Podcast series at the Apple iTunes store.
3/14
We already have links to 34 of the presentations and speeches at the NABE Policy Conference available on the Session Pages. These pages also link to other information sources on their topics.
NABE Press Officer Melissa Golding delivered the newest future member of NABE last week, a 6 lb 2 oz baby boy. Mother and son, Dylan, are both doing fine, although Dylan did arrive a bit earlier than expected.
3/7
The Regional/Utility Roundtable teleconference of March 6 "Automotive Supply Chain Impact" is now available as a premium podcast.
3/6
NABE will hold a teleconference on the subprime mortgage market titled "We Call It Subprime for a Reason" on Friday, March 16. The teleconference will feature Douglas Duncan, Chief Economist, Mortgage Bankers Association; David Wyss, Chief Economist, Standard & Poor’s; Carl Tannenbaum, NABE President, will moderate.
3/5
Download the preliminary brochure for NABE's 49th Annual Meeting "Global Integration and the Pacific Partnership", September 9-11, San Francisco, CA
This week's economic calendar has plenty of central bank activity: the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, and the European Central Bank all make their policy announcements this week. The FOMC isn't meeting, but the Beige Book is being released on Wednesday. This week's Economic Calendar is on the NABE Home Page; links to previous week's announcements are in the Members area.
3/3
Youram Bauman bills himself as the world's first stand-up economist. You can see a clip at YouTube.
3/2
The podcast of the Health Economics Roundtable podcast featuring Kyna Fong on"Medicare Drug Negotiations: Can the Government Get a Better Deal?" is now available from the NABE Premium Podcast section.
The NABE Regional/Utility Roundtable will host a teleconference on "Automotive Supply Chain Impact -- Regional and National" on Tuesday, March 6, 2007. The speaker will be Brett Vassey, President and CEO, of the Virginia Manufacturers Association.
2/26
The podcast of the 2/26 NABE Outlook teleconference is now available in our Premium Podcast section. The podcast of our January 17 podcast, "The Housing and Mortgage Market Outlook: Soft Landing or Hard Fall?" is now in the Free section and available for download through NABE or through the iTunes Music Store.
The NABE Outlook doesn't show any payback for the economic strength recorded in December. Members can read the full writeup, and download all the numbers, from the February 2007 NABE Outlook. A summary is available to the public.
2/21
The Federal Reserve Reading Room has been updated, and new links added to the Micro/Industry Links page and the Economic Blogs page
The full Speakers Page for the 2007 Washington Policy Conference, An Economic Framework for Effective Policymaking, is now online.
One of the newest ways of measuring the construction sector is the Architecture Billings Index from the American Institute of Architecture.
2/14
The February issue of NABE News is now online, with articles about the upcoming NABE meetings, statistics reform, member profiles, and our regular features.
Ben Bernanke's 2/14 Semiannual Monetary Report to Congress is online.
2/12
The Economic Report of the President is here. From that page, you can download the full 351 page PDF version of the document; can download individual chapters in PDF format; and download all the statistical tables as Excel spreadsheets.
2/9
The Financial Roundtable Teleconference of 2/7, featuring Robert Hormats, Goldman Sachs (International) has been added to the NABE Premium Podcasts. The podcast from 12/8/06, featuring Daniel J. Meckstroth, Chief Economist, Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, and Thomas Runiewicz, Principal/Senior Economist, Global Insight, on "Manufacturing Outlook 2007" has been added to the Free Podcasts list. Download it here or subscribe to the continuing series via iTunes.
The BEA says the budget the Bush Administration submitted to Congress yesterday has money to fund the BEA's study of the impact of research and development on the Nation’s economy. Here's a BEA fact sheet on the program. Also, in this speech CEA Chair Edward Lazear talks about new coverage of the services sector by the Census Bureau. The OMB's Budget files are here.
2/5
Anne D. Picker, Chief Economist, Econoday, is the author of a new book, International Economic Indicators and Central Banks.
NABE Vice President Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, Chief Economist, Ford Motor Company, and NABE Member Van Jolissaint, Chief Economist, DaimlerChrysler Corporation, will be among the guests on Autoline Detroit, which will be on both Detroit Public Television and the SpeedVision cable channel, on Sunday, February 4 at 7:30 am and rebroadcast at 10:30 am on Monday.They will be talking about "The Goldilocks Economy." Afterwards, you will be able to watch online here.
2/1
Via Freakonomics,here's one solution to the penny problem.
1/30
Any NABE member interested in putting their analytic abilities to another use should check out the NABE Fantasy Baseball league.
1/28
The National Economists Club, the NABE chapter in Washington, is podcasting most of their weekly luncheon speeches. Find out more at the NEC Podcasting Page.
1/26
The 2007 NABE Washington Policy Conference is registered with CFA Institute as an Approved Provider of professional development programs. This program is eligible for 10.5 PD credit hours(s) as granted by CFA Institute.
1/25
Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Robert M. Kimmitt had an op-ed in the Washington Post on January 23 on "Why Job Churn is Good"
1/24
According to the University of Chicago, "“The Power of Choice” will air nationally on PBS on January 29. That date has also been declared “Milton Friedman Day,” and organizations and schools around the country are planning activities to celebrate it. Some of those events, as well as a "classroom discussion" letter, can be found at www.miltonfriedmanday.org and on the Economist magazine website at www.economist.com/debate/freeexchange. If you have students of your own, please of course feel free to make use of the discussion suggestions in your classes. And if you are planning an event or classroom discussion, Oliva Dupuis at odupuis@goodmanmedia.com would be happy to hear about it. "
Via a tip from Marginal Revolution, the latest issue of Econ Journal Watch is online. The EJW "publishes Comments on articles appearing in economics journals and serves as a forum about economics research and the economics profession. EJW watches the journals for inappropriate assumptions, weak chains of argument, phony claims of relevance, and omissions of pertinent truths. Pointed, constructive criticism requires an independent forum and an accessible and timely medium. Other material including essays, reflections, investigations, and classic critiques speak to the nature and character of economics. EJW applies theories of failure—market, government, organizational—to the practices and institutions of economists."
1/23
The podcast from the January 22 teleconference discussing the NABE Industry Survey has been added to the Premium Podcast page. The November 20 podcast of the NABE Outlook teleconference has been moved into the Free Podcast section.
1/22
Results of the January NABE Industry Survey showed a modest upturn in demand for goods and services for the first time in a year. Members can read the full report online. There is a summary available for the public.
Many of us have an email inbox full of stock scam-spam, touting one stock after another in pump-and-dump schemes. Here's a paper at SSRN by Laura Frieder and Jonathan Zittrain that says these schemes are earning the spammers a 5 percent return
1/20
Public Finance economist Richard Musgrave passed away at the age of 96.. Thanks to a tip from Marginal Revolution, here is a set of lectures where Musgrave and James Buchanan give Two Visions of the State.
1/18
The January issue of the Survey of Current Business is now online at the BEA.
1/17
The podcast of the Jan 17 teleconference, “The Housing and Mortgage Market Outlook: Soft Landing or Hard Fall?" featuring Frank Nothaft, Chief Economist at Freddie Mac, is now available in NABE's Premium Podcast section.
1/16
The Federal Reserve Corner has been updated in two ways. More links to special research centers and sites at the regional banks have been added. The Federal Reserve Reading Room, with links to articles and speeches around the Fed, has also been updated.
Arnold Kling points to two blogs on business economics. In another article, he models how blogging serves information flow, and also talks about the economics of blogging.
1/15
The NABE International Links Page has been updated. Lots of changed URLs, and unfortunately, a number of dead links were pruned. There are now over 115 links to US and international data and research sites.
1/12
The Financial Markets News and Information Links page has been updated
Steven Postrel writes about whether economists have "physics envy"
1/11
NABE members are invited to comment on a proposed Treasury-IRS code change that would require appraisers be “qualified” to appraise non-cash charitable contributions. The deadline for comments is January 17.
1/10
Still have some questions about podcasts? See the new NABE Podcasting FAQ.
You can watch Steve Job's keynote address from MacWorld online, where he introduces the new iPhone. (You may want to take an anti-smugness pill before you watch, but the phone is cool.)
1/9
They are obviously not referring to NABE seminars.
The text of Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn's 1/8 speech on the Economic Outlook is here.
1/8
NABE's Regional/Utility Roundtable will feature a teleconference on “The Housing and Mortgage Market Outlook: Soft Landing or Hard Fall?", with Frank Nothaft, Chief Economist at Freddie Mac, on Wednesday, January 17.
1/5
Many of the papers and proceedings for the 2007 ASSA Meeting are available online at http://www.aeaweb.org/annual_mtg_papers/2007/conference_papers.php.
1/4
Some new links were added to the Economic Blogs page. In the next week or two, the International Links page will get updated.
1/2
Because of the Federal holiday, the building where NABE has its office is closed. Therefore, the NABE office is also closed today.
12/28
Business Week named Ken Mayland of ClearView Economics as their most accurate economic forecaster for 2006. Four out of the top five this year were also NABE members, including Constantine Soras, Verizon Communications, Inc; Maury Harris, UBS; and Stuart Hoffman, PNC Financial Services Group. Read the article at http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_52/b4015032.htm.
12/27
The OMB Watch blog offers their 2006 Fiscal Policy Year in Review, which they subtitle "Process Failures, Budgetary Gridlock."
12/23
There will not be many updates to the website during the Christmas to New Year's week. Everybody have a happy holiday!
12/22
The 12/19 talk by Lewis Alexander, Chief Economist, Citigroup, to the National Economists Club (the NABE chapter in Washington) was broadcast 12/20 on C-Span radio, C-Span-1 TV (starting at 11.01a), and C-Span-2 TV (starting at 5.19p). Please watch C-Span's schedule to see if it will be rebroadcast. If you are interested, the video can be purchased from C-Span. Details are on their website.
12/21
The 2007 Statistical Abstract of the United States is now online.
12/20
The podcast of the NABE Industry Survey teleconference from October 2006, featuring Ken Simonson, Patrick Casey, and Sara Johnson, is now free for NABE members. Download it from the NABE Podcasting page.
12/19
The December issue of the Survey of Current Business is online.
Read the transcript of Judge Richard Posner's appearance in the virtual world of Second Life.
12/15
Ben Bernanke's speech to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is here. You can read or participate in a discussion of it at Greg Mankiw's blog.
The U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy's "The Small Business Economy: A Report to the President" is online at http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/sb_econ2006.pdf
12/14
There's a new sports business blog, called Sports Biz, at CNBC.com, written by Darren Rovell.
12/13
The December issue of NABE News, with coverage of upcoming 2007 meetings, a possible budget crunch at the statistical agencies, and our regular features, is now online.
For more analysis of the latest trade deficit numbers, see Haver Analytics.
12/11
The 10/20 podcast on "Preliminary Estimates of R&D's Role in GDP Growth" has been moved into the free podcast category, and is available for download. The podcast from 12/8, "Manufacturing Outlook 2007", is a premium podcast that you can purchase.
12/7
An LA Times story says that blogs are turning some economists into stars.
12/6
NABE is hosting two sessions at the ASSA meeting in Chicago. On January 5 will be "Current Trends and Issues in the American Labor Market" and on January 6 will be "International Capital Flows: Measurement, Implications, and Policy Analysis"
Jazz musicians, bring your axe, horn, voice, or whatever to the NABE Policy Conference for our second annual jam session! Enthusiasm is more important than proficiency. If you sound like Stan Getz or Diana Krall, that’s cool; if you play outside – either on purpose or by accident – that’s cool, too. Our focus will be on relatively simple tunes – a mix of standards, blues, bossas and bebop tunes – in order to maximize participation. Head charts in C, B-flat, and E-flat will be provided. Also, the room will have a piano, drum set, stands and amps. We need to know how many will show up and what instruments, so please contact Bob Crow at (650) 343-7615 or rtcrow@comcast.net to let him know if you will participate and to offer comments and suggestions. Drop your inhibitions, bring your instrument, and be there!
12/4
Submit a paper for the Edmund A. Mennis Contributed Papers Award. There is a $1000 award for the winner.
12/1
The interim report from the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation can be downloaded here.
11/30
The Freakonomics blog (and comments) points out a trend of other countries electing economists as President and wonders about the US. Also, it passes on some rumors from The Economist on which economists are advising which Republican presidential candidates.
11/28
The text of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech to the National Italian American Foundation in New York is at http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2006/20061128/default.htm.
The Federal Reserve Reading Room has also been updated with links to other speeches as well as some articles on housing and on oil shocks.
11/27
Global Insight has announced the release of DataInsight 3.0, a graphics engine that offers automated updates of graphs and charts for reports and presentations that can be embedded and refreshed directly within Microsoft® Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. The new functions and expressions builder performs mathematical functions, transforms data, and creates your own derived time-series data and proprietary indices. http://www.globalinsight.com/datainsight
11/21
The October issue of Business Economics is now online.
11/20
The NABE Outlook is online. Members can read the full report; they can also download the detailed answer file (XLS); slideshow (PDF); and historical data (XLS).
11/19
The November 2006 Survey of Current Business is now online at http://www.bea.gov/scb/index.htm
Milton Friedman, 1912-2006; WSJ ; CBS MarketWatch; Cato Institute; Reason Magazine; CNN; Financial Times; Bloomberg; NY Times; Marginal Revolution; Freakonomics; Chicago Boyz; Daniel Drezner; Virgina Postrel; Tim Worstall; Robert Lawson; Lynn Kiesling; Lawrence Kudlow; U of Chicago obituary; Bill Conerly; and read his 1989 Adam Smith Award Address to NABE -- "The Suicidal Impulse of the Business Community"
11/15
The Milken Institute and Xinhua Finance Ltd. have introduced three new economic indicators that will track the China economy. They are the first three of eight that will be produced. They are the Renminbi Pressure Indicator, the Chinese Initial Public Offering Indicator, and the Market-Adjusted Debt Indicator. Read more about them at http://www.milkeninstitute.org/chinaindicators/.
11/14
The Long Tail blog of Chris Anderson looks at the economics of abundance.
11/13
Due to its timeliness, the 11/9 Financial Roundtable Teleconference "Fiscal Policy After the Mid-Term Election, featuring Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Thomas Gallagher, is available as a free NABE Podcast.
Get a first look at the 2007 Professional Development Seminar, " Using Economic Statistics to Understand Business Cycles" to be held April 22-24 in San Diego, California.
11/8
Nominations are being sought for the 2007 Julius Shiskin Award.
11/7
It appears that the New York Times has made Times Select free this week, which means it's a good time to go in and read Stephen Dubner's and Steven Levitt's (Freakonomics) New York Times Magazine column on "The Price of Climate Change".
11/6
The Economist now has a new group economics blog called Free Exchange, produced by the magazine's staff. There are no bylines for the posts (following the practice of no bylines in the magazine's stories) but at least one of the contributors is Jane Galt of Assymetrical Information. We've added it to NABE's Economic Blogs page.
11/3
In the Industry Survey, we ask about expectations for future capital spending, future high-tech capital spending, future hiring plans, and plans for future price increases. We've now collected those expectations from past surveys and collated them in this spreadsheet .
You can find a schedule for upcoming NABE Surveys here.
11/2
The podcast of the NABE Health Economics Roundtable teleconference on “The ‘Wal-Mart Tax’ and State Medicaid Rules” is now available for free on the NABE Podcasts page
10/30
The Census Department's 2006 State and Metropolitan Area Data Book is available at http://www.census.gov/compendia/smadb/
The podcast of today's Industry Survey Teleconference is now available from NABE's Premium Podcasts.
10/27
Adam Smith's "invisible hand" of competition has brought real benefits to the world of browsing. The new Mozilla Firefox 2 and the new Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 both have anti-phishing filters built in. They should help in keeping you from being tricked into giving information to fraudulent sites. The explanation of how Mozilla does this is at http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/phishing-pro. The Microsoft explanation is at http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/09/09/463204.aspx.
10/26
Results of the October NABE Industry Survey showed slower growth in demand for goods and services for the third straight quarter. NABE members can read the full report online. There is a summary available for the public.
The Financial Roundtable will host Douglas Holtz-Eakin in a teleconference on November 9 on"Fiscal Policy after the Midterm Elections”
The podcast of the 10/20 Manufacturing Roundtable Teleconference, "Preliminary Estimates of R&D's Role in GDP Growth", is available for purchase. The podcast of the 8/14 Financial Roundtable Teleconference “Has Financial Development Made the World Riskier?” has been moved to the Free Podcast area. Get them both via the NABE Podcasting page.
10/23
NABE's Consultants's and Services Registry now has an option where you can search by Specialty Code
10/22
The October 2006 Survey of Current Business is available at http://www.bea.gov/bea/pub/1006cont.htm
10/20
You can get regular graph paper at most office supply stores. But what if you want logarithmic graph paper, or probability graph paper? Check out PDF Pad, which not only lets you download PDF versions of all kinds of graph paper, they also have blank calendars, story boards, and all kinds of other forms.
10/19
Bob Graboyes has written A Wealth of Trouble (A Derivatives Approach to Weight Loss) at Forbes.com.
10/18
The Federal Reserve Reading Room has been updated with links to current speeches and articles from around the Federal Reserve System.
10/17
NABE's International Links page is now being sponsored by the International Roundtable.
The Manufacturing Roundtable is holding a teleconference on "Preliminary Estimates of R&D’s Role in GDP Growth" on October 20.
There is a report in Computerworld that hackers have broken into a mailing list maintained by the Congressional Budget Office. They are using the addresses in a phishing attack to try to steal personal information. If you receive an email that's supposed to be from the CBO with a subject line of "'The Budget and Economic Outlook Fiscal Years 2007 to 2016", don't click on any links in the message. The full story is at http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9004108.
10/11
The National Assessment Governing Board and ACT, Inc are looking for outstanding economics educators and professionals to set national standards for 12th grade economics. To this end, I invite you to nominate outstanding persons with economics expertise from your community to participate in one of three standard setting studies scheduled for December 7-11, January 11-13, and March 8-12. These studies are an essential part of the 2006 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Economics Achievement Level Setting project. ACT’s contract with NAGB is to set achievement levels for the 2006 NAEP economics assessment. As an integral part of monitoring the national education goals, the setting of achievement levels for our nation’s youth is vitally important to the continued improvement of our nation’s educational system. The results of these studies will dictate what students across the nation should know and be able to do in economics at the 12th grade. It is very important to have the standards represent interests of all segments of our nation. For that reason, we invite you to nominate teachers, nonteacher educators, and members of the general public who you think will make a significant contribution to the national achievement level setting process. Teachers should be current high school economics teachers. Nonteacher educators may include curriculum specialists and other administrative school personnel with knowledge of curriculum and policy issues concerning economics instruction for high school students. Members of the general public may include school board members, members of the local chamber of commerce, parents of high school grade students, and business persons or professionals who use economics in their work. You may nominate up to four candidates in each category. To nominate yourself or someone you know and for more information please go to: www.act.org/naepeconomics. In response to the request for an ID number on the nomination form, please insert # 108. If you have any questions, feel free to contact our project manager, Teri Fisher, at teri.fisher@act.org. Thank you in advance for participating in the 2006 NAEP Economics Achievement Level Setting Project.
10/10
The October issue of NABE News is online, with coverage of the annual meeting and more news about NABE.
10/9
Edmund Phelps of Columbia University has won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Economics. The official page is at http://nobelprize.org/prize_announcements/economics/
10/7
The latest addition to NABE's Links Pages is a page devoted to Technology News, Blogs, Podcasts, and Vlogs, sponsored by the NABE Technology Roundtable.
10/5
NABE members can find out more about the recent forecast aggregation experiment in predicting the private non-farm payroll data for September 2006
10/3
Mark your calendar for the 2007 NABE Meetings: March 12-13, Washington Economic Policy Conference, Washington, DC; April 22-24, Professional Development Seminar on Economic Statistics, San Diego, California; September 9-11, 49th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, California. Registration information will be available soon.
10/2
A slideshow from a presentation on "The Economics of Happiness" by Andrew Oswald of the University of Warwick in the UK (note that it is not about "The Happiness of Economists") got passed along here. Anyone interested is seeing more on this topic should check http://www.andrewoswald.com/.
9/29
A story in today's Wall Street Journal talks about a different way to treat R&D expenditures in the NIPA accounts and how it may explain some productivity trends. You can read the report at http://www.bea.gov/bea/newsrelarchive/2006/rdreport06.pdf. One of the report's co-authors is NABE member Sumiye Okubo.
9/28
Former NY Fed Presidents Paul Volcker, Gerald Corrigan, and William McDonough participated in a Women's Economic Round Table event at Bloomberg's NY headquarters this week. You can read Volcker's warnings on inflation at Bloomberg and at Seeking Alpha
The Annual Meeting Session Pages now have links to 35 slideshows and handouts, plus external links to more speeches and other sites of interest. More are still coming in.
9/26
The Society for Human Resource Management/Rutgers Leading Index of National Employment for September shows that over 50 percent of respondents will expand employment in October, recruiting remains difficult, and firms are responding by increasing new-hire compensation. Read the whole thing for details.
9/25
A presentation on Global Development and health statistics, by Hans Rosling of the Karolinska Institute, mixes an excellent delivery, jaw-dropping graphics, and a generous use of multi-media in putting the full presentation online.
9/21
The podcast from the July Industry Survey Teleconference is now free for NABE members.
Via a tip on Greg Mankiw's blog, watch a video by Steven Levitt, author of Freakonomics.
9/20
The Federal Reserve Reading Room, featuring links to interesting articles around the Federal Reserve System, is back.
8/30
Ben Bernanke's speech at the Jackson Hole Conference is here. The KC Fed's coverage starts here,
8/28
The podcast of the 8/28 Policy Survey Teleconference is now available from the Premium Podcast page.
8/27
NABE members believe that oil prices above $100 per barrel would probably cause a recession but don’t believe they will go that high, according to the results of the August NABE Policy Survey. Read the full Policy Survey here.
We've added more links to the Economic Blogs, International, Micro, and Financial Links page. See the full set of links at our Economics Links pages.
8/23
The podcast of the 8/22 Health Economics Roundtable teleconference on "The 'Wal-Mart Tax' and State Medicaid Spending" is available for purchase on NABE's podcasting page .
8/21
If you're worried about checking your laptop on a plane(and you should be), here's an article that looks at some of the expensive cases you can buy that may help protect it.
8/20
Following a tip found on Greg Mankiw's blog, Google Video has Milton Friedman's Free to Choose TV series available free online.
8/19
The 8/14 podcast “Has Financial Development Made the World Riskier?” by Raghuram G. Rajan of the IMF has been added to the Premium Podcasts. The 5/31 podcast by Michael Phillips and Dr. Niall Fraser on a game theoretic approach to strategic planning has been moved to the Free Podcasts.
8/18
The Los Angeles Chapter of NABE has a newly remodeled website with a new url, http://www.lanabe.org
8/14
The Rio Grande Economic Association has a new website.
8/7
The August issue of NABE News is online, with election results, news about the annual meeting, and more.
7/30
The July issue of Business Economics is online, with articles on private quity finance, global labor markets, Social Security, pensions, Medicaid, modeling NABE compensation, and more.
7/25
The podcast of the May NABE Outlook teleconference is now free for NABE members.
7/14
Results of the July NABE Industry Survey point to continued economic growth but at a slower pace, and with continuing price pressures. NABE members can read the full survey online. A summary is available for the public.
7/11
The podcasts of "Climate Change: An Economic View" and “Transfer Pricing Economics: Issues Raised By The IRS’ Proposed Cost Sharing Regulations” are now available as free podcasts. See the NABE Podcasts page for links to the podcasts, or subscribe via iTunes.
6/13
The June issue of NABE News is now online, with news on the Annual meeting, elections, salary survey, and more.
6/10
The 4/6 teleconference by Henry Kaufmann, "Risks in the Financial System", and 4/11 teleconference by John Goodman, "Shopping for Health Care" are now available as free podcasts. See the list of free podcasts to download directly from NABE. You can also subscribe to the free podcasts via the iTunes Music Store.
6/9
Results of the 2006 Salary Survey are in. The median salary of NABE members is $109,000. This is a nine percent increase since the 2004 Survey. Members can see the full results here.
6/4
The April issue of Business Economics is now online, with articles on Fed credibility, pensions, Social Security, Incentives in health care spending, forecasting recessions, plus the regular features.
5/29
Federal Reserve Governor Randall Kroszner urged support for data agencies' efforts to update key economic data series during his May 24 newsmaker speech to reporters at NABE's inaugural Professional Development Seminar for Journalists. "Innovations in economic statistics must keep pace with innovations in the economy," he told the seminar, citing the importance of removing "legislative barriers that impose costs on the system with no (or little) benefit."
5/8
The NABE panel sees the economy heading for a period of slightly below-trend growth with moderate inflation for the rest of this year and next. NABE members can read the full survey online. A summary is available for the public.
4/26
The 2006 Annual Meeting Sponsorship Kit is available for download.
4/20
Results of the April NABE industry survey suggest continued economic growth but with somewhat greater price pressures. NABE members can read the full results online.
4/10
NABE's free Podcast Series is now available via the iTunes Music Store. Set up iTunes to automatically download available podcasts. You can also subscribe via our RSS feed. 
4/7
The April issue of NABE News, with coverage of the Policy Conference, the upcoming Professional Development Seminar, and other news about NABE, is now online.
4/4
Get a first look at the 2006 Annual Meeting
Alex Tabarrok's post at the Marginal Revolutions blog points to Brad Setser's blog at RGE Monitor which points to an excellent set of PowerPoint presentations from Martin Wolf, Associate Editor & Chief Economics Commentator, Financial Times, from a lecture series at Johns Hopkins University.
3/31
The 2006 NABE Membership Directory is now online.
3/21
Ben Bernanke's speech, Reflections on the Yield Curve and Monetary Policy, is here.
3/12
In the NABE Policy Survey, NABE members believe that the market can handle the trade deficit, and that it is not a major problem for U.S. employment. Read the full report online.
2/27
The NABE Outlook panel sees the economy roaring back in early 2006 following the fourth quarter’s tepid 1.1% growth. Members can read the full survey online. A summary is available for the public.
2/11
Put your statistical training together with your knowledge of baseball and join the NABE Fantasy Baseball League.
2/10
The February issue of NABE News is now online. This issue features: an advance look at both the Policy Conference and the Professional Development Seminar; economic statistical agency budgets; NABE Board member Randall Kroszner's nomination to the Fed; the rebuilding of New Orleans; and all the regular features.
1/30
The January issue of Business Economics is online in PDF format, with articles on productivity, IT and data, retirement savings, India, neural nets, business jet price indices, regulatory reform, and housing costs in the CPI.
1/23
Results of the January NABE Industry Survey suggest solid growth in the economy. NABE members can read the details here
1/15
NABE has begun recording teleconferences, and making them available for purchase as podcasts. (MP3 files). Find out more at the NABE Podcasting page.
1/12
Not sure how good the paper is, but it has an excellent title: "A Desire Named Streetcar: How Federal Subsidies Encourage Wasteful Local Transit Systems"
1/9/2006
Coverage of NABE's sessions at the ASSA Meeting in Boston is now online.
An article at Tech Central Station points out that a new TV game show is an excellent example of microeconomic theory in action.
1/4/2006
The 2006 NABE Media Kit is now online.
