It has never been about the technology or any real innovation in digital money and payments. It has always been about regulatory arbitrage.

Industrial, mfg prodn, retail sales all above consensus... #EconSky econbrowser.com/archives/202...

EJ Antoni says the recession is *here*!!! (as of August ***'24***) #EconSky econbrowser.com/archives/202...

good that Keir has broken his silence this morning to ... continue posting on a website run by a man who yesterday addressed a far right rally to call for his overthrow, while not in any way addressing said far right rally

It appears that Lisa Cook held off "proving her innocence" because she thought (rightly) she shouldn't have to. To have the courage to do that when the US state is attacking you is pretty darn admirable.

Poland says Russia’s drone incursion ‘wasn’t a mistake’ after Trump’s speculation – Europe live

I wrote about what I think is a genuinely revealing document of elite depravity and impunity. It is shocking and sickening. But it's also a crucial moment. We're about to see what happens when conspiracy theorists actually get what they asked for but it turns out not to be what they want.

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I guess the father is smart enough and does not need an explanation??? IMF, you can do better [from the Finance and Development latest issue]

In a paper presented at Jackson Hole, Emi Nakamura and her coauthors examine why central banks did not follow the Taylor rule when inflation rose sharply in 2021–22. The positive commentary the paper received prompted me to read it. swissmacroandhistory.substack.com/p/comments-o...

Congrats again to the elites who told us this guy was a credible Treasury Secretary because he went to the right schools & cocktail parties

Wow. The EU was ready to sanction Google for abusing its ad monopoly today. But it was blocked after pressure from EU Trade Commissioner @marossefcovic.bsky.social & the U.S. DoJ. Europe just chose Washington’s corporate interests over its own citizens. Unprecedented. Self-inflicted.

Shitshow waiting to happen on.ft.com/41sHC8D

I'm often asked why dire predictions about how Trump would destroy economy haven't (yet) come to pass. Part of the answer is that he's paused/delayed/reversed some things (e.g., TACO on tariffs). But part of the answer is about actions like this, on student visas...

Now that we're experiencing life under authoritarianism in the US, I'm struck by how it's a lot like living in a high-crime environment. (I grew up in Rio de Janeiro.) 1/

Tariff inflation effects are just getting started. (via Apollo)

Digital currencies pegged to fiat money face a built-in tension between credibility and competition. @eduardoyeyati.bsky.social‬ & Sebastian Katz analyse competing frameworks in the #US and #China to address this #stablecoin paradox. cepr.org/voxeu/column... #EconSky

If you think the attack on the Fed's Lisa Cook has nothing to do with you, you're wrong — any one of us may be next paulkrugman.substack.com/p/we-are-all...

Lisa D. Cook, Member, Federal Reserve Board of Governors “President Trump purported to fire me “for cause” when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so. I will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022.”

Very good article by @martinsandbu.ft.com. I am still debating whether pragmatism now to prepare for a future confrontation might make sense. But when I hear European leaders praise Trump I do feel like the title of this article: they are selling our soul.

Europe is selling its soul to Trump on.ft.com/3JBTEGx | opinion

This is something the Administration would know if they read Lisa Cook’s work instead of attacking her. Arguably, her research has never been more relevant to the Fed’s mission. One has to assume innovation and biz formation by immigrants is falling right now.

The pressure on the independence of the US Federal Reserve is as bad as some of us had feared. I would love to understand what motivates this optimistic perspective from Raghuram Rajan

The arguments here work, if you're talking about a neutral platform. Twitter is not a neutral platform. Its moderation, it's verification system, the algorithm, its AI is all geared to distort the conversation in favor of one man's views. This is so naive. www.theargumentmag.com/p/we-have-to...

Ultimately the question was whether to retaliate to what it looks like a long list of costly impositions by the US. Retaliation was the only power that Europe had to improve the terms of the "agreement". The EU ends up with conditions that are "as good as it gets" when compared to other countries.

That is broadly the debate raging among European economists. Some - including myself - argue the EU missed key chances to retaliate, while others see this as the least bad viable outcome. Should be noted our closest competitors — Japan, Korea, the UK - cluster around similar tariff levels.

The accusation against Lisa Cook on her mortgages is a transparent political attack, a possible violation of privacy, and utterly ridiculous. Media should cover it for what it is. It is laughable that this has anything to do with Cook's integrity

There is a possibility that foreign demand for US dollar assets creates seignorage revenues. Most of them captured by issuer of stablecoins (Tether issues 0% liabilities and earns interest on assets). But if stablecoins issuers increase demand for treasuries it might reduce US govt. interest rates.

This is really good, from @adamposen.bsky.social The whole issue contains other very powerful articles.

Problem with this study is that they’re comparing positive and negative signed coefficients that are both not significantly different than zero. An honest study would’ve treated insignificant coefficients as zero. I told authors this and they didn’t care as they wanted the headline.

“.. While eight of out 10 companies surveyed said they were implementing generative AI .., just as many said there had been ‘no significant bottom-line impact.’” @bloomberg.com $CRWV www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

This feels so much like 1990s where the assumption was that all gains in value would be accrued by companies. AI can create value with limited impact on earnings, as it happened with many internet applications. Of course one needs competition for that (as it was the case with the internet).

This is not a negotiation to end a war. This feels more like one country has decided to join the war (US) by using its economic and military power (NATO commitment, willingness to supply arms) to solidify the current gains of the country that started the war (Russia).

Very misleading title, @financialtimes.com you can do a lot better. EU and Ukraine are not playing games and are transparent about their objectives. They have to work with Trump and his lack of understanding of anything. Equating this behavior to Russia’s is wrong [article itself is more balanced]

@theonion.com, is this you? Empathy?

The underlying details are coming out. It's as bad as we thought. Trump got pwnd by Putin. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/16/w...

"Liberals already ruined it" shows the plot here. These aren't impartial law enforcement officers protecting all citizens. They are partisan paramilitary militia, terrorizing domestic opponents.

I’ve figured out Trump’s superpower. He can break into your house, steal all your money, abduct your children and the burn down the building. But as long as he does not shoot the dog, people will say he could have been worse.

Trump's behavior is perfectly explicable if you think of him as a narcissist who is basically stuck at a child's level of development, who fears powerful people and is a walking bundle of insecurities.

This has an ancient history. I’m not going to get the century right, but around the 14th c Venice created problems for “widows and orphans” savings when they made the mistake of paying off the debt. Quickly reversed strategy in order to provide a safe asset.

Something not mentioned in this article: Singapore's government (almost) always runs a surplus. Most of its debt is issued to facilitate debt market development (i.e. to create a safe asset in Singapore dollars).

Is it really head-scratching tho? finance.yahoo.com/news/ppi-inf...

I am sure Putin is bringing to the meeting the nomination for the peace Nobel Prize for Trump

We are still testing?

Why shooting the statistical messenger doesn't add up... on.ft.com/3HerQaC

This would be good news if true. It does not match what Trump is saying publicly but we will have to wait a few more days.

Uncertainty in interpretation of Italian #law discourages investment, hinders #innovation, and stifles #entrepreneurship. T Giommoni, L Guiso, C Michelacci, & M Morelli find that improving legislative quality would raise Italy's GDP by almost 5%. cepr.org/voxeu/column... #EconSky

Markets are bending the knee to Donald Trump, opening up the possibility of a new level of recklessness in the US president’s economic policymaking, writes Katie Martin on.ft.com/45ncgkI

The official United States statistics on our labor market are now under full control of this hyperpartisan loyalist.

From @ernietedeschi.bsky.social on the bad site - the effect of tariffs is very clearly showing up in some of the price data by now.