What we’re reading (10/15)
“Powell Says Fed Faces ‘Difficult Trade-Off’ If Inflation Doesn’t Moderate” (Wall Street Journal). “‘Almost all of the time, inflation is low when unemployment is high, so interest rates work on both problems,’ he said. That isn’t the case right now. Inflation is well above the Fed’s 2% target, and the economy is ‘far away, we think, from full employment,’ Mr. Powell said. “That’s the very difficult situation we find ourselves in.”
“Everything Is Getting More Expensive” (DealBook). “As the central bank prepares to remove emergency stimulus measures to support the economy, sustained inflation could force the Fed to move faster than it would like, before the labor market is fully healed. In newly released minutes from their latest policymaking meeting, Fed officials appear split, with ‘various’ members arguing that interest rates should stay near zero for a couple of years, while ‘a number’ said that rates would need to go up next year, with inflation most ‘likely to remain elevated in 2022 with risks to the upside.’ A recent Fed survey suggests that consumer expectations for inflation are running at historic highs.”
“Oil Spills” (Our World in Data). “Over the past four and half decades – the time for which we have data – oil spills from tankers decreased very substantially…[w]hile in the 1970s there were 24.5 large (> 700 tonnes) oil spills per year, in the 2010s the average number of large oil spills decreased to 1.7 oil spills per year. Both, large oil spills and medium sized oil spills (7-700 tonnes) are decreasing. This happened as the worldwide trade of petroleum and gas products increased.”
“China Has At Least 65 Million Empty Homes — Enough To House The Population Of France. It Offers A Glimpse Into The Country's Massive Housing-Market Problem.” (Insider). “If you drive an hour or two outside Shanghai or Beijing, you'll find something odd. The cities are still tall, and they're still modern. They're also, generally, in good condition. But unlike their bustling, Tier 1-city counterparts, they're basically empty. These are China's ghost cities.”
“Cities Aren’t The Innovation Incubators They Used To Be” (Works In Progress). “It’s time to reassess this idea [that innovation is accelerated when knowledge workers are located close to each other] in light of new evidence and new technologies for diffusing information. A steady stream of research suggests the importance of local knowledge is waning, because increased travel and online communication has facilitated the circulation of ideas across a much wider geographic domain.”
