British economists will be happy to hear that the ESRC’s benchmarking review of UK economics, chaired by Elhanan Helpman, concluded that international trade “is doing well and improving” in Britain. “The output of the leading scholars is of high quality,” though “expertise in the field is highly concentrated in just a handful of economics departments.” “Recent hires at the junior and senior level have significantly strengthened the field in the UK.” (ESRC pdf)

Related: Earlier news that Europeans have a growing share of JIE articles.

Obama’s inauguration promise: “To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds.”

Emmanuel says that pledge is unlikely to be fulfilled, alleging that Obama supports ethanol tariffs and farm subsidies.

Barbara Kotschwar and Gary Hufbauer warn that a falling trade deficit gives little reason to cheer:

[T]he US trade deficit declined from $56.7 billion in October 2008 to $40.4 billion in November 2008, a fall of nearly 30 percent… About 80 percent of the decline reflects the falling price and volume of oil imports. However, nonoil merchandise exports in 2008 fell about as much as nonoil imports, about 7 percent for both.

Should the Commerce Department throw a party to celebrate declining imports? No! … the almost simultaneous announcement of 7.2 percent unemployment and the lowest monthly trade deficit since 2003 reflect a plain fact: Bad economic times drive down both employment and imports.

“At the start of 2009, it appears the more they export, the harder they will fall.” – Emmanuel on the lack of Asian domestic demand

Now that Zimbabwe is printing 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollar notes, the news of 900% inflation back in 2006 seems almost quaint.

Tom Palmer notes that the BBC seems to think that printing money “copes” with inflation rather than causing it.

A new semester is starting, and new students are encountering Dixit-Stiglitz monopolistic competition for the first time. I’ve updated my introductory guide to its basics by adding the step-by-step derivation of the indirect utility function (and hence the expenditure function).

Feedback from users (or teachers) is appreciated.

My original explanation of the guide is here.

Jagdish Bhagwati savages the Obama administration-to-be on trade policy.

[C]ustomers in China had ordered wastepaper from Dryden’s company, but when it arrived, they declined it. Bales and bales of abandoned cardboard and newsprint were sitting at Chinese ports as prices — which were high from July until October — dropped precipitously.

American exports of recyclable material used by the Chinese to make boxes to ship exports to the US and Europe are declining steeply, says NPR.

HT: Sabrina.

Watching an old West Wing episode, I encountered this odd line from Jed Bartlet (played by Martin Sheen), the Nobel laureate and President in Aaron Sorkin’s popular series:

When I was 26, I wrote a paper supporting the deregulation of Far East trade barriers. Nearly got thrown out of the London School of Economics. I was young and stupid, and trying to make some noise.

Does “deregulation of trade barriers” mean liberalisation? When would that have been so unpopular? And has anyone ever been “thrown out” of a department for research activities?

What are the best and worst appearances by international economics in popular entertainment?

Watching an old West Wing episode, I encountered this odd line from Jed Bartlet (played by Martin Sheen), the Nobel laureate and President in Aaron Sorkin’s popular series:

When I was 26, I wrote a paper supporting the deregulation of Far East trade barriers. Nearly got thrown out of the London School of Economics. I was young and stupid, and trying to make some noise.

Does “deregulation of trade barriers” mean liberalisation? When would that have been so unpopular? And has anyone ever been “thrown out” of a department for research activities?

What are the best and worst appearances by international economics in popular entertainment?