Tag: economist

Reading Up on <em>Wine Wars</em> with Wine Economist Mike Veseth
Business, Environment, News

Reading Up on Wine Wars with Wine Economist Mike Veseth

“This book will interest not only oenophiles but also general readers following the global economy or market analysis,” said Library Journal, and I’m here to vouch for the truth of that. I was interested enough by Veseth’s talk to buy the book, and there’s never a dull moment in its 225 pages. It’s being featured in Wine Spectator magazine’s “Top 100” issue and it was just named the “best American wine book of 2011 in the history category” at the Gourmand International Wine Book Awards. Continue reading Reading Up on Wine Wars with Wine Economist Mike Veseth

Washington State Economy’s Upside and Downside Risks Grow
Business, News, Politics

Washington State Economy’s Upside and Downside Risks Grow

The Grand Hyatt conference room was packed with Puget Sound Business Journal readers who, if they sympathized with Ray Davis’s optimism, also have had their expectations tempered by the experiences of the past several years. Yet the takeaway was that while double-dip recession risks have risen, at the same time, so have recovery “risks,” due to the length of time people have cut back on spending. At some indefinable point, the dam is going to break. Continue reading Washington State Economy’s Upside and Downside Risks Grow

Before Umpqua’s “Navigating 2012,” a Course Check on 2011
Business, News, Real Estate

Before Umpqua’s “Navigating 2012,” a Course Check on 2011

Raha was right, then, to worry about nothing going wrong. He was also correct about Boeing ramping up production, banks remaining under stress to recapitalize under more stringent FDIC regulation, and real estate not bouncing back until at least mid-2011. The gold bubble has yet to pop, interest rates have yet to rise (though any deflationary spiral has been mild), and delayed foreclosures are still depressing market values. Continue reading Before Umpqua’s “Navigating 2012,” a Course Check on 2011

Ask an Economist: What’s the Deal with College Tuition?
Education, News, Politics

Ask an Economist: What’s the Deal with College Tuition?

I’ve written before about what I think could be called, fairly, the runaway costs of higher education. But what, I wondered, does an economics professor think of this trend?

On the one hand, viewed with an economist’s famously dispassionate eye, perhaps we’re simply seeing the true value of higher education set. On the other, as a professor of economics, there would be some skin in the game. Is this what’s best for students? For society? Continue reading Ask an Economist: What’s the Deal with College Tuition?

What is the Sound of Washington State’s Economy Treading Water?
Business, News, Politics

What is the Sound of Washington State’s Economy Treading Water?

Washington State’s chief economist, Arun Raha, has updated his revenue forecast for the state for June, and the upshot is that projections for the 2011-13 biennium are down $183 million. It’s become habit the last few years for Raha to trot out an analysis that shows a near-term plateau, with a soft recovery in the offing, perhaps six months or more out. Raha is scrupulous about noting that even a mild recovery is predicated on fair economic winds, it’s just that, regularly, the economic winds do not blow fair. Continue reading What is the Sound of Washington State’s Economy Treading Water?