Articles About Economics

Banks are starting to hire again as they return to structuring CMBS, a sign that the financial markets are gradually returning to normal.  “I see lots of friends who used to be employed, and weren’t for a while, and are now being rehired by institutions,” said Jonathan Strain, debt capital markets director at JPMorgan Chase’s […]

A new accounting standard could alter the way tenants lease space, a move that carries serious implications for commercial real estate.  The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has been cooperating with the International Accounting Standards Board to combine its generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) with international standards. According to Russell G. Golden, the FASB’s technical […]

Bank repossessions of homes rose 44 percent in May over the same month last year, reaching an all-time high and with increases occurring in every state as lenders stepped up the rate of seizures. Realty Trac, Inc., an Irvine, CA-based data company that tracks foreclosures, reports that bank repossessions totaled 93,777 in May, with filings […]

As global financial disparities start to wind down, China is likely to end up a winner because emerging-market economies have a definite advantage rooted in the way the global economy functions. Writing in the McKinsey Quarterly, Lowell Bryan, a director with McKinsey & Company, notes that “Saber-rattling Western trade negotiators frequently focus their attention on […]

After nearly two years of waiting, watching and hoping, American commercial real estate is finally regaining strength. This is one conclusion of the Reuters Global Real Estate and Infrastructure Summit held recently in New York City.  Starting in the fall of 2008, real estate investors feared there would be a wide-ranging sell-off of debt-laden commercial […]

The $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is turning out to be a better bet than many thought at first. According to the Treasury Department, the amount of money repaid by banks and other recipients now exceeds TARP’s outstanding balance.  In a monthly report to Congress on the program, TARP repayments total $194 billion; […]

Two short words are being heard in offices that have been absent for some time.  The words are:  “I quit.”   In the last three months, more Americans have quit their jobs than were laid off, a sharp contrast with the last few years that points to a gradually thawing jobs market. Although some of […]

Is there something special in the water in Texas?  After surviving the Great Recession in relatively good shape, the Lone Star State can claim that it has more jobs than it did two years ago, as well as the lowest unemployment rate of the 10 largest states at just 8.3 percent.  According to the Texas […]

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is warning that – even as the nation struggles to recover from the worst recession in 75 years – Congress must deal with an “unsustainable” level of debt.  “Our nation’s fiscal position has deteriorated appreciably since the onset of the financial crisis and the recession,” Bernanke said in testimony before […]

Breakthrough ideas that change industries are increasingly coming from the developing world rather than the United States or Western Europe.  Part of this is due to the fact that the West is outsourcing more research and development to emerging markets.  Currently, Fortune 500 firms have 98 research-and-development facilities in China and an additional 63 in […]