Things AP Econ Students Should Know

By Michael Brody

Why Is It So Hard for Americans to Get a Decent Raise? Economists Have a Dark New Theory.
slate.com - Jordan Weissmann
If you were a delivery van driver searching for a new job any time between the years of 2010 and 2013, chances are, you wouldn’t have found many …
Treasury Yields Resume Ascent
The Wall Street Journal. - Min Zeng
Inflation trade intensifies anew following Yellen comments Government-bond yields surged to their highest level since Jan. 3, as the inflation trade that took off in the days after Donald Trump’s election
The December Jobs Report in Seven Charts
The Wall Street Journal - Kate Davidson
The U.S. economy added 156,000 jobs in December, the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.7% and wages grew at the strongest pace since 2009. Here’s a closer look at how that compares. Job growth
Want to Rev Up the Economy? Don’t Worry About the Trade Deficit
The New York Times - By N. GREGORY MANKIW
The economic policy of President-elect Donald J. Trump is still a work in progress. But if campaign rhetoric is a reliable guide, reorienting trade policy may become one of the main goals of the new administration.
Drug Cartels
How Economists Would Wage the War on Drugs
The Wall Street Journal. - Tom Wainwright
The monstrous cartels that run the narcotics business face the same dilemmas as ordinary firms—and have the same weaknesses In April, the world’s governments will meet in New York for a special assembly
The hidden economic rules behind Tinder, marriage, kidneys, and college admissions
Quartz - By Matt Phillips
Stanford University’s Alvin Roth is a very rare thing: An economist who saves lives. The co-recipient of the 2012 economics Nobel got his prize, in part, for helping to fix a long-standing problem with
Greg Ip: Three Economic Puzzles Are Now Less Puzzling
The Wall Street Journal - Greg Ip
After a perplexing start to the year, the economy is starting to make sense. That’s good news for workers and the Federal Reserve, but bad news for investors who are going to have to get used to some moves
Global Oil Demand Rising, IEA Says
The Wall Street Journal. - Summer Said
Growing demand may not be enough to catch up with increasing supplies Low oil prices and economic growth have helped drive up consumer demand for energy across the world in 2015, the International Energy
China Struggles to Shake Up Salt Monopoly
The Wall Street Journal. - Dinny McMahon
Titans of table salt and other industries resist Beijing’s reform measures JINZHOU, China—Han Tianpei and his wife dozed in their truck one early morning, waiting for a denim factory to open to deliver
Fed study: Tennessee has most regressive tax system
timesfreepress.com
State taxes and inequality States that boost income inequality the most: 1. Tennessee, offsets 32.7 percent of the progressiveness of the federal tax …
Forex
How Much Should a Currency Be Worth? No One Really Knows
The Wall Street Journal. - Ian Talley
As debate over Pacific trade deal intensifies, U.S. lawmakers find themselves entangled in calculus that even IMF and WTO haven’t been able to pin down Legislation that targets currency manipulation might
Senate Democrats vote to block Obama on trade
The Washington Post - By Mike DeBonis and
President Obama collided with his own party Tuesday when Senate Democrats stalled consideration of a trade measure that would give the administration greater authority to negotiate more freely with other
Chicago Fed Says Natural Jobless Rate At Or Under 5%, Will Fall Further Over Time
The Wall Street Journal - Michael S. Derby
Economists at the Chicago Fed argue in a new paper the U.S. economy remains even farther from a truly hot labor market than many central bankers think. The economy’s so-called natural unemployment rate
Russia’s Beloved Borscht Reveals Reality of Inflation
The Wall Street Journal. - Paul Sonne
Retired Siberian journalist tracks ingredients to document the country’s soaring food prices MOSCOW—Every other month, retired teacher Natalya Atuchina cooks up a special pot of borscht in her home city
Debt Piles Up in Asia, Threatening Growth
The Wall Street Journal. - Tom Wright
Countries borrowed a lot during the crisis, and kept doing so afterward SEOUL—Asian countries borrowed heavily to maintain growth during the financial crisis, but couldn’t break the habit even as the economy
Tumbling Interest Rates in Europe Leave Some Banks Owing Money on Loans to Borrowers
The Wall Street Journal. - Patricia Kowsmann
Subzero rates have put some lenders in an inconceivable position Tumbling interest rates in Europe have put some banks in an inconceivable position: owing money on loans to borrowers. At least one Spanish
Developing Countries
The Real Reason Californians Can't Water Their Lawns
Bloomberg - Charles Kenny
In response to the ongoing drought, California Governor Jerry Brown has set limits on urban water use—ordering cuts of as much as 25 percent. Cities …
Brookings Institution
Do Federal Taxes Reduce Income Inequality?
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Ben Bernanke: The Fed Is ‘Groping’ to Find the Full Employment Rate
The Wall Street Journal - Kate Davidson
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said he doesn’t know where the so-called full-employment level is now, saying the Fed “is in some sense groping” to determine it.