Links 1 May 2013

Global Macro/Markets:

• Niall Ferguson to Paul Krugman: You’re Still Wrong About Government Spending – Yahoo
• Unconventional Monetary Policy Effects on the Exchange Rate at the ZLB – Econbrowser
• The Rogoff and Reinhart Controversy: A Summing Up – New Yorker

North America:

• Paulson Leads Hedge-Fund Lobby Push to Privatize Fannie – Bloomberg
• Home Prices in 20 U.S. Cities Climb by Most Since May 2006 – Bloomberg
• Case-Shiller: Comp 20 House Prices increased 9.3% year-over-year in February – Calculated Risk
• Shiller: Home Prices Will Remain Flat For 10 Years – Pragmatic Capitalism
• Fed faces calls for radical reform – Financial Times

Europe:

• Moody’s Downgrades Slovenia’s Sovereign Rating to Ba1 from Baa2, Outlook Negative – Moody’s
• Germany will think twice before saving France next time – The Telegraph
• Letter from George Osborne to Mervyn King, asking him to shut up already – gov.uk
• Spain sinks deeper into recession in first quarter – Reuters
• Spanish economy shrinks as housing market continues to fall – The Guardian
• France back in hedge funds’ sights as economy stutters – Reuters
• Euro area inflation down to 1.2% – European Union
• Euro-Zone Jobless Rate Posts New Record – Wall Street Journal
• Euro area unemployment up to new record of 12.1% – European Union
• Insight: Why did Cypriot banks keep buying Greek bonds? – Reuters

Asia:

• Japan household spending surges as Abenomics gains momentum – Reuters
• Japanese shopper: “My stocks had been performing badly for so long. Now I feel like buying things – Financial Times
• Jon Garnaut looks at whether China’s air force is up to snuff – Foreign Policy
• How Demography Is Changing Japan – The Diplomat
• One British expert calls the slow spread of China’s latest bird flu strain “very, very unsettling” – Forbes

Local:

• “Negative gearing costs other tax payers $13b” – The Age. Not really. It’s a tax deduction, so more like ~$4 billion. But it still sucks.
• ABC interview on banks, mining and Australia’s farming troubles – The Business
• Labor locks in $3.5 billion levy to pay for NDIS – The Age
• Mr Swan, it’s easy to save $12 billion – The Age
• Newman bites reform bullet – The Australian
• The budget we now need to have – The AFR

Other:

• Can “culture” predict economic development? – Noahpinion