US stocks have given back all of their 2018 gains. Several developed and emerging stock markets are already in bear-market territory. US/China trade tensions have eased, a ‘No’ deal Brexit is priced in. An opportunity to re-balance global portfolios is nigh.
A sizeable portion of the US discussions about economic policy toward China seem to me based on two conceptual mistakes. One mistake is that China's rapid economic growth fundamentally depends on trade with the US. The other mistake is that the bulk of US economic problems depend in some fundamental way on trade with China.
"The 2017 Tax Act, sometimes called the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act, has been heralded by some as historic reform and by others as Armageddon. This Collection analyzes the Act, exploring the process by which it was passed, the values that undergird its policies, and how specific provisions will affect the structure of the U.S. and global economy moving forward." Thus begins a five-paper "Forum: Reflections on the 2017 Tax Act" from the Yale Law Journal (dated October 25, 2018).
The total number of unauthorized immigrants in the US climbed very rapidly in the 1990s and early 2000, but peaked around 2007, and has declined since then. Jeffrey S. Passel and D’Vera Cohn report details in "U.S. Unauthorized Immigrant Total Dips to Lowest Level in a Decade," just published by the Pew Research Center (November 28, 2018).
Americans are moving less, although the reasons aren't clear. The US Census Bureau has just released an updated set of tables and graphs showing the trend.
When explaining or teaching about measures of inflation, a usual starting point is to talk about a "basket" of goods -- for example, a combination of goods that reasonably represents a typical pattern of consumption for urban households underlies the Consumer Price Index. Basic measures of inflation look at what it would cost to purchase this same basket of goods at two points in time.
On average, women around the world are paid 15.6% per hour less than men. The Global Wage Report 2018-2019, just published by the International Labour Organization, devotes two main chapters to the theme "What lies behind gender pay gaps." The general tone of the report sounds like this (citations omitted for readability):