What we know, or think we know, about fiscal policy five years after the global recession started isn’t all that different from what we knew, or thought we knew, back in 2008. It boils down to two points. One, fiscal stimulus is essential when conventional monetary policy is powerless. Two, fiscal stimulus may be impossible even when it’s essential. more

Many U.S. states and cities have approved measures to help fix poorly funded public pensions. Now courts will decide if they are legal or not. more

We have all done something stupid – or imprudent, to use a kinder adjective. Bicycling without a helmet, driving after too much wine, swimming beyond the lifeguard’s vision, hiking off the mountain path. The list goes on. Part of being human is being rash. While computers always act rationally, we humans are innately unpredictable; indeed, sometimes we find joy in those irrational moments of stupidity. more

Just getting back from South Korea has made me realize how amazing it is that we live in a world sustained by global trade. The stark difference between North and South Korea prompts a lot of reflection about the benefits of global trade. America’s longest-serving Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, reportedly said, “If goods cannot cross borders, armies will.” But business faces its own struggles in its own trenches trying to make goods cross borders, whether these are company, state or international borders. Here is a list of 10 challenges businesses face today in trying to make trade work better. more

Last week, the Stockton, Calif., City Council approved a petition for bankruptcy, the largest of a city in U.S. history. Municipalities all over the country are in fiscal distress, but few are actually declaring bankruptcy. What went so badly wrong in Stockton, and what lessons can other cities learn? more

School is out and summer jobs are in. But are they? more

Officials in San Bernardino County, Calif., believe they have figured out a clever way to solve the county’s, and possibly the nation’s, housing problems. more

The Bank for International Settlements, which acts as a bank for the world’s central banks, should know fudged numbers when it sees them. What may come as a surprise is how openly it has been discussing the problem of bogus balance sheets at large financial companies. more

Over the past three decades, the global financial system has become more dynamic and interconnected, more concentrated and complicated than ever before. Financial engineering seems to know no limits to creating new instruments that link institutions in new ways. more

Officials in the Obama administration confidently predict that few, if any, states will opt out of the expansion of Medicaid that health care reform allows. Opponents say most of them will. more