The policies that Japan has embraced in an effort to revive its flagging economy are indeed desperate measures. To be clear, I believe that they will work in at least boosting asset prices and reviving the economy for a period of time. The long run prognosis is not so good.

  The credit infused growth of the last twenty years has allowed many an inefficiency to persist undetected or un-addressed. The EUR is one such inefficiency. Unless national factor prices are flexible or factor productivities converge between countries in the Eurozone, a single currency must impede market clearing leading to inefficient allocation of resources leading

Not everyone has time to read the lengthy, boring letters that I write, so I thought I’d summarize and simplify.

Official trade data for China showed exports growing YOY by 14.7%, ahead of forecasts of 9% and imports of 16.8%, ahead of forecasts of 13%. Closer inspection of the data reveals interesting themes. Notably, the bulk of the rise in exports was to Asia, as was the bulk of imports. Ex Asia, the numbers for