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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (44840)	11/2/2003 12:46:51 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

Last Summer's Boom <<this suggests that last quarter’s GDP figures were an aberration>> The Angry Bear has some very nice and interesting thoughts about last summer's economic boom: : Explaining the GDP Boom Further insight into yesterday’s big GDP numbers was provided by the release this morning of the September personal income and spending data by the BEA. Both income and spending were sharply lower in September compared to August. The reason? Overwhelmingly, it was because of the end of the one-time tax rebates sent out over the summer. In the graph below, you can see the big bump in both disposable income and consumer spending in July and August, which was almost entirely due to the tax rebates. What does this mean? Three things. First: this provides strong evidence that the huge increase in GDP last quarter, which was powered largely by consumer spending, was largely due to the tax cut. Good old fashioned Keynesianism, as AB pointed out. The mortgage refinancing boom helped some, too, but the lion’s share of the credit goes to the tax cuts. Second: this suggests that last quarter’s GDP figures were an aberration. The fourth quarter will most likely not be nearly as good, since the tax rebates have now been spent and their impact on the economy is pretty much gone. So expect GDP growth to slow. Third: we can also expect the third quarter GDP growth figure of 7.2% to be revised downward when the updated estimate is released on November 25. The advance figures, which we got yesterday, are mostly based on July and August economic activity. The revisions will take September more into account, and thus will be lower. When all is said and done, we may well find that 3Q GDP growth was around 6%. One last point about yesterday’s GDP report. Don’t spend too much time looking for a downside to it. Even if it's only 6%, it's a genuinely good report. The economy is indeed slowly improving (though there are reasons why I think the economy will slow down again in another 6-12 months). Posted by DeLong at 03:08 PM \| Permanent