Hong Kong led the world in adopting helicopter money. Now the city’s long-term wage subsidies have again put it at the forefront of global efforts to blunt the impact of the coronavirus. Other economies should pay attention. The government said that it will fund 50% of affected workers’ salaries for six months, capped at the equivalent of $1,160 a month. ...

In the US, the headline gross domestic product number reported every quarter by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) is the percentage change in GDP from the previous quarter, annualised. Other countries, and international economic-statistics compilers such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, tend to report just the quarterly percentage change and skip the annualising. I don’t know ...

A US housing crisis is coming and although it won’t be anything like the last one, that won’t make it any less painful. Even though there has been no rampant speculation or subprime mortgage fraud, housing is still overvalued. And the dearth of inventory that’s plagued the current cycle will reverse in violent fashion once the worst of the virus ...