No Surprise: the People’s Bank of China. The PBOC has shifted from buying treasuries (03) to buying mortgage backed securities (04).From Reuters: "Make no bones about it, mortgages really went globa…

Nouriel and I put pen to paper and laid out our take on China. Our paper reflects on the trip we took there last month, along with the reading we did to prepare for the trip. There is nothing new her…

The number of hedge funds is about the only thing that has been rising faster than the price of residential real estate (at least in some markets). Probably not a coincidence: hedge funds and real e…

is hard, but James McGregor gave it a go in the Sunday Washington Post: It is difficult to overstate the transformation that has swept China in the past 15 years. To frame it in terms of comparable h…

If you care to head to Baghdad - and are willing to wait in line - you can fill up your car with premium gasoline for 3.3 cents a liter (around 13 cents a gallon).  Basic gasoline goes for just more …