Thursday, December 22, 2011

"Most Important Charts" of 2011

The most important charts of 2011 are popping up all over the web.  Here are some links to some interesting charts (a word of advice, don't take all charts at face value):
The Atlantic: from the business editor of the Atlantic
  • pay particular attention to one showing how net investment (investment adjusted for depreciation) as a percent of net GDP has declined from about 8-10% to about 3% recently.  If this continues, it implies future economic growth will be considerably slower than in the past (a new normal, not just a weak recovery)
  • there are lots of other charts, many related to the budget deficit
Washington Post: from economists, economic policymakers
  • two charts that stood out to me were numbers 11 and 14
  • chart 11 shows how long it will take to make up for the jobs lost during the Great Recession plus the expected growth in the labor force (the jobs gap); if the US adds 208,000 jobs a month, it will be 2024 before it eliminates the jobs gap
  • chart 14 shows how global investors mispriced risk in members of the eurozone over the last decade
Reuters: from Alpha now (Reuters' investment blog)
  • everything from Eurozone debt and Chinese monetary policy to crude oil production in OPEC countries
Real-Time Economics: from the economics blog of the WSJ
  • very interesting charts about the eurozone debt crisis
Facts about the budget: from the CBO
  • a visual guide to the US budget, deficit, and national debt