Long-term unemployment at historic height in the US

Read the complete CBPP Statement here.

The number of people who have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more continued to climb in November, and these long-term unemployed now are nearly 40 percent of total unemployment (see chart). Renewing the temporary assistance for unemployed workers scheduled to expire in less than a month and providing additional federal fiscal assistance to states remain at the top of the list of measures that policymakers should take to help jobless workers and speed the economic recovery.

The Belgian climate top!

The complete WSJ environment report

HERE

Questions for Home Buyers
Here are 10 questions that prospective buyers or renters ought to ask to find out how green a house or apartment is

Courting Change
Environmental groups in China now have the ability to sue polluters. But will they?Keeping It

Frozen
In Alaska, a low-tech solution helps the ground stay cold enough, for now.

What Global Warming?
Look at the arguments the skeptics make—and how believers respond.#

What's New
The latest on alternative-energy deals from Dow Jones Clean Technology Insight

In Search of Net Zero
The National Renewal Energy Laboratory wants to be the greenest commercial building in the country. Here's how.

Who Wants What in Copenhagen
Each country coming to Copenhagen has its own agenda. Here's why an agreement is so difficult.

Reach For the Sky
Scientists in Delft believe that clouds hold the key to unlocking predictions about climate change.

An Affordable Truth

"The truth, however, is that cutting greenhouse gas emissions is affordable as well as essential. Serious studies say that we can achieve sharp reductions in emissions with only a small impact on the economy’s growth. And the depressed economy is no reason to wait — on the contrary, an agreement in Copenhagen would probably help the economy recover.
[...]
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that by 2050 the emissions limits in recent proposed legislation would reduce real G.D.P. by between 1 percent and 3.5 percent from what it would otherwise have been. If we split the difference, that says that emissions limits would slow the economy’s annual growth over the next 40 years by around one-twentieth of a percentage point — from 2.37 percent to 2.32 percent".
Read Krugman's piece in the NYTimes here.

The oil price and the macroeconomy: What’s going on?

In the 1970s, large increases in the price of oil were associated with sharp decreases in output and large increases in inflation. In the 2000s, even larger increases in the price of oil were associated with much milder movements. This column attributes the difference in the US to more flexible labour markets and more credible monetary policy during the Great Moderation.

Read the article from O. Blanchard on Vox.eu here.

Why a cap-and-trade system can be bad for your health

The purpose of a cap-and-trade system is to help in the fight against global climate change. This column warns that a unilateral approach could increase global emissions by shifting production to more carbon-intensive methods abroad. Acting alone, the EU’s Emission Trading Scheme may be doing more harm than good.

Read the article from D. Gros on Vox.eu here.

Qui pollue le plus?

Selon le Programme de l'ONU pour le développement (PNUD), moins de 3% des Burundais ou des Tchadiens ont le courant et 13% à peine en Birmanie ou en Afghanistan.

Lisez l'article dans LLB ici.