{"id":4463,"date":"2015-12-28T16:25:33","date_gmt":"2015-12-28T16:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=4463"},"modified":"2015-12-28T16:25:33","modified_gmt":"2015-12-28T16:25:33","slug":"2015-the-year-that-was-economics-and-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/2015-the-year-that-was-economics-and-business\/","title":{"rendered":"2015, the year that was: economics and business"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bryan Keogh<\/a>, The Conversation<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

As we approach 2016, we look back at the big stories of The Conversation\u2019s economics and business coverage over the past 12 months.<\/em><\/p>\n

The year began with fears of a \u201cGrexit\u201d and ended with the first increase in US interest rates in almost a decade.<\/p>\n

Middle-class travails<\/h2>\n

The struggles of the middle class were a hot topic throughout the year, and more recently they have become an unexpected theme in the presidential campaign, on both sides of the partisan divide.<\/p>\n

The housing market provides one window into the issue. Even as the industry appears mostly recovered from its collapse in 2008, a crisis looms as millennials and others struggle to afford<\/a> the American Dream and its white picket fence. As Mechele Dickerson of the University of Texas at Austin points out<\/a>, increasing numbers of middle-income Americans can no longer realistically aspire to become homeowners anytime soon.<\/p>\n

Nobel Prize-winning economists George Akerlof and Robert Shiller blame the \u201cdark side<\/a>\u201d of free markets for much of the reason we make bad choices that make it harder for us to achieve the American dream, arguing \u201cas long as there is a profit to be made, [free markets] will also deceive us, manipulate us and prey on our weaknesses, tempting us into purchases that are bad for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of our scholars connected<\/a> the worsening situation for the middle class to the decline of labor unions, which we covered in a series on the topic<\/a> early in the year.<\/p>\n

The third-most-read business story of the year, in fact, was The rise and fall of US labor unions, and why they still matter<\/a>, by Jake Rosenfeld of the University of Washington. In the series, we also explored the surge in right-to-work laws<\/a> and the impact<\/a> of irregular work hours.<\/p>\n

While this focus on the middle class has more typically been a Democratic issue, this year\u2019s Republicans have embraced it as well. At their October debate, for example, four of the candidates discussed<\/a> ways to shore up Social Security and Medicare: Marco Rubio was perhaps most outspoken on the importance of addressing these issues. \u201cSo the good news,\u201d MIT\u2019s Thomas Kochan wrote, \u201cis that the American public is being heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grexit schmexit<\/h2>\n

Another big topic was Greece\u2019s near-exit from the eurozone, which dominated the news during the first half of the year.<\/p>\n

It began with the victory of Greece\u2019s left-wing Syriza party and a \u201cGreferendum<\/a>\u201d in which voters rejected a bailout package the government had agreed to with its eurozone creditors. The European Central Bank (ECB) reacted by shutting off<\/a> the flow of cash to Greece\u2019s banks, which were forced to shut.<\/p>\n

Eventually, the controversial finance minister \u2013 reviled in Europe \u2013 resigned<\/a>, and Greece agreed to a bailout package that was even more draconian than the one Greeks rejected. Barry Eichengreen of the University of California at Berkeley blamed<\/a> political incompetence on all sides for Europe\u2019s tragedy, eight years in the making.<\/p>\n

The future of the eurozone \u2013 and Europe \u2013 will surely be a dominant theme in the new year, as leaders struggle over immigration, austerity and other issues. With that in mind, two of our authors suggested<\/a> European leaders should see the hit Broadway musical \u201cHamilton\u201d to get some perspective.<\/p>\n

The never-ending decision<\/h2>\n

Perhaps one of the biggest decisions of the year took the longest to make.<\/p>\n

This month the Federal Reserve finally lifted<\/a> interest rates for the first time since 2006 \u2013 and after seven years at pretty much 0%. But we\u2019ve been writing about its near imminence all year, with scholars going back and forth on whether the economy was ready for \u201cliftoff.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end, there seemed to be consensus<\/a> that now was as good a time as any to begin normalizing rates, but there was more concern<\/a> about whether it would work.<\/p>\n

The US may be ready, but it wasn\u2019t clear the rest of the world<\/a> is. Emerging markets in particular are expected to get slammed<\/a>, while the ECB and other countries continue to chart their own course<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The pace of Fed rate increases will be another important theme in 2016.<\/p>\n

Lighter hearts<\/h2>\n

Beyond Main Street and Wall Street, our scholars also offered some more lighthearted fare, from research debunking<\/a> the \u201copposites attract\u201d cliche to the economics of literature<\/a> and the detective story. Our columnist Jay Zagorsky also looked<\/a> into Star Wars and the force of inflation.<\/p>\n

Looking at just the numbers, here are the top 10 economics and business articles of 2015, based on number of reads:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    If Earth falls, will interstellar space travel be our salvation?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    Lessons from Greece as controversial finance minister exits stage left<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  3. \n

    The rise and fall of US labor unions, and why they still matter<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  4. \n

    Homeownership losing role as lynchpin of the American dream<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  5. \n

    Elon Musk\u2019s Brave New World: it worked for Henry Ford; why not Tesla?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  6. \n

    So when should you book that flight? The truth on airline prices<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  7. \n

    Right-to-work\u2019s rapid spread is creating more union free riders<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  8. \n

    Greferendum offers symbolic victory for Syriza\u2019s anti-austerity \u2018Third Way\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  9. \n

    A cautionary tale of what happens when a country like Greece closes its banks<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  10. \n

    Volkswagen scandal will send costly ripples through auto industry<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    We look forward to exploring more themes \u2013 both serious and silly \u2013 in 2016. Until then, happy holidays!<\/p>\n

    \"The<\/p>\n

    Bryan Keogh<\/a>, Editor, The Conversation<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

    This article was originally published on The Conversation<\/a>. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Bryan Keogh, The Conversation As we approach 2016, we look back at the big stories of The Conversation\u2019s economics and business coverage over the past 12 months. The year began with fears of a \u201cGrexit\u201d and ended with the first increase in US interest rates in almost a decade. Middle-class travails The struggles of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":4464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,277],"tags":[369,832,172,226,377,350,378,348,370],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4463"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4463"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4465,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4463\/revisions\/4465"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}