Word: economisters
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...running at 10% annually, has eaten into the purchasing power of stagnating wages. The slowdown exposes the limitations of Hungary's miracle. The economy remains dominated by state-owned companies that still look disturbingly similar to the ossified factories of its East bloc neighbors. Productivity is woefully low. Says Economist Berend: "Sometimes it seems that we have ended up with the worst of a planned economy and the worst of a market...
...Second-quarter growth in the gross national product was a slow 1.1%, compared with 3.7% in the previous period. But the low level of inflation, about 3.5% for the year, enabled the Federal Reserve Board to ease up on interest rates. "The Fed is riding to the rescue," Economist Walter Heller said in May. As a result, more credit began flowing to businesses. Between April and July, the prime rate fell by a point, to 9½%, where it ended the year...
Indeed, many experts doubt that mergers necessarily produce strong companies. "You don't put two turkeys together and make an eagle," said Stephen Rhoades, a Federal Reserve economist and author of a book on mergers. "I don't think there is any significant evidence that permitting more mergers in industries that are hurt will help them a bit." Marvin Kosters, an American Enterprise Institute economist, was also unimpressed: "Most industries in which we have had competitive difficulties recently are not exactly filled with a bunch of pygmy companies...
...straitlaced Swedes, many of whom did not always approve of Palme's flamboyant ways, welcomed the new leader. Said a Social Democratic loyalist: "If Swedes make any comparisons, they will most likely be to Carlsson's advantage." Noted one young economist: "Political life will be boring without Palme, but hopes are now pinned on Carlsson's being a man of cooperation...
Taken together, the positive forces have created what Economist Dimitri Balatsos of the Kidder Peabody investment firm has called a "virtuous cycle." This cycle is a mirror image of the vicious spiral of the 1970s, when soaring oil prices and roaring inflation created rising unemployment, slumping stock prices and economic stagnation. Now things are going the other way. Exults Barton Biggs, chief portfolio strategist for the Morgan Stanley investment firm: "It's like watching the movie of the 1970s run backwards...