The Oregon Economics Blog

Here are the latest Case-Shiller numbers through June of 2008 for Portland, Seattle and the 20 city composite. The story for Portland and Seattle is similar, a considerable softening has happened but we are still not seeing the continued decline as seen elsewhere. There is a lot of speculation that we are just 'behind' the nation and will eventually get there. But as I have stated before the...

Generally considered synonymous with the fabled “Washington Consensus,“ neoliberalism has been on the ascendancy since the early 1990s with the fall of the Soviet Union and subsequent weakening of state control in many economies, most notably China and India. The basic neoliberal agenda is to keep government as minimally involved in the economy as possible, to promote private property...

Ed. Note: Once again Fred Thompson checks in with an in-depth discussion of a local issue. The legislature is currently holding hearings on the State of Oregon’s computing and networking infrastructure consolidation (C-NIC) project, the most ambitious technology project ever undertaken by the state (Statesman-Journal, 14 Aug 2008, p. 1). This topic deserves our attention. More than half of...

There is a new book getting quite a bit of press coverage: The Big Sort. The very basic premise is that people are increasingly choosing to live near people with similar political and social views. The book is largely about the social and political implications of this phenomenon and I leave it to those experts to comment on this, but the economic undercurrent is interesting to me. Modern...

Word on the street is that BridgePort, the godfather of Oregon craft brewers, is faltering. In a time where almost all craft brewers are seeing double digit growth in sales, Bridgeport is going backward. I have no way to confirm or disprove this but, if true, it is surprising for a company with such a storied history and strong brand identity. Bridgeport's IPA is, probably, the quintessential NW...

This past weekend, the Oregonian reported on something that has been fueling the rumor mill in Corvallis for a few months: HP is most likely scaling down its Corvallis operations. A few weeks ago they also reported on the shuttering of the Hynix plant in Eugene. What gives in the Willamette valley? Well, as a friend who works for HP in Corvallis explained to me, HPs printer business is not...

I have been struggling to find time and energy to blog lately and in one area in particular I have been especially lax - the comments. I have received many excellent comments even in this slow summer of blogging and have responded to almost none. I shall try and rectify this - even if very late in the game - in the next few days. Anyway, thanks for your patience and I apologize for the slow...