The Top Economics Stories of the Week

Economics is in the news all around us on a daily basis. Below are some of the top storylines from this past week in economic news. 

• What would a digital currency in the future look like? Will central banks develop their own? The Washington Post’s story details how various countries across the globe have begun experimenting in the field of digital currencies, the advantages and disadvantages, as well as what it might look like for the future of business.
  
  
• Why are dairy farms in Mexico struggling while those in Canada are making a profit? The difference is in the technology. USA Today explores the differences between the two countries and their relationships with the US dairy industry.
   
• Boston-based General Electric will be removed from the Dow Jones Industrial average before the opening of trading next Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. GE, an original member of the Dow Jones industrials dating back to 1896, will be removed in favor of drugstore chain Walgreens Boot Alliance.
   
• Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported that the global economy is on pace to grow at its slowest pace since the 2008 financial crisis. Factors for the slowdown, according to the IMF, include rising trade tensions between the US and China and political tensions. NPR reports that the rising regional inequality within advanced nations is also having an effect.  
   
• Trade has existed as long as humans have formed civilized societies. With trade tensions across the world at a high, the BBC reports on the value and importance to trade.
   
• The European Union agreed to a Brexit delay with no timetable set, as the New Yorker magazine reports on what a Brexit deal might look like for the U.K.
  
  
• Full employment in an economy can be defined as the point where all workers who want jobs, have jobs  and ideally the right jobs for them. A podcast from NPR’s Indicator on Planet Money recently raised an issue of whether the unemployment rate is broken, along with insight from Economist Jared Bernstein on three alternative methods for helping us pinpoint where full employment really is.