Cliometrics and Cliodynamics

This blog has mused about historical and social trends. In particular, how can those trends be understood or predicted

Two academic fields have emerged -- cliometrics and cliodynamics.

Both fields start with economic history but now look to widen their study.

Milk prices

Milk prices are rising in the US.  Prices have climbed to nearly the 2011 highs.

Why the price increase?

Some of the higher prices stem from higher feed prices and smaller herds.

But another important trend is that China is now the world's largest dairy importer and its buying is affecting US milk prices.  Dairy prices could continue to rise in 2014 as Chinese imports more.

Who benefits? Dairy farmers in California are the biggest immediate beneficiaries.  They have been squeezed by high cattle feed prices due to drought conditions over the past year.

Investmet buying of foreclosed housing

Since the bottom of the subprime crisis, some big institutional investors have been buying foreclosed houses to convert them into rentals. Institutional investors have 100s of thousand homes in the past five years.

But, is the big wave of buying over?

The biggest buyers -- Blackstone Group, American Homes 4 Rent, and Colony American Homes -- appear to have slowed their buying.  Instead of buying across the country, they are still buying but mainly in selected regions in lat 2013.

Perhaps the slow-down is due to higher prices.  But some states are completing foreclosure proceedings with the start of a new year as shown in monthly statistics from January 2014.