Graphic History of Debt

The New York Times DealBook blog has a good graphic history of debt showing how it has been around since the ancient world and how its structure has changed over time.

Population Growth - Result of Nitrogen Fertilizer

The New Yorker has an interesting article on the development of nitrogen fertilizer and human population growth in the twentieth century.

Policy Damage - Lack of Aggregate Demand Pulling Down Potential GDP

John Cassidy in the New Yorker has a good summary of the recent Fed paper (presented at the IMF Conference) on how the week aggregate demand in the wake of the financial crisis has resulted in a weakening potential GDP.  It included this graph showing the problem.