Monthly Archives: May 2011
Splitting Difference Would Reduce Federal Spending By $4 Trillion
When the Senate voted down the House Budget Resolution (the Ryan budget) by a vote of 40-57, it also voted down an Obama Administration budget (submitted in February) by a vote of 0-97. But the Obama Administration had already discarded … Continue reading
Posted in Fiscal Policy and Reforms
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Speaking and Remembering on Memorial Day
This year I was honored to speak at Stanford’s Memorial Day military appreciation barbecue. There are now 51 enrolled Stanford students who are veterans. I was once a Stanford student veteran. In 1969 I temporarily left Stanford’s Ph.D. program in … Continue reading
Posted in Teaching Economics
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Regulatory Capture and Reckless Endangerment
My review of the book Reckless Endangerment by Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner (published in yesterday’s Washington Post) gives examples of the many ways in which cozy relations between government and industry lead to reckless policies. Students of economics will … Continue reading
Posted in Regulatory Policy
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Opportunity Cost and the 20 Under 20 Prize
On PBS NewsHour yesterday Peter Thiel argued that the opportunity cost of college may be surprisingly high for many students, and indeed, as widely reported this past week, he raised the opportunity cost for some impressive 20 Under 20 prize-winning … Continue reading
Posted in Teaching Economics
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To the G8: Don’t Let Aid Perpetuate Barriers to Growth in Tunisia and Egypt
In this Bloomberg Echoes post, I argue that the United States should do whatever it can to promote economic freedom in the post-Jasmine Revolution Middle East and North Africa, and strongly support economic leaders who are committed to creating a … Continue reading
Posted in International Economics
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Causation From Base Money To The Multiplier: The QE2 Evidence
During the panic in the fall of 2008 some interpreted the explosion of the Fed’s balance sheet and the monetary base (MB)—currency plus reserves of banks at the Fed—as an appropriate monetary policy response to a shift in the demand … Continue reading
Posted in Monetary Policy
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Linking the Debt Limit Hike To Spending Cuts Is Good Economics
For months now top economic officials in Washington have been arguing that the Congress should vote to increase the debt limit without any reductions in the growth of spending—in other words a “clean debt limit hike.” Just last Thursday Ben … Continue reading
Posted in Budget & Debt
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More on Seniors, Guns And Money
Paul Krugman returned to the debate with me about federal spending in his New York Times column yesterday. He says that federal spending cannot be brought back from its current high levels to the 19 to 20 percent range as … Continue reading
Posted in Fiscal Policy and Reforms
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The One Hundred Trillion Dollar Note and Other Visual Aids
Patrick McGroarty and Farai Mutsaka have a great article in the Wall Street Journal about this famous one hundred trillion dollar note from Zimbabwe,including the fact that I carry one around in my wallet everywhere I go. Whenever someone says … Continue reading
Posted in Monetary Policy
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Bringing Gadhafi’s Money to Rebels Recalls Bringing Saddam’s Money to Iraqis
The plan to use Moammar Gadhafi’s frozen assets to fund the Libyan rebels faces legal obstacles according to this weekend’s Wall Street Journal story “Obstacles Loom on Path To Funding Libyans.” This reminds me of the plan to use Saddam … Continue reading
Posted in International Economics
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Economics One 