Monthly Archives: August 2013
Education Performance for Minorities: California vs. Texas and Elsewhere
I have heard more people talk about leaving California this year than at any other time in the past three decades, and I know quite a few who have already left, several for the second biggest population state, Texas, but … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
A Crisis May Be Worst Time to Deviate from Rules
In the Money interview with me which Melissa Francis posted yesterday she delved into two of my First Principles—the importance of the rule of law and rules-based policy—pointing out that many people argue that in an economic crisis we need to suspend the rules … Continue reading
Posted in Financial Crisis
Leave a comment
Say No To Macro-Prudential Fine-Tuning
In an article in the Wall Street Journal John Cochrane raises serious doubts about recent “macro-prudential” policy proposals. I hope the Fed listens. The Bank of England has already started in this direction with its new Financial Policy Committee planning to … Continue reading
Posted in Regulatory Policy
Leave a comment
Jackson Hole: Then and Now
Quite a few people expressed interest in my tweet on the very high ratio of men to women at the 1982 Jackson Hole conference: 23 to 1. A CNN Money story and Justin Wolfers tweet reported 6 to 1 this year. Some … Continue reading
Posted in Monetary Policy, Teaching Economics
Leave a comment
Forward Guidance as an Incipient Policy Rule at the BoE and ECB
At the Jackson Hole conference this weekend, Charlie Bean, deputy governor of the Bank of England, and Frank Smets, head of economic research at the European Central Bank both offered important and newsworthy clarifications of what their respective central banks … Continue reading
Posted in Monetary Policy
Leave a comment
Day 1 Papers at Jackson Hole Reveal Skepticism of Fed’s Unconventional Policy
The papers presented today (Day 1) at the Jackson Hole monetary conference by academics outside the Fed revealed considerable skepticism about the effectiveness of the Fed’s quantitative easing and forward guidance programs. Of course Fed officials did not express the same … Continue reading
Posted in Monetary Policy
Leave a comment
Who and What is to Blame for the Global Turbulence
The recent large impact of U.S. monetary policy on the rest of the world–especially emerging markets–has understandably been attracting a lot of attention in financial markets with headlines like: Fear of Fed Retreat Roils India, WSJ, Aug 20 Istanbul Skyline … Continue reading
Posted in International Economics
Leave a comment
What to Call This Very Slow Recovery?
Economists love the word “Great” for significant economic events—such as The Great Depression—probably using it too much. I’m as guilty as anyone. I used the terms Great Inflation and Great Disinflation for the late 1960s and 1970s inflation and its … Continue reading
Posted in Slow Recovery
Leave a comment
Economics One for Preschoolers
Meghan Cox Gurdon has a nice review article in the Wall Street Journal celebrating Richard Scarry’s books for children. This is the 50th anniversary of “Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever.” I’ve been reading some of Scarry’s books to my … Continue reading
Posted in Teaching Economics
Leave a comment
Crawling Along
It wasn’t any fun updating my charts this morning with the new data released this week. None of the charts looked better and some looked worse. The EKG chart showing real GDP growth quarter-by-quarter over the decades remains as tragic … Continue reading
Posted in Slow Recovery
Leave a comment
Economics One 