Author Archives: John Taylor
New Ideas about Monetary Policy from Jackson Hole
I write from Jackson Hole Wyoming as the early morning sun shines sharply on the Grand Tetons where I just spent a very enjoyable few days at the annual monetary conference. I have been coming to these Jackson Hole conferences … Continue reading
Posted in Monetary Policy
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The Russian Export Ban: An Economic Story Worth Telling
The Soviet Union used to provide me with plenty of current event stories to tell students in Economics 1 about the wastes and harms of price controls and central planning. But most first-year college students taking introductory economics this fall … Continue reading
Posted in International Economics
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Washington Consensus Versus Beijing Consensus on Economic Policy
Does China’s remarkable economic growth, its stability during the recent financial crisis, and its immense foreign aid/investment in Africa raise doubts about free market policies and provide evidence in favor of a more interventionist approach? In a new review paper, … Continue reading
Posted in International Economics
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Where Are We Now, Three Years After the Onset of the Crisis?
This week marks the third anniversary of the flare up of the financial crisis in August 2007. Howard Green, Headline anchor at the Business News Network in Canada, broadcast the news this way in today’s lead-in to an interview with … Continue reading
Posted in Slow Recovery
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The Ryan Roadmap versus the Road to Ruin
Congressman Paul Ryan’s Roadmap has suddenly become the focal point for debating how America should get its economic house in order. Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard says to embrace it. Paul Krugman of the New York Times says to … Continue reading
Posted in Fiscal Policy and Reforms
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TV Fiscal Stimulus Debate Reveals Some Agreement
PBS Newshour hosted a live TV debate between Mark Zandi and me yesterday on the question of whether government interventions helped or hurt the economy. The show highlighted a paper by Alan Blinder and Zandi about which I posted comments … Continue reading
Posted in Stimulus Impact
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More on the Blinder-Zandi Working Paper on the Crisis
Yesterday the New York Times published an article about simulations of the effects of fiscal stimulus packages and financial interventions using an old Keynesian model. The simulations were reported in an unpublished working paper by Alan Blinder and Mark Zandi. … Continue reading
Posted in Stimulus Impact
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More Economists Voice Concerns about Deficit-Spending Proposals
The number of economists arguing forcefully against efforts to use more deficit spending to stimulate the economy is increasing. Their arguments differ in important respects, ranging from empirical evidence that the stimulus programs thus far have done little to help … Continue reading
Posted in Budget & Debt
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Government Policy and the Slowdown
Is the economy slowing down and what has been the role of government? Recently EconTalk host Russ Roberts and I discussed these questions and our conversation was made available today as a podcast at the Library of Economics and Liberty. … Continue reading
Posted in Slow Recovery
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New Data Show the Debt Problem Is Spending (not Taxes) and Obamacare Worsens the Problem
Everyone now seems to agree that the exploding federal debt is a serious problem that must be addressed. But how? The following two charts provide some data to help answer that question. I put the charts together using budget data … Continue reading
Posted in Budget & Debt
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Economics One 