Author Archives: John Taylor
Monetary Policy and the Wisdom of Wayne Gretzky
I’m always trying to find good ways to teach beginning economics students about monetary policy. For years I compared it to flying a fighter jet where you have to anticipate the actions of the other pilots, and if you get … Continue reading
Posted in Monetary Policy
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Be Thankful But Study What Happened
With the consumption data released today–the day before Thanksgiving–we are reminded to give thanks that retail sales are at least growing not declining sharply as they were a year ago. But what was it really like out there day-by-day in … Continue reading
Posted in Regulatory Policy
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Economic Freedom and Rose Friedman
We are hearing a lot these days about the disadvantages of free markets and the need for a greatly expanded role of government in the economy. Last month I spoke at a wonderful memorial for Rose Friedman. We celebrated among … Continue reading
Posted in Regulatory Policy
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New Evidence of Government Induced Risk
A year ago I wrote Getting Off Track one of the first books on the financial crisis. I argued, based on data available at the time, that government actions caused, prolonged and worsened the crisis. After a year of debate, … Continue reading
Posted in Monetary Policy
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Monetary Policy Week
This week was monetary policy week in Economics 1 at Stanford. It was also monetary policy week in Washington: the House Financial Services Committee surprisingly voted 43-26 for Ron Paul’s controversial bill to audit the Fed; the TARP inspector general … Continue reading
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The Road Ahead for the Fed
Stories this week in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Washington Post focus on how Senator Chris Dodd’s new financial reform bill threatens the independence of the Federal Reserve. And Larry Kudlow took it up on … Continue reading
Posted in Monetary Policy
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Jobs Saved: PR or Fact?
While the unemployment rate continues to rise–to 10.2 percent in October–the debate over the “jobs saved” concept also continues, most recently on last Sunday’s Meet the Press with host David Gregory asking Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner whether the concept is … Continue reading
Posted in Stimulus Impact
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Government Failure versus Market Failure
My Forbes magazine column this week reviews the latest empirical evidence on why government actions and interventions–government failure rather than market failure–should be at the top of the list of what went wrong in the recent financial crisis. Some continue … Continue reading
Posted in Regulatory Policy
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Greg Mankiw and Homework on Marginal Tax Rates
In an op-ed in today’s New York Times Harvard’s Greg Mankiw gives a good example of how government transfer programs increase marginal tax rates. He uses the same example assigned to Stanford’s introductory students in their homework last week–the Senate … Continue reading
Posted in Fiscal Policy and Reforms, Slow Recovery
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National Accounts Show Stimulus Did Not Fuel GDP Growth
Along with the news that real GDP growth improved from -0.7 percent in the second quarter to 3.5 percent in the third quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released detailed National Income and Product Account tables yesterday, which received … Continue reading
Posted in Stimulus Impact
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Economics One 