Category Archives: Fiscal Policy and Reforms

John Shoven’s practical advice on when people should start taking Social Security benefits is rightly getting  increased attention. The economics is quite straight forward, and baby boomers should pay careful attention. So should the Social Security Administration.  This table from John’s Policy … Continue reading →

Over the weekend, Paul Krugman responded to my post in which I show that the slowdown in state and local government purchases of goods and services is a consequence, rather than a cause, of the weak recovery.  My basic point … Continue reading →

Paul Krugman commented early this morning on the Wall Street Journal oped by John Cogan and me.  Our oped is based on our research paper with Volker Wieland and Maik Wolters which shows that there are beneficial effects on the economy—in … Continue reading →

Scare stories about the automatic reduction in federal spending to start on March 1—commonly called the sequester—fall mainly into two categories. First are the concerns that reducing every discretionary budget account by the same percentage—the “meat-axe” approach—would not allow government … Continue reading →

So far the fiscal cliff debate has mainly been about whether tax revenues should be on or off the table with little mention of spending. But the economics of the debate—as distinct from the raw politics—make no sense without considering … Continue reading →

Many have been asking me to write more about the fiscal cliff.  As we watch the election returns today, I would keep two straightforward things in mind. First, the fiscal cliff was not created by aliens from outerspace.  It is another poor … Continue reading →