Category Archives: Fiscal Policy and Reforms
Desperately Needed: Reforms to Raise Productivity Growth
The data released this week on labor productivity growth are really terrible. The growth rate has been negative now for three quarters in a row, and it was – .4 percent over the past year. Unfortunately, these data are reinforcing … Continue reading
An Economic and Security Policy Blueprint for America
A timely new policy book, Blueprint for America, edited by George P. Shultz, is being released today online for the first time. The release coincides with the start of platform writing by Republicans this week and Democrats the following week, … Continue reading
An Economic Policy–Performance Cycle
For several years I have writing about an cycle in which economic policy swings toward and away from certain key principles of economic freedom. The poor performance of the U.S. economy during the past decade —the Great Recession, the Not-So-Great … Continue reading
Surprising Findings at the Macro Handbook Conferences
In order to further progress on the new Handbook of Macroeconomics, which will be published next year, Harald Uhlig and I, the co-editors of the Handbook, hosted two conferences at Stanford and Chicago in April. Harald and I attended both … Continue reading
First Principles Versus Secular Stagnation
With real GDP and employment data now in for all of 2013, the recovery still looks about as weak as ever. Sure, it’s good news that growth picked up again in the 3rd and 4th quarter, but the three updated … Continue reading
Shoven Says: Defer Social Security Benefits
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
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Paul Krugman is Wrong about Fiscal Policy Research
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
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Krugman’s Claims Are Wrong
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
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Keep the Sequester Totals But Add Flexibility Within
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
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A Way to Avoid the Fiscal Cliff without Creating Another One
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
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