Category Archives: Regulatory Policy
Other Economic Lessons the US Can Learn from Greece
Last week the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation held a hearing for which I was asked to address the lessons that the United States can learn from the Greek financial crisis. One obvious lesson is … Continue reading
Make Failure Feasible and End “Too Big To Fail”
Today the Senate held a hearing on a bankruptcy reform proposal which would address the problem of too-big-to-fail head on. The reform applies to large financial firms and makes failure feasible under clear rules without systemic spillovers thereby greatly reducing … Continue reading
Posted in Financial Crisis, Regulatory Policy
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The Raisin Case: A Breeze not a Wind of Economic Freedom
The famous raisin case officially closed last week. As part of an old and ongoing government program to intervene in the raisin market to support the price, the government tried to take raisins away from a California raisin grower, Marvin … Continue reading
Posted in Regulatory Policy, Teaching Economics
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A Reawakening of Monetary Policy Research
Last May a group of economists, central bankers, market participants, and financial journalists convened at Stanford’s Hoover Institution “to put forth and discuss a set of policy recommendations that are consistent with and encourage a more rules-based policy for the Federal … Continue reading
Posted in Monetary Policy, Regulatory Policy
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The Senate Moves Ahead on a Policy Rules Bill
Today the Chairman of Senate Banking Committee, Richard Shelby, released a draft bill entitled “The Financial Regulatory Improvement Act of 2015” covering a wide range of reforms. Like the widely-discussed House policy rules bill (Section 2 of HR 5018 of last … Continue reading
Posted in Monetary Policy, Regulatory Policy
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Witness Allan Meltzer and the Ouija Board Analogy
Last week the Senate Banking Committee held a hearing about monetary reform and the need for “responsible oversight” of the Fed as Senator Richard Shelby, the Committee Chair, put it. Allan Meltzer was a witness, and I sat next to … Continue reading
Posted in Monetary Policy, Regulatory Policy
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Why Did CBO Wait?
Why did the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) wait until now to inform the Congress and the rest of the country about the large negative effects of Obamacare on employment and hours of work? (See CBO Budget and Economic Outlook pp 117-127). The … Continue reading
Posted in Regulatory Policy, Teaching Economics
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The Raisin Reserve: On the Way Out?
For many years I have used the California raisin market as an illustration of the effects of government intervention, even dressing up as a California raisin and dancing, as in the famous advertisement, to Marvin Gayes’ “Heard It through the … Continue reading
Posted in Regulatory Policy
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Thanks for the Teaching Moment, Governor
Showing students how to analyze price floors and ceilings with the supply and demand model is an important part of the principles of economics course. That was the scheduled topic for us in the course today and Governor Jerry Brown … Continue reading
Posted in Regulatory Policy
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My Take on the Middle-Out View
Here is my Wall Street Journal column. If you’re interested in the of path of incomes year by year, the chart below shows real income growth for the 90% and 10% income groups. The data come from Emanuel Saez’s web … Continue reading
Posted in Regulatory Policy, Slow Recovery
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Economics One 