Tag Archives: Economic Policy

Reactions to Mankiw on the Long Run Budget Path

I agree with most of Greg Mankiw’s NYTimes piece on long-term debt to GDP but can’t overlook a glaring omission –  he seems to ignore the fact that we are currently experiencing a major economic catastrophe. Here’s how Mankiw concludes: Military … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Krugman on UST Debt, Fed Purchases, & Interest Rates

Paul Krugman has a nice post challenging the sometimes accepted wisdom that the fed “gobbling up” massive amounts of UST is the primary reason for low rates. He makes three points: “As Bernanke stressed, long-term interest rates have moved very … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Krugman & Bernanke on Capital Flows

Here’s Krugman’s op-ed on capital flows today: But the truth, hard as it may be for ideologues to accept, is that unrestricted movement of capital is looking more and more like a failed experiment. And here is Bernanke on capital … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Austerity and the Greek Depression

The NY Times has a nice feature that compares the Greek economy from 2007-2012 to that of the US from 1929-1934. Besides the disturbing similarity, the most notable feature of this figure is how different the government spending response has been. … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Should the US be issuing more short-term debt?

As a follow up to yesterday’s post on short term debt, treasuries and financial crises, I wanted to highlight this paper by Greenwood, Hanson, & Stein that argues that the government should issue more short-term debt to discourage short-term money creation … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Short-term Debt, the Supply of US Treasuries, and Financial Crises

Annette Vissing-Jorgensen and  Arvind Krishnamurthy have an interesting new paper that Annette presented at Berkeley yesterday. It’s a nice example of using a simple, tractable model to understand a very important issue – the demand for safe and liquid short-term … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Labs of Democracy & Today’s Fiscal Policy Debates

Here’s my latest Economix column on the labs of democracy & today’s fiscal policy debates on uncertainty, spending, and spending vs taxes: Many of the fiercest disagreements about fiscal policy today stem from disagreements about the causes of the slow … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What I’m Reading

Michael Lind’s Land of Promise, which David Leonhardt reviewed here.  

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The White House on “Limiting Deductions: The Reality of the Math”

Here’s Jason Furman and Gene Sperling: In his Budget, the President proposes to raise $1.56 trillion in revenue from high-income households, including $1 trillion from the expiration of the Bush high-income and estate tax cuts and additional revenue from limiting tax … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Growing Burden of Payroll Taxes

Here’s a column on reforming the payroll tax that I wrote in NYTimes Economix today: Payroll taxes and corporate income taxes accounted for an equal share of federal tax revenue in 1969. By 2009, payroll taxes generated more than six times as much … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment