Obama’s Economic Advisor
Here’s a good interview on CNBC with Austan Goolsbee, Senator Obama’s chief economic advisor. I don’t buy his proposals, but he explains them fairly well here. Warning: what a political candidate’s economist says is not …
Obama and Clinton: Economic Policy Differences
The economic policy difference between Senators Obama and Clinton is explained nicely in a New York Times article by David Leonhardt. Short summary: both believe in a big role for government, but Clinton tends to …
Trade With China: I Signed the Petition
I am one of 1,028 economists who signed the Club for Growth’s petition opposing retaliatory tariffs or trade barriers with China. Here’s the text: PETITIONConcerning Protectionist Policies Against China We, the undersigned, have …
Business Taxation: Not a Progressive Idea
[corrected for bad link] Today’s Wall Street Journal has a great column by Glenn Hubbard, Dean of the Columbia University business school and former chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. I think it’s …
Obama’s Economic Advisors
"Obamanomics" is the topic of a Wall Street Journal article (subscription required) about Barack Obama’s economic advisers. Key economists mentioned are David Cutler, Jeffrey Liebman and Austan Goolsbee. I don’t put much information content on …
Financing Social Security
An old article of mine is being circulated: A College Trust Fund on the Social Security Model. You can check it out here.
George Washington’s Birthday
George Washington, whose birthday is today, understood the benefits of trade. This is from his farewell address: The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the equal laws of a common government, …
Public Policy Round-Up
If you’re wondering about the minimum wage, a good argument on the subject is in today’s Wall Street Journal, written by Gary Becker and Richard Posner, a Nobel laureate and judge respectively. Health care policy …
Kill State Income Taxes?
The Wall Street Journal says that some states are considering abolishing their state income taxes. The Journal likes the idea, of course. Here are some interesting population facts from the recent Census Bureau population estimates …
The Rich and the Poor
Rich getting richer while the poor get poorer? Don’t believe it, says Alan Reynolds in today’s Wall Street Journal. This article kicks off the publicity for his new book, Income and Wealth. Reynolds says the …
Middle Class Tax Rates
There’s been lots of political blather about the middle class bearing the burden of tax cuts for the rich. Two economists at the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, Troy A. Davig and C. Alan Garner, …
Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman died today at age 94. I have a personal remembrance and some thoughts on the impact of his ideas. Personal remembrance:I met Milton Friedman in the early 1980s, when we were both living …