So voters in France and Greece sent an inescapable signal to the euro zone: No more austerity. In doing so, they showed that the average guy on the street understands economics better than the people in power. Rather than reducing debt and returning the European economy to health, the all-austerity approach to solving the debt crisis was sending the weaker economies of Europe into a death spiral of recession, unemployment, and ultimately, continued strain on national finances.
Job growth in March was disappointing. Do Fed policymakers feel the stalling jobs picture warrants a third round of Fed monetary stimulus, or quantitative easing (QE3)?
In his fiscal 2013 budget proposal, President Obama has suggested a temporary 10% tax credit designed to spur job creation and wage growth among small businesses. It’s a fine idea with a long pedigree — just the ticket if you’re in the market for small-bore economic policies that sound cool but don’t do much.
I have long been amazed how often people argue that low-interest rates don’t help the economy. And to be honest I once wandered over to the monetary dark side and wrote a post wondering, because of the confidence issue, whether keeping rates low for such a long period of time was helping the economy. But [...]
Clyde Silva walks out of a job fair in Los Angeles (Lucy Nicholson / Reuters) Ever since the haze of summer lifted, there have been more and more signs that the economy was improving. In early September, the number of people looking for work rose, showing optimism about the economy from job seekers. Corporate mergers [...]
Economists question how much mileage we got from Cash for Clunkers (Bob Travaglione/www.FoToEdge.com) Cash for clunkers may have been a total wreck. Ever since the program, which offered consumers cash for a new car when they traded in an old, low-gas-mileage vehicle, rolled off Washington’s policy lot last year there has been debate as to [...]
My throwaway line that some people at the University of Chicago “reeeeaaaally didn’t like Paul Krugman’s article about the state of macroeconomics” has gotten so much traffic, thanks to a link from Krugman, that I feel obliged to go a bit deeper. My observation was occasioned by a conversation with a couple of mild-mannered, open-minded [...]
A couple weeks ago, John F. Cogan, John B. Taylor and the middle-initial-challenged Volker Wieland had an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal headlined “The Stimulus Didn’t Work.” I was pretty nonplussed when I read it, but it was just now, while reading over the critiques of it by Brad DeLong/Mark Sadowski and Goldman [...]
