Dean Baker on one of his favorite subjects, the attribution of ideological motivations to political actors, quoted here mainly for its fine last line.
Frank-Dodd Bailouts: Arithmetic, Not Ideology
It is remarkable how often reporters/columnists feel the need to assert that political disputes are about ideological issues. Why do they feel the need to make assertions for [...]
James Hamilton speculates on the consequences of a US move to a gold standard in 2006.
What if we’d been on the gold standard?:
If the U.S. had decided to go back on the gold standard in 2006, where would we be today? That’s a question my friend Randy Parker recently asked me. Here’s how we both [...]
I’m a month late posting this, but here we are. Kenneth Arrow (yes, that Kenneth Arrow) weighs in on the economics of mitigating climate change sooner rather than later. It’s particularly relevant as climate-change deniers shift from “it’s not happening” to “it’s too late (or too expensive) to do anything about it.”
The case for [...]
Spencer at Angry Bear posts a couple of graphs, based on new CBO data:
There’s polling data out that suggests that many (most) respondents think we’re already in a recession. I suppose it depends on who you ask.
(Via Angry Bear)
Does this apply to predicions about the mortgage meltdown (or otherwise)? I suppose so.
Economists Don’t Predict Recessions:
It would be helpful if the many articles reporting on economists’ predictions about the future state of the economy reminded readers that economists do not forecast recessions. For whatever reason (I don’t care to speculate), economists are notoriously [...]
A while back, Dean Baker wrote a piece in response to a NY Times review of Naomi Klein’s book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capital. It’s all worth reading (as usual), but along the way Baker touches on the claim, made in the context of various attempts to “reform” Social Security, that the [...]
Over at Econbrowser, lots of interesting graphs, speculation and interpretations regarding recent oil production declines.
Saudi oil production cuts
More speculation about Saudi Arabia
Cantarell fading quickly
Over in the margin, I link to Dean Baker’s Beat the Press, and I hope you all read it religiously. Here’s one reason you should.
More Arithmetic Problems With Demographics at the NYT
The NYT tells us that China is facing a demographic crisis due to the aging of the population and should try to encourage families [...]
James Hamilton argues against CAFE and in favor of a gasoline tax.
CAFE standards are based on the premise that auto manufacturers and consumers are making inappropriate decisions about the kind of vehicles that get produced. The clearest way to motivate this from an economic perspective would be to suggest that there are costs to using [...]
The first in a series from The Nation: an article by James K Galbraith, toward a new progressive economic agenda.
In a debate over the Democratic future, no one should confuse the Hamilton Project with the Republican past. Robert Rubin and his associates have invited a broad dialogue on economic inequality and strategic investment, and on [...]
James Hamilton wonders over at Econbrowser why corn-based ethanol is so popular with consumers.
The NAS study claimed that even if 100% of the U.S. corn crop were devoted to ethanol production (leaving zero for exports, corn flakes, or whatever), it would only displace 12% of our gasoline consumption; (thanks again to Jerry Taylor for steering [...]
Both Paul Krugman (via Mark Thoma) and Dean Baker have nice things to say about the universal health care plan advanced by presidential candidate John Edwards.
It’s not the cleanest plan in the world (there remains a substantial role for private health insurance, for example), but on the other hand it has some features that set [...]
George Monbiot suggests that “The trade in carbon offsets is an excuse for business as usual”:
The problem is this. If runaway climate change is not to trigger the irreversible melting of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets and drive hundreds of millions of people from their homes, the global temperature rise must be [...]
Kevin Drum:
Did you know that Democratic presidents are better for the economy than Republicans? Sure you did. I pointed this out two years ago, back when my readership numbered in the dozens, and more recently Michael Kinsley ran the numbers in the LA Times and came to the same conclusion.
The results are [...]
Last June, a parcel tax proposal by my local school district failed, for the fifth time in recent memory. This Tuesday, Californians will vote on Proposition 88, an initiative that seeks a perpetual statewide $50/year parcel tax.
Sidebar: California School Funding
California school districts are primarily funded by the state, through a complicated formula that needn’t concern [...]
Brad DeLong.
Cognitive Disabilities in Investment:
People have brains designed by evolution to figure out whether it’s safe to leap to the next branch and when the fruit is ripe. They don’t have brains designed to make long-run investment decisions.
On the pitfalls of self-managed retirement accounts.
From Mark Thoma, a series of posts on income inequality.
New Data Show Increasing Income Inequality points us to work published by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
It should be noted that wage and salary growth has been unusually weak during this recovery, while the growth of corporate profits has been exceptionally strong. This [...]
Dean Baker:
Noble Lies to Promote Korean Trade Agreement?:
Then the [IHT] article tells readers that Korea faces challenges like “a rapidly declining birth rate and an aging population.” Hmmmm, less crowding and longer life expectancies, this is really frightening.
As Bigger Piece of Economic Pie Shifts To Wealthiest, U.S. Deficit Heads Downward
By Greg Ip and Deborah Solomon
WSJ; July 17, 2006; Page A2
In announcing a big drop in its estimate of this year’s federal budget deficit, the Bush administration was quick to credit itself.
“Tax cuts worked to generate economic growth, and economic growth is [...]
Dean Baker. Again.
Big News: Arithmetic Problems at the Council of Economic Advisors
If we focus on just the last three months, nominal wages rose at a 4.5 percent annual rate over the three months April, May, and June compared with the prior three months. This is equal to the annual rate of growth of the CPI [...]