Inflation in the shadow of debt
September 17 2021 An essay at Project Syndicate. Blog post.
September 17 2021 An essay at Project Syndicate. Blog post. Raising interest rates now will raise interest costs on the debt. Raising interest rates does not lower inflation without a concurrent fiscal tightening. The Fed also faces huge internal and external obstacles to raising interest rates. Yet faith that it will do so is all that anchors inflation. A shift to long-term debt financing would solve this problem.
Climate Economics
Climate Economics. Sept 3 2021 National Review Online. Blog post.
Climate Policy Should Pay More Attention to Climate Economics. September 3 2021 National Review Online. Ungated Blog Post. Climate effects on GDP are tiny compared to growth and especially to development. At least do what we do efficiently with cost benefit analyses and carbon taxes. A purely environmental case might be more persuasive — it will cost GDP, but save the planet — but again needs to be compared with spending the same money directly on today’s large environmental problems.
Inflation: The Ingredients Are in the Pot, and the Fire Is On
National Review Online April 26, 2021. With Kevin A. Hassett. Anchoring means people believe the Fed will repeat 1982. Do they? Ungated blog post version
National Review Online April 26, 2021. With Kevin A. Hassett. A better discussion of whether inflation is coming, and the Fed repeating mistakes of the 1970s. Anchoring means people believe the Fed will repeat 1982. Do they? Ungated blog post version
Whither the Fed?
A talk given at the UCSD Economics roundtable June 11 2021. Inflation, Fed policy, fiscal pressures, and a quick tour of the Fed’s entrenchment of bailouts, and forays to climate change and social justice. Youtube video here, slides here, blog post with a bit more commentary here.
A talk given at the UCSD Economics roundtable June 11 2021. Inflation, Fed policy, fiscal pressures, and a quick tour of the Fed’s entrenchment of bailouts, and forays to climate change and social justice. Youtube video here, slides here, blog post with a bit more commentary here.
The Fed and climate
“Don’t Let Financial Regulators Dream Up Climate Solutions.” City Journal, March 24 2021. Local pdf
“Don’t Let Financial Regulators Dream Up Climate Solutions.” City Journal, March 24 2021. Local pdf
Does monetary policy threaten inflation?
Does monetary policy threaten inflation? National Review Online March 9 2021. (local pdf)
Does monetary policy threaten inflation? National Review Online March 9 2021. (local pdf)
Free Markets Beat Central Planning, Even for COVID-19 Tests and Vaccines
National Review Online January 21 2021.
National Review Online January 21 2021. Even in the most textbook externality, the government allocation is worse than what markets could have achieved. Ungated blog link.
Modern Monetary Theory Review
A review of Stephanie Kelton’s “The Deficit Myth.” Wall Street Journal, June 5 2020. Ungated full text on my blog, and a pdf of the print version here.
A review of Stephanie Kelton’s “The Deficit Myth.” Wall Street Journal, June 5 2020. Ungated full text on my blog, and a pdf of the print version here.
Flatten the Coronavirus Curve at a Lower Cost
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
How to Treat the Financial Symptoms of Covid-19
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
Understanding the left
“Understanding the Left.” What’s going on with the Great Awakening? Understand it as that, a quasi-religious political movement. Click title for more info.
“Understanding the Left.” February 2020. In From the Past to the Future: Ideas and Actions for a Free Society, John Taylor, Ed. Hoover Press, Ch. 18. What’s going on with the Great Awakening? Understand it as that, a quasi-religious political movement. This was before the whole movement turned to race a few months later, but the analysis still holds, and may be better for not touching that issue. Talk given at the Mt. Pelerin Society Jan 1 2020.
Imagine what we could cure
Wall Street Journal, with J. J. Plecs.
Wall Street Journal, with J. J. Plecs.
The Tax-And-Spend Health-Care Solution
Wall Street Journal.
Wall Street Journal. Tax and spend is better than cross subsidies. This is the key to deregulation.