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Should Economists Pay More Attention to Politics?

posted to Donald Marron on Wed 8th May 13

Economists often ignore politics when analyzing policy issues or view politicsas a problem to overcomerather than as fundamental.When evaluatinga carbon tax, for example, Itry to tote upits potential environmental benefits, its hit to consumers and producers,what
Immigration, Dynamic Scoring, and CBO

posted to Donald Marron on Fri 3rd May 13

Immigration policy poses an unusual challenge for the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation. If Congress allows more people into the United States, our population, labor force, and economy will all get bigger. But CBO and JCTusually
Inflation Remains Below Fed Target

posted to Donald Marron on Tue 30th Apr 13

The Federal Reserve reportedly wants consumer inflation of about 2 percent per year, as measured by the personal consumption expenditures price index, affectionately known as the PCE. By that standard, Fed policy appears too tight, despite near-zero rates and

Why Do Half of Americans Pay No Federal Income Tax?

posted to Donald Marron on Wed 27th Jul 11

You may have heard the claim that abouthalf ofAmericans pay no federal income tax.That’s a true fact. My Tax Policy Center colleagues estimate, for example, that 46% of households either will pay no federal income tax in 2011 or willreceive more from
S&Ps $2 Trillion Error

posted to Donald Marron on Sun 7th Aug 11

In the final hours before Friday’s historic downgrade, Standard &Poorsgave Treasury an advance copy of its report. Amazingly, that report contained a $2 trillion error in its calculations of U.S. deficits and debt over the next decade. Here are four
What Would We Need for Persistent 5% Growth?

posted to Donald Marron on Wed 15th Jun 11

Last week, I argued that Governor Tim Pawlentys aspiration for 5% economic growth over a full decade isimplausible since the United States has achieved such steady growth only once since World War II.Over at Economics One, Stanford economics professor John

Weighing the Week Ahead: Time to Focus on Expectations?

posted to A Dash of Insight on Sat 12th Jan 13

Sometimes the market focus is firmly in the present, or even in the past. More frequently we expect markets to be forward-looking.At the moment, "the present" includes earnings reports influenced by Sandy and fiscal cliff uncertainty. The same is true for many
Links for 12-03-2012

posted to Economist's View on Mon 3rd Dec 12

A Symbolic Slaying - Economic PrincipalsData revisions mean more of the same - EconbrowserOperation Rolling Tantrum - Paul KrugmanThe wrong benchmark for tax rates - Antonio FatasSome Economists Doubt Dire Effects of Tax Increases - NYTLunch with Warren Buffett
About That 47% Figure...

posted to Angry Bear on Tue 18th Sep 12

Back in October of 2011, I blogged a bit and Tweeted Chrystia Freeland's interview with Jeff Immelt. (Thank you again, Felix.) What I didn't mention, apparently,* is that one of the questions from the floor was a, er, gentleman who declared in No Uncertain