Mitt Romney picked Paul Ryan for his vice president. The office of the vice president is almost entirely irrelevant; so it’s not clear why this really matters. Paul Ryan’s most notable “achievement” is his proposed budget. The budget is an absolute train wreck that doubtlessly owes its provenance to Ryan’s comical affection for Ayn Rand.… Continue reading On Paul Ryan’s vice presidential candidacy
Author: Matt Bruenig
Countering the right-wing arguments about investment
Most right-wing economic policy arguments are really bad. The idea, for instance, that regulatory burdens and uncertainty are responsible for the bad economy — instead of the housing crisis, financial crisis, and debt overhang — is on its face absurd. But if you dig past the talking points far enough, you can actually find some… Continue reading Countering the right-wing arguments about investment
Student debt disproportionately burdens the well-off
The Wall Street Journal has an article today about the rising student debt burdens of the well-off. In the article, the WSJ details findings from the newest Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances. Among households in the 80th-95th income percentile — the WSJ’s definition of “upper-middle-income households” — 25.6 percent had student loan debt in… Continue reading Student debt disproportionately burdens the well-off
Kwame Anthony Appiah’s take on microfoundations
A macroeconomic theory is said to be microfounded if it can be reduced to the actions of individual economic agents (that being what microeconomics focuses on). A short while ago, the topic of microfoundations ripped through the economics blogging community. Most of the heavy hitters in the community weighed in on whether microfoundations really matters… Continue reading Kwame Anthony Appiah’s take on microfoundations
The Economic Policy Uncertainty Index and the Judy Miller Problem
The Romney camp and its academic lackeys released a new white paper detailing some of Romney’s economic ideas and policies. In one part of the report, we are treated to an academic effort to codify the otherwise hand-waiving hysteria about economic uncertainty. The GOP uses the idea of economic uncertainty to get out of recognizing… Continue reading The Economic Policy Uncertainty Index and the Judy Miller Problem