Category: Economics

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

The latest recession was primarily caused by the bursting of the housing bubble. During the rise of the housing bubble, home prices increased dramatically. When the bubble burst, home prices fell through the floor. This had a large number of really negative effects. Many homeowners who took out mortgages during the housing bubble wound up… Continue reading Two fresh policy ideas to help underwater homeowners

John Cassidy had a piece a few days ago at the New Yorker about class warfare in America. Buried in the piece, he makes a point that really deserves underscoring: The argument of free-market economists that productivity determines wages and profits is mistaken. Productivity determines the over-all size of the pie. How it is distributed… Continue reading Everything about the economy is a distortion

The majority of Americans think economic issues are the most important issues facing the country. Thus, Obama’s economic record will likely feature heavily in the upcoming campaign. Because of that, I thought it would be useful to explain in broad strokes what has happened under Obama. In the last quarter of 2008 — just before… Continue reading Obama’s economic record and campaign simplicity

The economy remains in a rut. Although economic growth has returned, it has not been the kind of rapid catch-up growth necessary to bring the country back to full employment. The blue line is the official unemployment rate, and the red line is the U6 rate, a measurement which includes the underemployed and those who… Continue reading Unemployment and monetary policies at the zero lower bound