Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Presidents, Taxes and Economic Growth

Presidents, Taxes and Economic Growth by Mike Kimel One of the never-ending debates in economics is the extent to which taxes affect the economy.  Most people are fairly certain that higher taxes slow growth.  They’ve learned this from economists. To get my own look at the issue, about six years ago, I wrote a post […]

Unemployment “Truthers”

Via Mark Thoma’s Economists View comes Bruce Bartlett’s post at The Big Picture by Bruce Bartlett: Unemployment ”Truthers’‘ Donald Trump and Other Republicans Are Unemployment “Truthers”, The Big Picture: Among Donald Trump’s stump sound bites is that the national unemployment rate is far, far higher than the official rate of 4.9 percent. He is not alone […]

Monetary Policy in an Open Economy

by Joseph Joyce Monetary Policy in an Open Economy The recent research related to the trilemma (see here) confirms that policymakers who are willing to sacrifice control of the exchange rate or capital flows can implement monetary policy. For most central banks, this means using a short-term interest rate, such as the Federal Funds rate […]