Imagine an economy that consists of two households, one firm, one bank, and one government. The government issues $50 to each household (maybe they do some work for it), crediting their bank accounts and running a $100 deficit. Voila! There’s money! Now one household works for the firm, creating $50 in value, goods. The firm […]

It’s nice to see Matthew Yglesias embracing Modern Monetary Theory, but I wonder if he totally gets it: The point of collecting taxes isn’t that the government needs money (it can print money) it’s that if the quantity of taxes is too low relative to the stock of money, then the money loses its value […]

Middle Class Political Economist: Basics: Length of Unemployment is Worst Since World War II.. (HT Brad DeLong.) The key graph: Assuming the economy is “trying” to reach equilibrium, this suggests that it “wants” less workers. If that is a secular trend, as suggested by the steadily lengthening jobless recessions since the 80s, …we’re faced with […]

I just came across a fellow internet econocrank’s tax proposal, and find it quite interesting — especially its proposed progressive tax on net worth, which echoes the flat tax on financial assets that I’ve bruited. It also reflects many of the notions I suggested I’d implement if I was the Dictator of America.The basic problem […]

Bruce Wilder had an excellent comment recently in the Crooked Timber thread on markets, economic rents, and the constraints on economic actors, excerpted by Dan here, and more with comments by Jazzbumpah here. (If you like the thinking there, run don’t walk to read this windyanabasis post and comments.) The emphasis on constraints prompts me […]

Any knowledgeable economist will tell you that GDP (or GDP/capita) is a profoundly imperfect and non-inclusive measure of national well-being.In particular, GDP doesn’t count any work isn’t paid for with money — painting your mom’s house, volunteering for the Rotary Club or your church (David Brooks, are you listening?), caring for your kids and your […]

Or: It’s The Velocity, Stupid.I got quite a bit of blowback on my recent post suggesting that economists don’t understand accounting. In response I give you Exhibit A: the almost-ubiquitous notion that more saving increases the supply of “loanable funds” — hence that more saving causes or at least allows more investment. (The absolute classic […]

David Frum was excommunicated from the Righties Club a few years back because he insisted on occasionally saying sane and accurate things. He continues that aberrational behavior today in his review of AEI uber-zealot Charles Murray’s new book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010 (which I will not link to here — no […]

Don’t tell me that the Dems favor fiscal stimulus because they like big government. The payroll tax cut will make it a bit more difficult to expand the size of government in future years. (As Clinton found in 1993, when he was told the “bond markets” (i.e. the Reagan tax cuts) wouldn’t allow him to […]

David Beckworth: global economic growth over the past few decades has outpaced the capacity of the world economy to produce truly safe assets Really? The U.S. could have just deficit-spent more, crediting people’s/businesses’ checking accounts and thereby increasing the global stock of the world’s safest asset: U.S. dollars. It could (by U.S. law is required […]