Update: Brad DeLong has replied, and I have replied to him. Dean Baker quite rightly takes Robert Samuelson to task for his op-ed on the causes of secular stagnation. Samuelson: The problem might not be a dearth of investments so much as a surplus of risk aversion. For that, candidates abound: the traumatic impact of the Great Recession […]

I put together a video on the natural real interest rate. There is not one single natural real rate. It is like what Steve Waldman said… “The word natural is always used to hide the constructed context in which an outcome occurs…” The natural real interest rate goes lower, as policy tries to push real […]

by Robert Waldmann Dreadful Plumbing with Downward Nominal Rigidity Dreadful plumbing with downward nominal rigidity This is a legible version (thanks Dan) of this post. This is the pointless math post which accompaniesthis and especially this post at angrybearblog. Here I am assuming that transition out of the liquidity trap is predictable. This means that […]

Today’s must-read Seattle Times article by Carol M. Ostrom and Amy Snow Landa (interactive graphic here and comparison table here) prompts me to write about a huge problem with American health insurance that I’ve been banging against quite personally in recent months. Excerpts below give an idea what an important article this is. My thoughts: Insurers are actively eliminating must-have hospitals from their networks, […]

by Mike Kimel Previewing Blinder and Watson (2015) Via James Hamilton at Econbrowser, I read about this paper by Blinder and Watson. From their abstract: The U.S. economy has performed better when the President of the United States is a Democrat rather than a Republican, almost regardless of how one measures performance. For many measures, including […]

Update:  “Lord Keynes” provides a great explication of Kaldor’s theoretical work on this subject. Back in the day when I was running a high-tech conference company, we had a favorite (and actually rather cruel) interview question: “What’s the best price for a conference?” There was only one right answer: “The price that makes us the most money.” […]

Based on this report from the Economic Policy Institute Federal minimum wage increase comes this EPI info graphic pointing to some useful comparisons for general readers: The inflation-adjusted value of the minimum wage is lower today than it was in 1968. If the value of the minimum wage had kept pace with average wages since […]

Stormy wrote in 2008 a narrative for the last few decades on trade…still relevent: Trade means jobs; trade brings money into plants; trade surpluses ripple through the economy, providing not only wealth to employers and employees alike but also moneys into public coffers. Consider it “outside money” flowing into a town, county, state, or country. […]

A few is more than two but not a lot. As noted below, I don’t have the gift which it takes to be simple. I really can’t manage 2 period models which illustrate my confused thoughts. My last post (which was messy especially the math in plain ascii and spelling) noted that the government spending […]

Yves Smith and Dean Baker on Secrets in Trade