John Quiggin finally makes explicit What Everyone Knows: that the clusterfuck that has been made of Macroeconomics is due largely to an attempt to leverage (insufficiently robust) Microeconomic Theory: the search for a macroeconomic theory founded on (roughly) neoclassical micro, which has been the main direction of macro research for 40 years or so, was […]
by cactus Norman Borlaug, Michael Jackson, and the Invisible Hand When Adam Smith described the concept of laissez-faire capitalism, he argued that it was not just efficient but moral. As long as everyone acted in their own self-interest and the government did not interfere, the Invisible Hand would guide market forces toward the best possible […]
WalterJon finds a brilliant judge’s response to a “birther” case: The Court observes that the President defeated seven opponents in a grueling campaign for his party’s nomination that lasted more than eighteen months and cost those opponents well over $300 million. Then the President faced a formidable opponent in the general election who received $84 […]
by Bruce Webb (h/t kharris) A Summary of the Specifications for Health Insurance Coverage Provided by the Staff of the Senate Finance Committee. ‘Preliminary’ doesn’t begin to describe this, it is not even based on the full text of the Chairman’s mark as released this morning, which is probably just as well since that really […]
by Rebecca Wilder There is always an agenda when a central banker declares the recession is over – and Bernanke is no different. The following facts remain: US GDP contracted at a 1% annualized pace in the second quarter of 2009 (its fourth consecutive drop), industrial output grew just two consecutive months after declining every […]
Andrew Samwick: Government bureaucrats don’t reduce costs. Market competition reduces costs. The challenge for health care reform is to get the market competition into the places where we want it — providers and insurers competing to deliver better services at lower prices — and out of the places where we don’t want it — insurers […]
by Bruce Webb For the last two months much of the talk around Health Care Reform has been about the Gang of Six of the Senate Finance Commitee to the point that some people think the Gang and the Committee are one and the same. But this is not true at all, this week Chairman […]
By Spencer Industrial output rose 0.8 percent in August, following an upwardly revised increase of 1.0 percent in July. Production in manufacturing expanded 0.6 percent in August, and the index excluding motor vehicles and parts increased 0.4 percent. The gain in July for manufacturing was revised up 0.4 percentage point, to1.4 percent; in addition, factory […]
Robert Waldmann I am not questioning Senator Olympia Snowe’s integrity. The Snowe job in question was my attempt to convince myself that Senator Snowe agrees with me. When reflecting on the question I discover that she strongly disagrees with Senator Snowe. I can see that the problem of health care reform has caused her to […]
by reader Run “Great Benefit is like a Giant Slot Machine that never pays off”. The RainMaker, John Grisham Private Healthcare Insurance companies paid off for those from whom they can profit. The rest of us who are costly because of age, disorders, or illness are bound to find ourselves without private insurance and too […]