Monthly Archives: July 2011

Actually this post was written a few hours before this one that I commented on before: First Michael Boskin, now John Taylor: there seems be an epidemic of politically conservative economists who used to be technically competent repeating the obviously wrong falsehood … Continue reading →

Krugman doesn´t miss any opportunity to “harass” republicans even if to do so he has to take some “liberties” with the historical facts: Reagan did not start an era of unprecedented growth by any measure: employment, GDP, productivity, whatever. But … Continue reading →

Both are respected economists, both are professors at leading universities (Harvard & Princeton), both are authors of well regarded intermediate macroeconomics textbooks, both are former heads of the CEA and both are Republicans. Yes, a lot in common so no … Continue reading →

I think this just confirms what I wrote previously. From Jon Hilsenrath: Among the reasons the economy is so vulnerable: Debt-laden consumers with scant savings are prone to slash spending when their incomes drop. Household confidence is more fragile. Individuals … Continue reading →

That´s the information we get from the BEA release. The picture below provides a clear visual impression. A lot of people have already discussed this topic, so I´ll take a different tack. What amazes me is the fact that, led … Continue reading →

From Richmond Fed president Lacker: Given current inflation trends, additional monetary stimulus at this juncture seems likely to raise inflation to undesirably high levels and do little to spur real growth. Factors that have held back the recovery, such as … Continue reading →

The Fed has a dual mandate: price stability and maximum employment. It has failed miserably regarding the latter. It therefore argues that unemployment is “structural”. Tim Duy has a long post discussing the issue: Given that thoughts of high structural … Continue reading →

Shiller writes in his turn at the NYT: THE fight over the debt ceiling has deflected attention from the serious problems of fixing the economy and finding jobs for the 14 million unemployed. Worse, it has created strong negative feelings about fiscal … Continue reading →

Krugman has the habit of turning everything into a “political fray” between the GOP and the Dems. So he presents a version of this figure: And writes: Those inflation spikes were, of course, blips mainly driven by the price of … Continue reading →

A little over 2 years ago, Alan Meltzer wrote an op-ed at the NYT which he titled “Inflation nation”: IN the 1970s, with inflation rising, I often described the Federal Reserve as knowing only two speeds: too fast and too … Continue reading →