Monthly Archives: October 2011

Alan Meltzer’s straw “Keynesian”

Posted on October 29, 2011 by Richard S. Grossman

Remember when “liberal” became the insult of choice among Republicans? Apparently, “Keynesian” has now taken on that status for Republican economists.  Never mind that Keynesian is ill-defined (old Keynesian?  new Keynesian?  the Keynesian part of the neoclassical synthesis?)–making Keynesian a … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Crisis, financial regulation, government budget, subprime crisis | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

See no evil, hear no evil, and, if you are a ratings agency, speak no evil

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Richard S. Grossman

You don’t have to look too far to find nutty policy proposals. One of my favorites is  Herman Cain’s suggestion that Congressional bills be limited to no more than three pages. Another, reported in recent days by both the Financial … Continue reading →

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Prize (for a) failure

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Richard S. Grossman

British clothing retailer Simon Wolfson (known to his friends in the House of Lords as Baron Wolfson of Aspley Guise) announced several days ago the establishment of the Wolfson Economics Prize (read the press release here).   The prize, worth … Continue reading →

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John Cogan and John Taylor confuse temporary and permanent

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Richard S. Grossman

In a recently published op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, Stanford economists John Cogan and John Taylor argue that: “Temporary, targeted tax reductions and increases in government spending are not good economics. They have repeatedly failed to increase economic … Continue reading →

Posted in government budget | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment