Author Archives: Richard S. Grossman

Ben Bernanke is a much better economist than John Taylor

Writing in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal, John Taylor takes the Federal Reserve to task for its “interventionist” behavior. Taylor’s main complaint with the Fed’s conduct of monetary policy is that it is unstable and unpredictable (verging on the whimsical!).  He … Continue reading

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Time to go negative!

Since the outbreak of the subprime meltdown, the Federal Reserve has shown itself ready, willing, and able to adopt unconventional monetary policies in order to reverse the downturn ushered in by the financial crisis. Recent Fed innovations have included quantitative … Continue reading

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Enforce the regulations that we already have

Republicans and Democrats are arguing over how many regulations we should add—or remove—from the financial services industry.  Before we think about altering the regulations, we should think about enforcing the ones we currently have. Ever since the sub-prime meltdown erupted … Continue reading

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Three cheers for the IMF, the EU, and the ratings agencies!!!

Hungary’s new constitution came into force on January 1.  This was not good news. Engineered by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party, the new constitution has a number of unsavory elements. The Constitutional Court, which serves as a check on … Continue reading

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Unfortunately, in Greece statistics is a combat sport

The Financial Times reports that Andreas Georgiou, the head of the independent Greek statistical agency Elstat, is facing a criminal investigation for allegedly inflating the scale of the country’s fiscal crisis and “acting against the Greek national interest.” Georgiou, who … Continue reading

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Where will the new capital come from?

Writing in Thursday’s Financial Times, Pimco chief executive and chief investment officer Mohamed El-Erian argues that Europe’s first order of business should be to recapitalize its banks. It is hard to argue with this prescription.  With the finances of Greece, … Continue reading

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Glenn Hubbard ignores some inconvenient facts

Writing in today’s Wall Street Journal about how to reduce government spending, Columbia University economist and former chairman of George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisors R. Glenn Hubbard chooses to disregard some important facts. According to Hubbard, “President Obama’s … Continue reading

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Great minds think alike

Apparently, the Economist agrees with my emphasis on the rise of technocracy.

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Send in the technocrats!

Winston Churchill said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried. The financial crisis has tested Churchill’s assertion. In Greece, the austerity measures imposed on the country by the EU and … Continue reading

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