Follow WallStreetBlips on Twitter
Not that he needs my endorsement...
The Emirates Economist —
... but if you want to read a really good proposal for how the US should conduct its fiscal policy check out Greg Mankiw post, My Preferred Fiscal Stimulus. ...
Morning Reading
EconLog: Library of Economics and Liberty —
Greg Mankiw writes I would institute an immediate and permanent reduction in the payroll tax, financed by a gradual, permanent, and substantial increase in the gasoline tax. I think if you put leading economists into a room to negotiate on the stimulus, this is where they would end up. Instead, the actual stimulus bill is really, really far away from anything that sensible economists would have written. Not that ignoring economics is such a shock. But I expect better from Democratic administrations, and I expected better from Larry Summers. ...
One of Greg Mankiw's ideas
Marginal Revolution —
Read the whole post, for Greg's full set of prescriptions, but this idea I had not previously considered: I recognize that some state governments are now struggling in light of
the macroeconomic crisis. For the next two years, I would let each
state governor have the ...
Options going forward
Lawrance G. Lux —
I applaud Greg Mankiw for giving a clear statement of his preference for his type of stimulus package. My trouble with it comes in his dedication to tax revenue-neutrality. I see no real grounds for a reduction in payroll taxes, but I personally wish a Gasoline tax substitute for a Consumption-Demand Price increase. Any matriculated diversion of Taxes to the States based upon methodology will never be rescinded, and States will never cure their own fiscal woes by proper Tax allocation. My position holds that Taxes are not onerous, Government spending is excessive, and Taxpayers ...
Maybe Songsmith isn't Completely Useless after all
Angry Bear —
... I believe this is what we meant when we talked about "creative destruction," back in the days when economists weren't just trying to eviscerate the safety net to "balance" the budget (and whose ...
Greg Mankiw's Preferred Fiscal Stimulus
J. Bradford DeLong's Grasping Reality with All Eight Tentacles —
... Greg Mankiw's Blog: My Preferred Fiscal Stimulus: I would institute an immediate and permanent reduction in the payroll tax, financed by a gradual, permanent, and substantial increase in the gasoline tax. I would make the two tax changes equal in present value, so while the package results in a short-run budget deficit, there is no long-term budget impact. Call it the create-jobs, save-the-environment, reduce-traffic-congestion, budget-neutral tax shift. ...
Four more pieces on the current financial problem that I liked
Newmark's Door —
Greg Mankiw: My Preferred Fiscal Stimulus (2/5) and How to Recapitalize the Financial System (10/8/08).
Niall Ferguson: "Keynes Can't Help Us Now" (2/6).
Jonah Goldberg: "The Great Overreach" (2/6).
Buy a House, Get a Visa
Marginal Revolution —
... I think there would be considerable support among economists that immigration (buy a house, get a visa), a payroll tax cut and maintaining state and local funding would be reasonably good policies in this recession (albeit not necessarily sufficient) yet these policies seem to be the ones that the political system rejects out of hand. (See also Matt Yglesias ...
Will Deferring Social Security Taxes Encourage More Current Consumption?
EconoSpeak —
One of the proposals to encourage aggregate demand is to reduce payroll taxes. One might ask – how would one cover the lost revenue from such a proposal. Greg Mankiw has one answer: ...
