Is Social Security Income Risky?

In ec 10 this spring, Marty Feldstein talked about proposals to incorporate personal accounts into Social Security. Critics of such proposals say th…

The Pelosi Problem

Fred Bergsten , director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics and formerly a Treasury official in the Carter administration, writes:…

Where I will be on Monday

Here : 40 years later- The relevance of Okun’s "Equality and Efficiency: The Big Tradeoff"

How to get a PhD and save the world

Advice from a Yale professor .

Abel on Capital Taxes

A friend recommends this new paper by Andy Abel . Andy says it is nondistortionary to tax capital income, as long as you allow new capital investmen…

Mr Mandate

The NY Times profiles MIT's Jonathan Gruber .

Is Amazon predatory?

Chapter 17 of my favorite textbook has a section on controversies over antitrust policy, including a discussion of predatory pricing. This topic is i…

Sowell lets loose

Economist Thomas Sowell really, really, really does not like the Democratic ticket .

McCain on Tax Reform

David Leonhardt writes about John McCain's economics , including an excellent idea: He also said that he would consider resuscitating the work of…

"a strategy of desperation"

My favorite book by Paul Krugman is Peddling Prosperity , which I once assigned in a course and still often recommend to students. A reader recently…

Moving toward Perfect Price Discrimination

A year ago on this blog, I let readers in on Harvard's secret plan : In the future, Harvard will cost $1 billion a year, and only Bill Gates'…

New Taxes in Massachusetts

Today's Boston Globe reports: Governor Deval Patrick said yesterday that he had come up with a way to pay for more police officers in Massachuse…

Chief Justice Roberts disses economists

From his recent opinion on the health care law, page 24: To an economist, perhaps, there is no difference between activity and inactivity; both have…

The Akerlof-Friedman Team

Steve Levitt points out that economists George Akerlof and Milton Friedman are cut from the same cloth: Both Akerlof and Friedman want to explain re…

Minimum Wage as an Antipoverty Tool

David Henderson reports : If the federal minimum wage were increased to $9.50 per hour:  Only 11.3 percent of workers who would gain from the increas…

Harvard's Double Standard?

Peter Wehner says my employer has a double standard on gay rights .

Financing Healthcare Reform

Today's  Washington Post reports : Obama's proposal takes the more modest Senate bill as his basic framework. But, in what is perhaps his pr…

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Over on their blogs, Noah Smith and David Henderson  have some compelling observations about respect. I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment that…

Advice for Aspiring Economists

A student from abroad emails the following question : Do you have some hints for me, how to become a good economist? Here is some advice for, say, an…

The Dynamic Furman Ratio

There has been a lot (maybe too much) commentary on my simple pedagogical exercise . To move the discussion forward, let me offer a challenge to read…

The Latest from the Standup Economist

An Illogical Attack on the GOP

The Democratic Party is attacking some Republican congressmen for both opposing the stimulus bill and also helping direct some stimulus spending int…

Some menu costs aren't so small

From the Washington Post : Like a lot of small-scale entrepreneurs, Cathy Osborne worries that she'll go out of business if fuel prices rise abov…

CEO of the Princeton Econ Department

Help Wanted

I am looking to hire a Harvard student to work with me as I revise my principles textbook (along with several other less time-consuming tasks). The p…

Bhagwati on Card Check

Jagdish is, surprisingly, in favor of the so-called Employee Free Choice Act . As I understand it, his argument is from the standpoint of the second …

Our neighbors are not happy

The FT reports : Candidates rebuked for attacks on Nafta Mexico and Canada on Wednesday voiced concern about calls by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinto…

Frank on Federalism

In today's NY Times, economist Robert Frank takes note of the new Massaschusetts health plan and then argues that such programs should be taking …

Markets in Everything, Not

My Harvard colleague Al Roth ( free link ) has a new essay that examines people's reluctance to buy and sell some things. The abstract: This ess…

The most fun event the Harvard economics department has sponsored since Kuznets did his song and dance number in drag

FTC on Price Gouging

This news story from today's Washington Post will not surprise many economists: The Federal Trade Commission said yesterday that it found no evi…

The Dreaded S Word

Robert Samuelson on Stagflation : no politician acknowledges the self-evident implication: that recessions, though unwanted and hurtful to many, are …

The Welfare State's Death Spiral

Robert Samuelson interprets the turmoil in Greece .

The Size of Impending Tax Hikes

As is well known, future Congresses will need to either raise taxes or reform entitlement programs to close the looming fiscal gap. A recent letter f…

Tax rates, Risk-taking, and Inequality

The above graph ( source ) shows the top marginal tax rate under the U.S. income tax. One striking feature is the substantial decline over the past s…

Is Social Security Income Risky?

In ec 10 this spring, Marty Feldstein talked about proposals to incorporate personal accounts into Social Security. Critics of such proposals say th…

Globalization, Immigration, and Poverty

In the April 2006 issue of Scientific American , Pranab Bardhan (econ prof at UC Berkeley) asks "Does Globalization Help or Hurt the World's…

Close, but no cigar

Click here to read my column in tomorrow's NY Times.

Mr Buffett's Tax Bill

Warren Buffett says he does not pay enough in taxes: Warren E. Buffett was his usual folksy self Tuesday night at a fundraiser for Sen. Hillary Rodh…

Pigovian Questions

Ted Gayer , a member of the Pigou Club , emails me some good questions to put on the agenda for our next meeting (if we ever hold one): Does the Club…

The State of the Labor Market

The U.S. unemployment rate is now low by historical standards. Is this because the economy is operating near capacity or because so many workers are …

Grandpa needs an HSA

Economist Bryan Caplan describes what happens when a third-party payer covers all medical expenses: my grandpa got $300k of elective surgery in his …

George Stigler rolls over in his grave

Remember when the University of Chicago used to be the intellectual center of the deregulation movement? No more. A reader alerts me to this news : I…

On weights and coding errors: odd coincidence or dress rehearsal?

Angus Deaton recounts an unpleasant episode in his career .  Followers of the Reinhart-Rogoff controversy, take note.

What I've been up to

I went to a great Jason Mraz concert last night. (Great, that is, except for the loud, drunken couple with seats directly behind us--talk about negat…

How well known are economists?

Thanks to Tyler Cowen for the pointer.

Advances in Inflation Measurement

Chapter 24 of my favorite textbook discusses how economists measure the cost of living.  This article in Slate would provide a good supplementary re…

The Problem with Industrial Policy

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes , Political Humor & Satire Blog , The Daily Show on Facebook

Econ Conference for Undergrads

If you are an undergraduate, this conference may be of interest .

The Overoptimism of Research Assistants

How long will it take to fix the health exchange website? I have no idea. But thinking about this issue reminded me of a time when I was a grad stude…

McCain on the Laffer Curve

Senator McCain tells the National Review : Tax cuts, starting with Kennedy, as we all know, increase revenues. The interviewer, however, did not ask …

A Primer on Fiscal Stimulus

From Doug Elmendorf and Jason Furman .

Summer Reads

Some suggestions from Harvard profs .

Health Inequality

Via Peter Orszag : Americans are living longer than ever -- but, as documented in a recent National Academy of Sciences report (“Explaining Divergent…

King on Monetary Policy

Mervyn King , the most charming central banker I know, offers his views about monetary policy in a globalized economy: Some of you may be tempted to …

Feldstein on QE2

My Harvard colleague Marty Feldstein is skeptical about quantitative easing .

The (In)justice of Gambling

In a comment on my previous post on gambling, Jacqueline Passey says: gambling is distributive justice, moving money from stupid people to smart peo…

Are emerging and developed economies switching place?

Alan Taylor ponders the question .

Elmendorf in Ec 10

On Monday, Douglas Elmendorf, the director of the Congressional Budget Office, will give a guest lecture in ec 1o on (no surprise) the U.S. governmen…

Cheaper than Ec 10

Here you can buy 10 economics lectures for $1.60 per lecture. By contrast, Harvard tuition is about $30K (not counting room and board). Assuming 4 c…

My Favorite Textbook (3e)

A friend sends along this photo of a sock puppet, created by (believe it or not) some White House interns. I am told the puppet is supposed to be of…

Are all economists free-market purists?

Some of my fellow academics may think of economists as the right wingers on the faculty. A recent survey, however, suggests that most economists are …

The Danger of Spectator Sports

I have never been a particularly big fan of watching sporting events. I much prefer movies as a pastime. It turns out, I learn in today's Wall St…

Mountford and Uhlig on Fiscal Policy

I mentioned an earlier version of this paper a while back , but a reader emails me that it is now available as an NBER Working Paper . What are the E…

On Violent Metaphors

Paul Krugman in today's NY Times : The point is that there’s room in a democracy for people who ridicule and denounce those who disagree with the…

Chairman John

John Campbell is the new chairman of the Harvard economics department. Congratulations, John, and my condolences as well. I have long thought that m…

Pigovian Question of the Day

Tyler Cowen cites this research finding : "Our estimates imply that every death of a helmetless motorcyclist prevents or delays as many as 0.33…

The Fundamental Theorem of Politics

Laffer Redux

How relevant is the Laffer curve to the current debate over fiscal policy? Economist Bruce Bartlett gives his answer in this article .

Clinton: Also no fan of retirement saving

I noted last week that Senator Obama has for some reason not taken the opportunity to put some of his Schedule C income into a tax-deferred retireme…

Sachs on the Credit Crisis

Jeff says it's the Fed's fault : To a large extent, the US crisis was actually made by the Fed....What was stunning was how the Fed, under Gr…

Education Beyond the Classroom

A student emails me a question about my experiences outside the classroom: Dear Professor Mankiw, I'm a freshman at the University of Pennsylvani…

Lucas on Growth

Ec 10 students are now studying long-run economic growth. This new podcast interview with Nobel laureate Robert Lucas is, therefore, very timely.

Friedman on Clark

My Harvard colleague Ben Friedman reviews Gregory Clark's book A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World .

Miron on Bailouts

Harvard's Jeff Miron makes the case for doing nothing .

Where I am today

Here , in New York City, helping promote economics education.

Harvard Presidency as a Part-time Job

One of my Harvard colleagues was struck by a sentence in yesterday's NY Times story about Larry Summers : Among these insiders are Kenneth D. Bro…

Prediction from the Fair Model

Ray Fair says : 51.91 for the Democrats and 48.09 for the Republicans, for a spread of 3.82. Update : The actual spread was 5.4.

Raise the Early Retirement Age

Says Andrew Biggs .

What I've been reading...

...to my younger son Peter, who is in the third grade: The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure . Highly recommended for nerdy dads (and moms) out …

A Reading for the Pigou Club

British Columbia institutes a carbon tax, cuts income taxes, and everybody is happy .  (If you are new to this blog and haven't heard me on this …

Why Health Policy is Hard

Click here to read my column in Sunday's NY Times .

Harvard's Troubles

As seen by the Times (UK).

Blogometrics

A new ranking of economics blogs based on the scholarly impact of the bloggers .

Better than a Nobel

The Independent reports: The Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, has announced that a portrait of Adam Smith will feature on a redesigned…

The Tax Share

Source: NY Times .

Measuring Jobs Created or Saved

The stimulus bill Congress passed a few months ago apparently requires the Council of Economic Advisers to report quarterly on the employment effects…

A Few Things to Read

John Tierney on neuroeconomics . Charles Murray on education and IQ: Part I , Part II , Part III . John Stossel on the trade deficit .

More Rankings

Jane Galt writes: when it comes to hyper-obsession with invisibly fine status distinctions, no [investment] banker could hold a candle to the averag…

$ummers

Larry opines on the falling dollar .

The World's Poor and Hungry

A great article by MIT's Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo . Thanks to Tyler Cowen for the pointer.

More Commentary on the Financial Mess

Laurence Kotlikoff and Perry Mehrling Vernon Smith David Leonhardt Nouriel Roubini Robert Shiller Nicholas Bloom Casey Mulligan Paul Volcker

Lefties' Leg Up

Today's Washington Post reports that southpaws earn more: "Among the college-educated men in our sample, those who report being left-handed…

Frank on Health Care

In today's NY Times, economist Robert Frank makes the case for a government-run health system, along the lines they have in France. Somewhat odd…

An Animated 4-Minute History of Econ

Bad Press for Ben

Economists I know and respect are highly supportive of Fed chair Ben Bernanke, but as judged by this and this , it looks like the financial press ma…

The Direction of Policy

Alan Blinder is happy about it . Gary Becker and Kevin Murphy not so much .

Harvey Rosen on the Romney Tax Plan

You can read what the Princeton public finance expert says at this link .  Here is the bottom line: I analyze the Romney proposal taking into account…

Downsizing

Hillary on Leno

After watching this, read Russell Roberts' analysis of her story about the little boy with the minimum-wage mom.

Schumpeter and Galbraith

Via McCloskey .

Perhaps the Worst Advice Ever

Daniel Drezner recounts some truly terrible advice he received as a young academic: When I was an assistant professor at the University of Chicago, …