Paul Krugman's Blog, page 618
August 3, 2009
In defense of Michelle Malkin
No, really. She's been getting a lot of grief from progressive bloggers for saying that extended unemployment benefits cause higher unemployment, and attributing that view to Larry Katz, who has gone to some pains to say that he believes no such thing.
But while Larry Katz doesn't believe that unemployment has surged because the government has [...:]
But while Larry Katz doesn't believe that unemployment has surged because the government has [...:]
August 2, 2009
Dimensionality
A number of commenters on my Michelle Malkin post objected that it's not possible to reduce political views to a one-dimensional, left-right scale.
That's what I would have thought a few years ago. But then I became familiar with the Poole-Rosenthal work on Congressional voting. They use a clever algorithm to jointly map bills and members [...:]
That's what I would have thought a few years ago. But then I became familiar with the Poole-Rosenthal work on Congressional voting. They use a clever algorithm to jointly map bills and members [...:]
Beyond 101
A lot of people think economics is completely summed up by "Yay free markets! Greed is good!"
But there's a lot more to it - and once you get past the simplest stories, far more nuance.
I've just been reading Jack Hishleifer on the private and social value of information, and a related, more readable (and [...:]
But there's a lot more to it - and once you get past the simplest stories, far more nuance.
I've just been reading Jack Hishleifer on the private and social value of information, and a related, more readable (and [...:]
Even-handedness
AP: FACT CHECK: Distortions rife in health care debate:
Opponents of proposals by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats falsely claim that government agents will force elderly people to discuss end-of-life wishes. Obama has played down the possibility that a health care overhaul would cause large numbers of people to change doctors and insurers.
So Republicans are [...:]
Opponents of proposals by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats falsely claim that government agents will force elderly people to discuss end-of-life wishes. Obama has played down the possibility that a health care overhaul would cause large numbers of people to change doctors and insurers.
So Republicans are [...:]
August 1, 2009
Health reform made simple
Kudos to the Times for a story that, for once, emphasizes the remarkable unity of vision health reformers are showing, rather than the squabbles that are an inevitable part of passing major legislation.
The essence is really quite simple: regulation of insurers, so that they can't cherry-pick only the healthy, and subsidies, so that all Americans [...:]
The essence is really quite simple: regulation of insurers, so that they can't cherry-pick only the healthy, and subsidies, so that all Americans [...:]
Scaling Michelle Malkin
When I saw that Michelle Malkin will be on the Stephanopoulos panel this week, my first thought was that nobody as far to the left as she is to the right would ever appear on such a panel. But then I started to wonder (a) what I mean by that (b) if it's true.
I don't [...:]
I don't [...:]
More birther stuff
David Weigel does some more number-crunching, and concludes that as many as three-quarters of Southern whites either asserted that Obama wasn't born in the United States, or at least had doubts.
Btw, Research 2000 is a reputable polling organization - and I hear that other pollsters are finding similar patterns.
Weigel adds one more point:
One thing [...:]
Btw, Research 2000 is a reputable polling organization - and I hear that other pollsters are finding similar patterns.
Weigel adds one more point:
One thing [...:]
The invisible program
Matthew Yglesias leads us to a commenter at Marginal Revolution who looks at life expectancy and concludes that "semi-socialized medicine" is good for the young but bad for the old. Tyler Cowen made the same argument in the Times a while back:
On average, European systems are relatively good for the young, who are generally healthy [...:]
On average, European systems are relatively good for the young, who are generally healthy [...:]
Growth and unemployment
A few commenters have asked how it's possible to have a recovery with rising unemployment; also there seems to be some confusion about what I meant by saying that the unemployment rate isn't much out of line. So I thought I'd offer a chart - and I learned something in the process.
So here's what economists [...:]
So here's what economists [...:]
July 31, 2009
In defense of Larry Summers
Larry and I have not always seen eye to eye. There is certainly a case against him. But this, from Willem Buiter, is nuts:
Summers is not a monetary economist or macroeconomist. He has never shown any serious interest in researching and understanding the workings of the kind of complex, interdependent dynamic systems that represent the [...:]
Summers is not a monetary economist or macroeconomist. He has never shown any serious interest in researching and understanding the workings of the kind of complex, interdependent dynamic systems that represent the [...:]
