J. Bradford DeLong's Blog, page 2291

Department of "Huh?!": What Model Is Jeffrey Sachs Working in? Edition

Whenever I build a model in which expansionary fiscal policy fails to reduce unemployment, it is for one of three reasons:

Expectations of the present and future deficits cause the price level to jump now, so that increased nominal spending does not translate into increased real demand (i.e., Mitterand ca. 1981)
The expansionary effect of higher deficits is offset by higher interest rates that crowd out private investment and exports, offsetting the stimulative effect of the fiscal policy...

We Need Bigger Deficits Now!

We Are Live at The Week: As the disappointing May job numbers confirm, this is still an exceptional time—a time in which many of the normal rules of the Dismal Science are changed and transformed. It is a time for not normal economics but rather “depression economics.” The terms on which the U.S. government can borrow now are exceptionally advantageous. And because of high unemployment the benefits of boosting government purchases and cutting taxes right now are exceptionally large.

The...

Outside Readings for Economics 1

How do we get our undergraduates to work... not harder, so much, but better--to learn more and to learn more that is useful to them?

One thing I want to try with the 800-person zoo that is Economics 1 this fall is to get everybody in the class up on their hind legs giving short three-to-five minute presentations to their fellow students at some point during the semester. To make everything incentive compatible, the presentations should be on readings that the presenters will have read and...

Can Obama Do This Job?

Evidence from appointments suggests not.

In my inbox this morning:

a majority of federal court vacancies remain without a nominee (only 46/104 -- so let's not blame the Senate), and of the 21 known vacancies that will appear in the next year or so, there is only one nominee in place...

A president is, first of all, chief of the executive with the duty to take care that the laws be faithfully exacted. That means, first of all, hiring people to execute the laws. A good...

Liveblogging World War II: June 7, 1940

The Norwegian government and its remaining forces evacuate Norway for Britain, as Mussolini orders Italian merchant ships to proceed to neutral ports...

links for 2010-06-06

Paul Krugman: Lost Decade, Here We Come

PK: "the deficit hawks want their cuts while unemployment rates are... near-record... monetary policy... [at:] the zero bound. But what about Greece and all that? Look, right now sovereign debt problems are taking place in countries with a very specific problem: they're part of the euro zone, AND they're badly overvalued thanks to huge capital inflows in the good years; as a result they're facing years of grinding...

Mark Leibovich Is Fed Up with the Journalism of Mark Leibovich

Yes, it's true. The best way to summarize Mark Leibovitch's pitch for his new book is somebody please stop me before I write again.

Wonkette watches the train wreck:

Wonkette: MORE BOOKS FOREVER: Mark Leibovich, the same New York Times writer that put together that insanely insider-y, obnoxious 8,000-word profile of Politico’s Mike Allen because they’re friends, is apparently so DISTURBED by the “media-industrial complex” of Washington — it’s reached “a tipping point of...

Deficit Arithmetic: Henry Blodget Needs to Do the Math

Henry Blodget arouses my ire by failing to do his arithmetic.

Henry Blodget:

Paul Krugman: Lost Decade, Here We Come: Where are we on this fight between Krugman (Keynesians) and Niall Ferguson, et al (who argue that our ballooning debts and deficits will kill us in the end)? In the middle.  We think Krugman is right about the short-term impact "austerity" will have on the global economy, and we never hear the Tea Party and other austerity pundits acknowledge that. At the same time, we...

Liveblogging World War II: June 6, 1940

U.S. for the first time imposes passport requirement on visitors from Canada, Mexico, Cuba, and the United Kingdom.

America's Debt Capacity Rises Yet Again...

Mark Thoma:

Twitter / Mark Thoma: A Flight to Treasury Bonds ...: A Flight to Treasury Bonds That Wasn’t Supposed to Happen - NYTimes.com http://icio.us/1fxj1f