Dean Baker's Blog, page 366

Mexico As a Growth Dynamo

The NYT Room for Debate section must have caught many readers by surprise on Thursday when it posed the question of whether economic growth was essential for mobility and it held Mexico up as an example of a dynamic economy. The reason this might have been a surprise is that Mexico has mostly been a growth laggard. It's growth rate has generally been considerably slower than the growth rate of other Latin American countries and is projected to remain slower in the foreseeable future.  

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Krugman on Bubbles and Secular Stagnation

Paul Krugman has some interesting thoughts on the possibility that the U.S. economy might have a serious problem with secular stagnation that has been remedied in large part over the last two decades by bubble generated demand. This is old hat to some of us, but it's great to see Krugman pursuing this line of thought.

There are two points worth adding on the topic. One important component of demand that has been big-time in the negative category in the last 15 years is net exports. This repr...

The European Central Bank Celebrates the Growth Potential of a Trade Agreement That Would Boost Growth by Less than 0.02 Percentage Points

You know times are bad when people start making a big deal about finding pennies in the street. That seems to be the case these days at the European Central Bank.

According to the New York Times, Joerg Asmussen, an Executive Board member of the European Central Bank,touted the growth potential of a trade agreement between the European Union and the United States. A study by the Centre for Economic and Policy Research in the United Kingdom (no connection to CEPR) found that in a best case sce...

Representative Steve Southerland Wants to Cut Food Stamps by an Amount Equal to 0.086 Percent of Federal Spending

The Washington Post had a lengthy article on Florida Representative Steve Southerland's efforts to cut food stamp spending by $40 billion over the next decade. Since it never put this figure in any context, many readers may have mistakenly been led to believe that there is real money at stake.

While this proposed cut may make a huge difference to the affected population, it will have no noticeable impact on the federal budget. 

NYT Is Badly Confused on Obamacare, Mistakes Mid-Price Plan for Low-Price Plan

Obamacare may be more confusing than many people realized. Apparently even the NYT is unable to get it straight.

In an article that detailed the cost of the plans in the exchange for various types of families in each of the 50 states, the NYT told readers:

"The figures, almost by definition, provide a favorable view of costs, highlighting the least expensive coverage in each state."

This is clearly not true. The numbers featured in the article were for the second lowest cost silver plan in th...

Do Doctors Really Lose Money on Medicare Patients or Do They Lie to New York Times Reporters?

That is undoubtedly the question that many NYT readers were asking when they read an article warning that insurance companies in the exchanges were not paying enough money to attract many doctors. At one point the piece told readers;

"Dr. Barbara L. McAneny, a cancer specialist in Albuquerque, said that insurers in the New Mexico exchange were generally paying doctors at Medicare levels, which she said were 'often below our cost of doing business, and definitely below commercial rates.'"

The...

Charles Lane on Merkel's Re-election: More From the Bizarro World at the Washington Post Oped Page

The hit to Europe's economy from the collapse of its housing bubbles has been larger than the downturn it suffered in the Great Depression. So naturally the assessment of columnist Charles Lane on the Post oped page is:

"So far, Merkel has managed the crisis of the euro zone well."

It's not clear what would count as managing the crisis poorly, although Lane does tell us in the next sentence that in his view the breakup of the euro would be the ultimate disaster. If keeping the euro together i...

U.N. Says Child Labor Down by One Third Since 2000

This is an impressive accomplishment that deserves some attention.

U.S. -European Differences on Freedom v. Security May Reflect Differences in Understanding

Robert Samuelson used his column to tell readers that people in the United States really are different than in other countries. Samuelson wrote:

"One standard question asks respondents to judge which is more important — 'freedom to pursue life’s goals without state interference' or 'state guarantees [that] nobody is in need.' By a 58percent to 35 percent margin, Americans favored freedom over security, reported a 2011 Pew survey. In Europe, opinion was the opposite. Germans valued protections...

The New York Times Is Responsible for the Republicans' War On SNAP

The NYT's responsibility for Republican efforts to cut food stamps may not be immediately obvious, but on closer examination the truth comes out. Look at the basic story: the Republicans want to cut the budget for food stamps. Their proposed cuts don't amount to much in terms of the entire federal budget but they are likely impose considerable hardship to the people affected. If the Republican cuts go through, between 2-4 million very low income people would lose benefits that average $160 a...