means tests as stealth taxes
Harvard economist Greg Mankiw has a wonderful column that illustrates a favourite truism of mine: means tests are equivalent to taxes on the relatively well-off. They are ‘stealth taxes’ because they...
View ArticleFrench lessons for the US
Harvard economist Greg Mankiw uses the recent economic histories of four countries – Zimbabwe, Japan, Greece and France – to illustrates policy mistakes “that could, if we are not careful, presage the...
View Articleeconomists who sell snake oil
Oxford economist Simon Wren-Lewis is pessimistic about the future of economics as an academic discipline. Greg Mankiw is known to every economist and economics student, if only because of his best...
View Articleaverting the ‘fiscal cliff’
On January 1st the United States reaches the so-called “fiscal cliff“: automatic tax increases and defence spending cuts that Republicans loath, as well as other spending cuts that Democrats find...
View Articlehigher taxes affect Greg Mankiw
Harvard economist Greg Mankiw’s recent blog post leaves me scratching my head. Many of the world’s professional economists are spending the next few days in San Diego for the annual ASSA meeting, where...
View ArticleMankiw on personal investing
Harvard economist Greg Mankiw has an excellent column in today’s New York Times. I agree with everything in it. So will most economists who read it, but investors rarely listen to us. ‘Expert’ money...
View ArticlePope Francis on the excesses of capitalism
[Pope Francis] has adopted a softer tone toward gay people, eschewed lavish features of the papal lifestyle, washed the feet of convicts and repeatedly called for greater efforts to lift up the world’s...
View Articleanother reaction to Pope Francis
James Pethokoukis, at the American Enterprise Institute, posted a response to the Pope’s message that I prefer to Mankiw’s reaction. Mr Pethokoukis doesn’t say much, but directs us to a statement of...
View ArticleLarry Summers and Greg Mankiw on income inequality
Harvard economist Larry Summers writes that the United States should address inequality with tax reform, “closing loopholes that only the wealthy can enjoy”. The share of income going to the top 1 per...
View Articlereforming the economics curriculum
Students of economics are in revolt – again. A few years ago, even before the crisis, they established an “autistic economics” network. After the crisis, in 2011, a Harvard class staged a walkout from...
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