Earlier on, Moody’s Analytics took on the task of determining the likely impact of implementing the Trump economic pronouncements (tax cuts for the wealthy, massive deficit spending, increased defense spending, spending cuts on other discretionary components, and revocation of free trade agreements). Oxford Economics has taken up the task of evaluating the more recent incarnations of his pronouncements (to call it a “plan” is giving it too much credence).
Category Archives: deficits
Guest Contribution: “Trump’s Fiscal Brainstorm: Cut Taxes for the Rich”
Today, we present a guest post written by Jeffrey Frankel, Harpel Professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and formerly a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. This is an extended version of a column that appeared at Project Syndicate.
Never Were Truer Words Said
“I am the king of debt. I do love debt. I love debt.” -Donald J. Trump, May 2016 (WaPo)
Drumpfarmageddon, Tabulated
Heretofore, I’ve approached in a piecemeal manner the assessment of the impact of massive tax cuts for the wealthy, building a really, really great wall, a final solution for the presence of undocumented immigrants, and the imposition a 45% tariff on Chinese imports. Moody’s Mark Zandi et al. have now done the hard work of trying to figure out what the macro impacts would be to implementing Mr. Trump’s agenda.
Guest Contribution: “Fiscal Education for the G-7”
Today, we are pleased to present a guest column written by Jeffrey Frankel, Harpel Professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and formerly a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. This is an extended version of a column appearing at Project Syndicate.
Visualizing Textbook and Alternative Interpretations of the Friedman Analysis of the Sanders Economic Plan
Now that the dust has (kind of) settled on exactly what is and is not in Gerald Friedman’s interpretation of the Sanders economic plan, I thought it useful to contrast the textbook (at least the one I use, Olivier Blanchard/David Johnson‘s) view of how a fiscal stimulus works, versus that in which a one-time spending increase yields a permanent increase in output, in a graphical format.
Implied Output Response to Demand Side Shifts in the Friedman Scenario under Local to Potential Assumptions
What does a conventional (estimated) macroeconometric model imply for a sustained 7.7% increase in government consumption and investment as a share of GDP in terms of output.
The Counter-cyclical Stabilization Policies of the Democratic Presidential Candidates
In this post, I assess how the candidates would implement macroeconomic stabilization policy, given the big reform packages proposed by the candidates, in particular those by Senator Sanders, are highly unlikely to be passed by a fully or partly Republican Congress. On the other hand, a downturn in the next four years is much more plausible; hence, knowing the candidates’ views on macro stabilization policy is arguably more relevant.
Assessing the Counter-cyclical Macro Policies of the Great Recession
There are at least two ways of proceeding. One could repeat the following mantra endlessly:
[T]he government taxes or borrows the resources used to build infrastructure projects. Government spending crowds resources out from the rest of the economy. More federal spending comes at the expense of a smaller private sector.
These factors explain why the 2009 stimulus failed. So did Japan’s decade-long attempt to stimulate its economy through infrastructure projects. The Japanese wound up with massive debt, superhighways in underpopulated rural districts—and an anemic economy.
Outsourced Monetary Tightening
From Zeng and Wei in the Wall Street Journal today:
Central banks around the world are selling U.S. government bonds at the fastest pace on record, the most dramatic shift in the $12.8 trillion Treasury market since the financial crisis.