Rookie Economist Errors
As the new semester begins, a set of cautionary notes for my students. [Ec435] [PA854]
Search Results for: mulligan
All the Governor’s Men (Economists)
Paul Krugman notes Governor Walker’s advisers on economics at a recent meeting are Larry Kudlow, Stephen Moore and Arthur Laffer. These folks make appearances in the Econbrowser archives.
Reading Macro Data: Growth Rates, Annual Rates, Data Breaks
Newcomers to macro often encounter problems in interpreting and using data. The first is how to report growth rates, particularly when trying to assess the current state of the economy. The second is how to read data reported at annual vs. quarterly vs. monthly rates. The third is accounting for the presence of breaks in […]
Interpreting the Great Recession in a Classical Framework
If a collapse in aggregate demand is not at fault, then was an aggregate supply shift? A quick-and-dirty evaluation using some back-of-the-envelope calculations
Slow and Steady Employment Growth Continues
Plausible and Implausible Explanations for the lagging pace of growth
The Year in Review II: Yet More Fantastical Pseudo Economics
Time to emulate the media’s “year in review” pieces, with my own take on the most outrageous, nonsensical assertions presented in the guise of analysis. Here are my ten most hilariously deluded excursions into the fantasy world from my postings to Econbrowser. The inspirations range from (once again) the Heritage Foundation’s analyses (where have you gone, Bill Beach!) to the ongoing search for hyperinflation/crowding out.
Fiscal Slope Negotiations in the Context of Current Expenditures and Current Receipts
The latter is stabilizing at extremely low levels.
Famous Conditional Forecasts from the Real Business Cycle Side
Or, who else misunderstood the nature of the financial crisis and recession
As I was reviewing material to use in teaching how new classical models relate to the popular aggregate demand/aggregate supply models [0] used in policy analysis, I ran into this forecast in the real business cycle vein from October 26, 2008.
Barring a nuclear war or other violent national disaster, employment will not drop below 134,000,000 and real GDP will not drop below $11 trillion.
The November Employment Situation
Some good news, but it all has to be put in perspective. As Mark Thoma points out, 120,000 jobs is about what is needed to keep unemployment from rising. In addition, the drop in the unemployment rate was driven largely by the drop in the participation rate, not the rise in employed. That’s going to be greater relevance if the extension of unemployment benefits is further blocked (in other words, there are offsetting employment effects from UI, as discussed in this rejoinder to Mulligan). More discussion at Izzo/WSJ RTE. I’m going to focus on data from the establishment survey.
Tales from the GDP revisions
Or things got a lot worse in 2008Q4 than we thought
The 2011Q2 advance release and revised estimates [0] contained many unpleasant surprises (see Jim’s assessment; also [CR1] and [CR2] [John Taylor] [Izzo/WSJ RTE]). The below consensus growth rate, and downward revision in Q1 growth, have been discussed elsewhere. I want to focus on the implications of the revisions to the data going back to 2003 (with particular emphasis on data back to 2007).