Beyond doughnuts
Two equations at the heart of all macro models have the wrong sign. This is the first one (in the clearest form I can find):
If you don't like equations at all, ignore it. If you do, the following from the R...
Bond bubbles, MMT, and the limits to fiscal policy
Some reflections on this discussion between Brad DeLong and Noah Smith.
Most people who believe in a bond bubble hold inconsistent beliefs. A 10-year Treasury yield of 2% is obviously a bubble, right? After al...
The “Pigou effect” is smarter than you think, and more relevant than ever
I was taught to dismiss the Pigou effect. Arthur Cecil Pigou (or “Pig” if you believe spell-check) was a great Cambridge economic theorist, known to most of us as the object of Keynes’s repeated ridicule in the...
Microfoundations: a brief reply to Brad
The question of microfoundations raised by Brad DeLong, and discussed by Simon Wren-Lewis is more relevant to the current policy failures in monetary policy than it appears. Simon, who’s blog is a breath of fre...
We are nowhere near the zero bound
We need more cash, not less.
Many economists just assume that central banks have hit “the zero bound” on interest rates and that conventional policy is thereby exhausted. Take Ken Rogoff’s bizarre proposal as a...