As 2017 begins, the US economy is in the middle of a boom, or at least a boomlet. The official unemployment rate is at or below its target level, stock market indicators are hitting all-time highs, and the Fed is starting to get serious about raising interest rates. All this is reflects the expectation of ...
Will policymakers at the Fed raise interest rates at their December meeting? Wall Street oddsmakers increasingly think they will. One simple chart shows why. The chart tracks the economy’s progress toward the central bank’s target of “stable prices and maximum employment.” The Fed’s rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has operated under this so-called dual ...
In a paper on tax policy, leverage and macroeconomic stability published on 10 November, the IMF staff address the issue of excessive leverage or the so-called “debt bias” that poses risks for financial and macroeconomic stability. The “debt bias” has been largely created by more favorable tax treatment of debt relatively to equity. In most ... Read more
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Hillary Clinton is often said to be a policy wonk, deeply enmeshed in specifics and details, but that may be a mischaracterization. In some ways, her approach seems disturbingly superficial, skipping one perceived problem to another with little attention to their underlying causes. In some cases, Clinton seems to have paid little attention to the ...
A healthy economy requires a fluid labor market. Even when total employment and output are stable, the labor market is in constant motion. Jobs disappear when firms close or downsize. Other jobs appear when new firms open or old ones expand. People move freely from one job to another in search of career advancement or ...
The unemployment rate published monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics is one of the most widely watched of all economic indicators. But why? What does it really measure? The news media, politicians, and voters tend to see the unemployment rate as an index of the social stress of joblessness. There is ample evidence to ...
The economy of Russia contracted by almost 4% last year and is expected to decline further this year, according to the IMF (Economist 2016a). Russia being a resource driven economy and one of the top oil exporters globally, a large part of the downturn can certainly be explained by the collapse in oil price. Western ... Read more
One of the most common criticisms of social safety net programs is that they discourage work. As House Speaker Paul Ryan has put it, they risk becoming a “hammock that lulls able-bodied people to lives of dependency and complacency, that drains them of their will and their incentive to make the most of their lives.” ...
Like most economists, I am strongly inclined toward free trade. I cringe to see the way free trade is under attack, from both parties, during this primary season. The two populist candidates are the worst offenders. Bernie Sanders, whom I support on many other issues [1] [2] [3], goes off the rails when it comes ... Read more
