News
National Journal | What the 50-Year War on Poverty Tells Us About Government
Even during Johnson’s presidency, critics wondered if the “war” was purely rhetorical. Those with an eye to the future worried that Johnson signed two fateful pieces of legislation in August of 1964—the Economic Opportunity Act that set the War on Poverty in motion, and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that concretized America’s costly commitment to Vietnam.
CNN Money | De Blasio's plan to tax the rich
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has drawn national attention with his progressive agenda, a key piece of which is to push for higher taxes on the rich to pay for early education and after-school programs.
Bloomberg | Unforeseen U.S. Oil Boom Upends Markets as Drilling Spreads
The U.S. oil boom has put European refineries out of business and undercut West African crude suppliers. Now domestic drillers threaten to roil Asian markets and challenge producers in the Middle East and South America.
Market Watch | The death of America is greatly exaggerated
In a 2011 article, Michael Beckley, a former research fellow in the International Security Program at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Centre for Science and International Affairs, concluded that, based on economic, technological and military indicators, America was wealthier, more innovative and more militarily powerful compared to China than it had been in 1991.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | After 50 years of failure, have we learned nothing?
Fifty years ago on Wednesday, President Lyndon B. Johnson, in his State of the Union address before Congress, announced that “this administration, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America.” Mind you, this statement came four months before Johnson introduced his Great Society program that “asks not only how much, but how good; not only how to create wealth, but how to use it; not only how fast we are going, but where we are headed. It proposes as the first test for a nation: the quality of its people.”
Bloomberg | IMF Plans to Raise Global Economic Growth Forecast, Lagarde Says
The International Monetary Fund will raise its forecast for world growth, Managing Director Christine Lagarde said, underscoring confidence in the global recovery as the outlook for the U.S. improves.
CATO | War on Poverty at 50 — Despite Trillions Spent, Poverty Won
Fifty years ago today, President Lyndon Johnson delivered his first State of the Union address, promising an “unconditional war on poverty in America.” Looking at the wreckage since, it’s not hard to conclude that poverty won.
WSJ | How the War on Poverty Was Lost
On Jan. 8, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson used his State of the Union address to announce an ambitious government undertaking. "This administration today, here and now," he thundered, "declares unconditional war on poverty in America."
Washington Times | ‘Economic fairness’ didn’t work for Stalin, Mao or Pol Pot
President Obama and the Democrats desperately need a political issue to distract struggling, jobless Americans from their economic misery. They think “income inequality” and raising the minimum wage is the answer to their problems.
U.S. Census Bureau | Census Bureau Reports Almost One in Three Americans Were Poor at Least Two Months from 2009 to 2011
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 31.6 percent of Americans were in poverty for at least two months from 2009 to 2011, a 4.5 percentage point increase over the prerecession period of 2005 to 2007. Poverty was a temporary state for most people; however, 3.5 percent of Americans were in poverty for the entire three-year period.
AEI | Why do liberals like second-best policies for the poor?
In his most recent Sunday New York Times column, Harvard economist Greg Mankiw outlined two ways to help boost the incomes of the working poor
Blogs
WSJ | 1-in-3 People Experienced Poverty From 2009 to 2011
Americans often see poverty in stark terms — you’re either poor, and likely to remain so, or you’re not. But the latest government numbers show how much people slip in and out of poverty, and highlight a startling truth: A great many of us become poor at some point.
Heritage Foundation | How to Fight Poverty -- and Win
When President Johnson launched the War on Poverty on Jan. 8, 1964, he pledged “not only to relieve the symptom of poverty, but to cure it and, above all, to prevent it.” Sadly, the half-century legacy of Johnson’s Great Society has not lived up to that noble goal.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Health Care
Econ Comments & Analysis
Market Watch | 10 prescriptions for President Obama to fix Obamacare
As President Barack Obama continues to work out the kinks in the Affordable Care Act, it’s imperative that we as a nation focus on health reform, not just health-care finance reform.
Market Watch | 10 prescriptions for President Obama to fix Obamacare
As President Barack Obama continues to work out the kinks in the Affordable Care Act, it’s imperative that we as a nation focus on health reform, not just health-care finance reform.
Monetary
News
Bloomberg | EU Puts Banking-Union Credibility on Line in Talks
The credibility of Europe’s efforts to restore confidence in its financial system hangs in the balance as lawmakers try to broker a deal on a bank-failure authority for the 18-nation euro area.
WSJ | Sluggish Inflation Poses Risk to Euro-Zone Economy
Annual euro-zone inflation weakened further below the European Central Bank's target in December, rekindling fears that too little inflation or outright consumer-price declines may threaten the currency area's fragile economy.
CNBC | Why inflation threat could lead to a 'panic taper'
With growth indicators improving and the Federal Reserve about to ease back on its monthly stimulus program, market talk is intensifying that inflation will arrive in earnest in 2014.
Econ Comments & Analysis
CRS | Monetary Policy and the Federal Reserve: Current Policy and Conditions
The Federal Reserve (the Fed) defines monetary policy as its actions to influence the availability and cost of money and credit. Because the expectations of market participants play an important role in determining prices and economic growth, monetary policy can also be defined to include the directives, policies, statements, and actions of the Fed that influence future perceptions.
Blogs
WSJ | Fed’s Williams: Fed Likely to Taper More, End Bond-Buying This Year
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President John Williams said Tuesday he fully supported the central bank’s recent decision to pull back on its easy-money policies last month, and added that he expects to see the Fed’s bond-buying purchases end at some point this year.
Bloomberg | EU Puts Banking-Union Credibility on Line in Talks
The credibility of Europe’s efforts to restore confidence in its financial system hangs in the balance as lawmakers try to broker a deal on a bank-failure authority for the 18-nation euro area.
WSJ | Sluggish Inflation Poses Risk to Euro-Zone Economy
Annual euro-zone inflation weakened further below the European Central Bank's target in December, rekindling fears that too little inflation or outright consumer-price declines may threaten the currency area's fragile economy.
CNBC | Why inflation threat could lead to a 'panic taper'
With growth indicators improving and the Federal Reserve about to ease back on its monthly stimulus program, market talk is intensifying that inflation will arrive in earnest in 2014.
Econ Comments & Analysis
CRS | Monetary Policy and the Federal Reserve: Current Policy and Conditions
The Federal Reserve (the Fed) defines monetary policy as its actions to influence the availability and cost of money and credit. Because the expectations of market participants play an important role in determining prices and economic growth, monetary policy can also be defined to include the directives, policies, statements, and actions of the Fed that influence future perceptions.
Blogs
WSJ | Fed’s Williams: Fed Likely to Taper More, End Bond-Buying This Year
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President John Williams said Tuesday he fully supported the central bank’s recent decision to pull back on its easy-money policies last month, and added that he expects to see the Fed’s bond-buying purchases end at some point this year.
Taxes
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | Taming the regulatory tax monster
That’s the cost of all regulations (good, bad and indifferent) imposed on Americans by the 60 or so government agencies that contribute to the 175,000-page (and growing) Code of Federal Regulations.
Mercatus | A Survey of Sales Tax Exemptions in the States: Understanding Sales Taxes and Sales Tax Exemptions
Politicians face conflicting demands from diverse constituent interests. When maximizing their vote share in elections, they attempt to balance these demands. A good example of these conflicting demands concerns taxes.
Blogs
WSJ | Why a Bag Tax Works Better Than a Reusable Bag Bonus
Government policies, no matter how well-intentioned, often fail to achieve their goals. Practitioners of the rapidly expanding field of behavioral economics, which seeks to better understand why people do what they do, are laboring to change that.
Washington Times | Taming the regulatory tax monster
That’s the cost of all regulations (good, bad and indifferent) imposed on Americans by the 60 or so government agencies that contribute to the 175,000-page (and growing) Code of Federal Regulations.
Mercatus | A Survey of Sales Tax Exemptions in the States: Understanding Sales Taxes and Sales Tax Exemptions
Politicians face conflicting demands from diverse constituent interests. When maximizing their vote share in elections, they attempt to balance these demands. A good example of these conflicting demands concerns taxes.
Blogs
WSJ | Why a Bag Tax Works Better Than a Reusable Bag Bonus
Government policies, no matter how well-intentioned, often fail to achieve their goals. Practitioners of the rapidly expanding field of behavioral economics, which seeks to better understand why people do what they do, are laboring to change that.
Employment
News
CNN Money | Strong job gains at end of 2013
Private sector hiring gained momentum in December, according to a report by payroll processing firm ADP.
National Journal | Senate Republicans Flip the Script on Unemployment
Senate Republicans, tired of playing by the Democratic script, are planning to flip the story line on their opponents—and they want to use the bill extending unemployment insurance to do it.
CNN Money | Euro zone unemployment at 12%, while U.S. improving
New reports out of the U.S. and Europe Wednesday show a stark divergence between unemployment trends in America and the euro zone.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Real Clear Markets | Extended Unemployment Benefits: Not What the Labor Market Needs
For more than five years, the federal government has provided extended unemployment benefits to workers who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own and remained out of work beyond the standard 26 weeks of unemployment benefits.
NBER | The Causal Effect of Unemployment Duration on Wages: Evidence from Unemployment Insurance Extensions
This paper provides estimates of the causal effect of unemployment duration on wages. The paper shows that if the path of reemployment wages throughout the unemployment spell does not shift in response to unemployment insurance (UI) extensions this implies reservation wages do not bind.
Blogs
Library fo Economics | Hayekian arguments for basic income
Matt Zwolinski has an interesting article which attempts to answer the question "Why Did Hayek Support a Basic Income?". His answer is that Hayek did so because such a minimum endowment of economic means grants people the essential freedom to say "no"--thus making up for "real" freedom of contract.
Economist | Skills that pay the bills
How well are your skills rewarded? There is surprisingly little research on that question, and what does exist is pretty much entirely focused on America. A new paper* from the OECD, a rich-country think-tank, tries to fill this gap.
WSJ | Vital Signs: Private Employers Hit the Gas Pedal
Businesses added workers at a fast pace in December and across the entire fourth quarter, a positive sign for consumer spending and the economy as a whole.
CNN Money | Strong job gains at end of 2013
Private sector hiring gained momentum in December, according to a report by payroll processing firm ADP.
National Journal | Senate Republicans Flip the Script on Unemployment
Senate Republicans, tired of playing by the Democratic script, are planning to flip the story line on their opponents—and they want to use the bill extending unemployment insurance to do it.
CNN Money | Euro zone unemployment at 12%, while U.S. improving
New reports out of the U.S. and Europe Wednesday show a stark divergence between unemployment trends in America and the euro zone.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Real Clear Markets | Extended Unemployment Benefits: Not What the Labor Market Needs
For more than five years, the federal government has provided extended unemployment benefits to workers who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own and remained out of work beyond the standard 26 weeks of unemployment benefits.
NBER | The Causal Effect of Unemployment Duration on Wages: Evidence from Unemployment Insurance Extensions
This paper provides estimates of the causal effect of unemployment duration on wages. The paper shows that if the path of reemployment wages throughout the unemployment spell does not shift in response to unemployment insurance (UI) extensions this implies reservation wages do not bind.
Blogs
Library fo Economics | Hayekian arguments for basic income
Matt Zwolinski has an interesting article which attempts to answer the question "Why Did Hayek Support a Basic Income?". His answer is that Hayek did so because such a minimum endowment of economic means grants people the essential freedom to say "no"--thus making up for "real" freedom of contract.
Economist | Skills that pay the bills
How well are your skills rewarded? There is surprisingly little research on that question, and what does exist is pretty much entirely focused on America. A new paper* from the OECD, a rich-country think-tank, tries to fill this gap.
WSJ | Vital Signs: Private Employers Hit the Gas Pedal
Businesses added workers at a fast pace in December and across the entire fourth quarter, a positive sign for consumer spending and the economy as a whole.
Budget
News
Bloomberg | State Budgets to Aid U.S. Growth Amid Federal Cuts: Economy
State and local governments are poised to increase spending this year, adding to the U.S. economic expansion, even as their federal counterpart cuts back.
Bloomberg | State Budgets to Aid U.S. Growth Amid Federal Cuts: Economy
State and local governments are poised to increase spending this year, adding to the U.S. economic expansion, even as their federal counterpart cuts back.
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