Economic Policy

NPR had a report this morning on the debate over extending the lower tax rate on dividends. The report correctly pointed out that the vast majority of this tax cut will go to the richest 1 percent of the population. It also noted the ambiguity of the evidence showing any substantial link between lower dividend […]

Eduardo Porter had a very good piece in the Times this morning on the huge run-up in the foreign exchange reserves of developing countries. The basic point is that these reserves are held in short-term deposits that typically pay little or no real return. In poor countries that have great need of capital, diverting money […]

The passing of John Kenneth Galbraith is a real loss. His works made major contributions to public debate over the entire post-World War II era, and continue to have an impact. The New York Times had a mostly fair commentary today on Galbraith’s life and work. (Brad DeLong does a good job pointing out the […]

Eric Dash at the New York Times had a very good piece this morning on a backdoor $500,000 bonus that Denny’s gave to its CEO, Nelson Marchioli, by allowing him to buy stock at below the market price. Of course Denny’s is free to pay Mr. Marchioli whatever it feels is appropriate, but by making […]

To those following the issue, the Washington Post still has not corrected the error in its reporting on Mexico’s post NAFTA growth rate (“Mexican Deportee’s U.S. Sojourn Illuminates Roots of Current Crisis,” 4-17-06:A1). My April 18th post noted that the growth data reported in this article implied that Mexico had enjoyed an average GDP growth […]

Proponents of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge are happy to make whatever outlandish claims are convenient to advance their cause. A few years ago, they were pushing the line that drilling in the Refuge would generate 500,000-750,000 jobs, citing a study by WEFA, one of the country’s leading economic forecasting firms. We did […]

As the housing bubble starts to unwind people will be looking for villains in this economic disaster. There are many, with the list including Alan Greenspan, the bulk of the economics profession, and of course, the reporters covering the housing market. As was the case with the stock bubble, there was very little attention paid […]

Last Tuesday, I pointed out that a front page Washington Post article had overstated Mexico’s growth in the post-NAFTA era by a factor of five (Mexican Deportee’s U.S. Sojourn Illuminates Roots of Current Crisis, 4-17-06:A1). It appears that the Post’s problems with arithmetic are continuing. The front page of the Sunday Outlook section had an […]

In many economic policy debates, the worst possible adjective is “protectionist.” All right thinking people know that protectionism is bad. According to the economic in-crowd, only ignorant and reactionary people support protectionism measures. (The Post gives a nice example of this thinking in a piece explaining how the IMF will act to prevent protectionism in […]

I had earlier promised to give my explanation for the fact that articles on the budget fail to put budget numbers in a context that would make the millions, billions and trillions meaningful to readers. While laziness is part of the story, the bigger factor is simply inertia, why change? Reporters may agree that it […]