Month: February 2009
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An Open Letter to Robert Barro
Robert J. Barro is Paul M. Warburg Professor of Economics at Harvard University, a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, and a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is the third-ranked economist in the world, according to RePEc. Dear Professor Barro: I’m compelled to write after following your…
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Republicans, In Lockstep, Oppose Largest Tax Cut in History
Yeah, that’s the one: the one Obama just handed them. The compromise stimulus plan includes $282 billion in tax cuts over two years. According to the Wall Street Journal, Bush’s first two years of tax cuts amounted to $174 billion. A second batch in 2004 and 2005 cost $231. And those were thought to be…
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Exports Ended the Great Depression: Yeah, Right
A commenter tagged arogersb replied to one of my comments on Bruce Bartlett’s Forbes article (see my previous post), reiterating a familiar canard: True, the US recovered after WWII. But the reason of that recovery was not debt, it’s that the rest of the world factories were destroyed and had to import from the US.…
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Reagan Supply Sider on The New Deal: “Deficits were too small, not too large.”
Forget “centrism.” How about “sensible-ism”? Bruce Bartlett displays it in spades in his new Forbes article. Just as he did–to some extent–in his book Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy. Bartlett also wrote Reaganomics: Supply-Side Economics in Action–which is decidedly admiring of that belief system–so you know where he’s…
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“Branding Happens”
My ex business partner Steve has a new post asking why anybody uses glossy branding ads, when direct marketing is so much more cost-effective, and builds brand at the same time. The weird thing about us was that we cared about conversion (vs “brandingâ€) , and despite dozens of attempts to make ads pay, the…
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Education Needed?
The #9 search term on ask.com for the week ending January 29th: “How to get pregnant” This is pretty funny at first blush. But it’s curious at second. Google Trends shows searches for this prase nearly tripling from June to December, 2008. Do tough economic times make it harder to conceive? Interestingly, the United Arab…
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(Paul) Romer: Start New Banks?
Paul Romer, husband and co-author to CEA head Christy Romer, has a suggestion that on the surface makes all kinds of sense. Paul Romer Says Starting New Banks Would Keep TARP Money Away From Bad Banks – WSJ.com. Everyone agrees that the United States urgently needs a few good banks. Turning bad banks into good…
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Women Rule! So Why Do They Tart Themselves Up?
I've always wondered: why do women go in for elaborate clothing, makeup, and all those other things that (along with certain innate characteristics) make them so alluring to us males, while men dress relatively drably? It's not universal, of course, but it's the rule throughout much of the world. Among pre-agricultural peoples, primates, almost every…
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Tyler Cowen: $10 Trillion in Stimulus Would Have No Effect
I heard him on an NPR show last night, and was pulling my hair out with frustration. I admit that was partly because of comments by Cato’s Chris Edwards, who acts as if Keynesians don’t believe in monetary policy, calling them “childish.” When in fact it’s fundamentalist monetarists (read: supply-siders) who refuse to believe in…