I was thinking about this when skimming through the Times’ endorsement for Cameron. Its basic premise is similar to that of the Economist (see last post): reform of an overmighty and just-too-large State is the essential challenge of the era, and the Conservatives are best for this: Amid the sound and fury, a fundamental philosophical [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Keynesianism’
26 Apr
Notable paragraphs, somewhat economic
Amazing fact from Hamish McRae’s column: the individual components of growth this first quarter are surprising. Government output added nothing – it was flat, having either been flat or falling for the previous five quarters. Construction was down on the previous quarter. Hotels and restaurants were down too. Manufacturing was up, but as we have [...]
15 Apr
Some economics, for once
Not only that, but a couple of real papers, from the Macroeconomics blog I subscribe to. The first has empirically proven something that motivates monetary thinkers like Scott Sumner, who depend (too much, you might say) on the idea of the Fed working through expectations management. The basic view is very simple: the Fed can [...]
30 Mar
Things balance out – sometimes
or is that somehow? Everyone read Chris Dillow’s post about the GDP figures. As ever, he teases out an aspect unlikely to have been covered by the meedja. This is that the Corporate Surplus has hit a record. The point I want to zero in on is this: The counterpart to the corporate sector’s massive [...]
16 Mar
Paradox of thrift in pictures
Yesterday I linked to Dillow’s piece which argued that the government doesn’t choose its deficit; the deficit is chosen for it by the decisions of the private sector to save. You will be familiar from earlier posts of his (e.g. this one) that GDP can be disaggregated into expenditure components (consumption and investment and net [...]
4 Mar
Non-Keynesian effects: or, how cutting the government can boost the economy
There are some sound theoretical reasons why less government consumption can lead to higher growth, particularly in the long run. But not always and everywhere. Neither for the opposite. Pragmatism needs to rule
8 Feb
Why I love economics blogs . . .
20 years ago – no, 10 – you couldn’t eavesdrop upon learned discussions like this one, between Austrians, Keynesians (and no doubt monetarists, somewhere). You would have to have invaded some university common room. Which I intend never to do. Check out the responses to ‘Ben’s‘ point about grandchildren paying for our mistakes, and also [...]
25 Nov
Not sure what Policy Exchange are adding here . . .
Policy Exchange seems to add nothing to the debate about whether fiscal policy can work or not, except a reiteration of what we already know: that they have made up their mind in advance. Meanwhile, the Left manages to be equally uninspiring. Ho Hum.
Recent Comments