He is going back to the University of Chicago.
To replace him, can I suggest Jason Furman, my old friend and former student who is now #2 at the NEC?
Austan Goolsbee steps down
Economics
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Jun 072011
My Favorite Textbook: The Next Generation
Economics
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Jun 062011
I am old fashioned: I still like reading books with real paper pages. However, watching my own kids, I know that the next generation is different. My publisher is making my favorite textbook available in a way that will appeal to those more tech-savvy than I am. To learn more, watch the video below, or click here and here for more information.
The Next Step on the Road to Serfdom
Economics
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Jun 052011
But nobody is proposing that the government deny you the right to have whatever medical care you want at your own expense. We’re only talking about what medical care will be paid for by the government.
I wish that Paul were correct, but I am not convinced that he is. Chills went down my spine a few days ago when I read the following proposal from the Center for American Progress, a think tank with strong ties to the Democratic party:
Thus we also include a failsafe mechanism that would ensure significant savings. Our failsafe would be triggered if, starting in 2020, total economywide health care expenditures grow at a rate faster than the economy. Should that happen, we would empower the IPAB [the panel of experts set up by President Obama's health care law] to extend successful reforms in Medicare and other public programs to insurance plans offered in the health care exchanges and then potentially to all health care plans, such that the target is met. This will ensure that costs are constrained across the health care sector, preventing cost-shifting and maintaining access for all.*
That is, under the likely scenario that healthcare spending keeps rising faster than GDP, the Center for American Progress would give government the power to prohibit people from buying expensive health plans with their own money. That is not my idea of progress.
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*Source: Page 43-44 of this document. I put the crucial phrase in bold.
Peter Diamond withdraws
Economics
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Jun 052011
MIT economist Peter Diamond is withdrawing his name from nomination to the Federal Reserve, now that it is clear that the Republicans in the Senate will continue to block a vote on the nomination. I am personally saddened by this outcome, as I was when the renomination of Randy Kroszner was similarly blocked by the Democrats a few years back.
Here is Peter’s op-ed about the mattter.
The Demagoguing of Medicare Reform
Economics
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Jun 042011
I have been struck at the heated rhetoric surrounding Paul Ryan’s Medicare reform proposal. One thing is not often pointed out: Ryan’s proposed “premium support” structure is in some ways similar to the plan put in place under President Obama’s healthcare reform law. In both cases, an individual would shop among competing private insurers, on an exchange overseen by the government regulators. In both cases, the government would provide financial support for the ”needy” (low-income households in the case of Obamacare, the elderly in the case of Ryancare).
Why don’t we see this parallel pointed out more often? The left wants to demonize Ryan, and the right wants to demonize Obama. Pointing out the similarities of their plans might make each of them seem, well, reasonable. The overwrought politics of health care makes it hard to recognize common ground.
By the way, the esteemed health economist Alain Enthoven had a column on the topic of Medicare reform in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal that is well worth reading.
