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Category: Law and Economics
Becker-Posner Blog - September 27, 2009
Becker is correct that the tariff appears to be a pay back to the unions for their strong support of Obama in the 2008 election. The significance of that support was amplified by a questionable feature of our political system. All but two states award all their electoral votes to the candidate wh
Becker-Posner Blog - September 23, 2009
Deficits arise when government spending exceeds the revenues raised from various taxes. Deficits add to the stock of government debt. In evaluating the consequences of deficits for an economy, it is first of all crucial to know whether the source of a larger deficit is greater government s
Becker-Posner Blog - September 23, 2009
Vice President Cheney is reported (I don't know whether accurately or not) to have said that "deficits don't matter." Certainly the Bush Administration ran big ones, as a result of which the public debt (which is the national debt less federal liabilities to Americans created by the social securi
Becker-Posner Blog - September 23, 2009
We will not be blogging this week. We will next blog next Sunday, September 27.
Becker-Posner Blog - September 09, 2009
I am not bold enough to make forecasts about economic recovery, given the unusual economic situation that the country is in. The recovery may be fast or slow, shallow or steep, continuous or interrupted--and if fast and steep may set the stage for inflation and other economic troubles. So I am ne
Becker-Posner Blog - September 09, 2009
On October 7, 2008 I wrote an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal ("We're Not Headed for a Depression") in which I said there would not be a depression, certainly nothing at all resembling the Great Depression of the 1930s. As the economy continued to decline after that I began to worr
Becker-Posner Blog - September 06, 2009
We will blog on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week, rather than today.
Becker-Posner Blog - August 30, 2009
No doubt many consumers made mistakes in their credit decisions during the past few years, perhaps especially in the mortgages they chose. It is equally clear that many lenders wish they had never given the mortgages they gave since they lost their shirts by doing so. Does any of this mean
Becker-Posner Blog - August 30, 2009
The Treasury Department in its "white paper" of June 17 recommended the creation of a "Consumer Financial Protection Agency," and later followed up with a detailed legislative proposal for a "Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act of 2009." The proposal is pending in Congress.
Although
Becker-Posner Blog - August 24, 2009
The cash-for-clunkers program of the federal government began in late July, and will end this evening. It provides a credit of from $3500-$4500 for anyone who trades in an older car to buy a new fuel-efficient car. When measured by its popularity, this has been a highly successful program,
Becker-Posner Blog - August 24, 2009
I agree with Becker that it's a silly program.
Like the bailout of the auto companies, the program had dual environmental and economic-recovery goals. The environmental goal, to reduce carbon emissions, was trivial; the aggregate improvement in gas mileage from the program is certain to b
Becker-Posner Blog - August 17, 2009
The focus of the Administration's health-care plan, and of its campaign to enlist public support for the plan, is dissatisfaction with health insurance. To see the problem--or whether there is a problem--compare health insurance to fire insurance. Almost everyone has fire insurance (even if he do
Becker-Posner Blog - August 17, 2009
In a recent post (see my discussion on July 28) I explained why the American health delivery system is superior in some important dimensions to health care in most other advanced countries. Americans have considerably longer life expectancies when they contract serious diseases, like cancers and
Becker-Posner Blog - August 16, 2009
We will be posting tomorrow (Monday).
Becker-Posner Blog - August 09, 2009
The latest output and unemployment figures for the United States indicate that the recession in this country is very probably finally over, given the usual definitions of the turning points of recessions. Aggregate output fell for the fourth quarter in a row during the second quarter of 2009, but
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