Economics

When we tighten our belts, it means that we are trying to build up our savings. We do this by spending less. But spending drives our economy. Sales create jobs. So unless Obama has a secret plan to reverse three decades of current account…

Randall Wray revisits the Clintonian Goldilocks economy to find the seeds of the Global Financial Crisis, using the sectoral balance approach.

Last week, when discussing what QE3 could look like I indicated that were the Federal Reserve to start expanding its balance sheet, QE3 will see interest rate caps after a pause and period of reflection. Let me address the differences…

Stephanie Kelton demonstrates that as long as unemployment remains high, the deficit will remain high. Here’s the formula: Spending creates income. Income creates sales. Sales create jobs. If you think you can cut the deficit without…

The primary difference for Euroland to sovereign issuers is that the Euro can only be created by the ECB – it is the issuer of the currency. The governments of Ireland, Greece, Spain, Germany, etc. are the USERS of the currency. The…

Marshall Auerback and Rob Paenteau explain a method the Fed might use to target interest rates further out on the yield curve.

In this column, Michael Pettis uses Germany and Spain as examples of the interplay between savings rates, trade balances and economic policy. Looking at this interplay, it turns out that domestic policies by the German government can…

Karl Whelan finds that a recent analysis by Hans-Werner Sinn on an alleged ECB bailout is incorrect. Willem Buiter is now out with a commentary on the same issue corroborating Whelan’s view. Below are the bullet points he highlights in his…

Raghuram Rajan, one of the few mainstream economists to warn of the US housing bubble, has recently written a piece which is highly critical of US monetary policy. His view, one that I share, is that US policy favours debtors over savers in…

If the public sector balance must over time move from around -10 percent to around -3 percent to stabilize the federal debt-to-GDP ratio at tolerable levels, then the private sector balance and the current account balance must move by…