The Grumpy Economist

What's the basic story of economic regulation?  Econ 101 courses repeat the  benevolent dictator theory of regulation: There is a "...

 David Leonhardt's pean to investment in the Sunday NY Times Magazine starts well: A cross-country trip today typically takes more time ...

A week ago Jay Bhattacharya gave a great talk at the weekly Stanford Classical Liberalism workshop. ( Link in case the embed doesn't w...

One ray of hope in the current political scene comes from the land of deep blue.  However one views the immense expenditure on solar panels,...

Two attacks, and one defense, of classical liberal ideas appeared over the weekend. " War and Pandemic Highlight Shortcomings of the Fr...

Kevin Warsh has a nice WSJ oped warning of financial problems to come.  The major point of this essay: "countercyclical capital buffe...

What's the matter with a temporary delay in paying interest and principal on debt, if the debt limit hits? Collateral. Financial institu...

  Mark Perry recently updated a fabulous chart:  Not all inflation is the same.  Some interpretations, from Mark. Tradeable (international ...

At Project Syndicate  essay, with Jon Hartley. It's not the first, and it won't be the last on the issue!  Now that surging inflatio...

We need to be reminded occasionally that nothing matters but long-run growth, and long-run growth all comes from productivity, better knowle...

A Project Syndicate Essay. Before it moves on to climate change, inequality, and racial issues, the Fed should have to think just a little ...

Two pieces stood out from some weekend internet meandering.  Marginal Revolution  points to an excellent long letter from Dan Wang  on China...

 A podcast discussion with Casey Mulligan. What's in the reconciliation bill? How will it work?  Link to the podcast page , with lots ...

Scott Alexander's  Adumbrations Of Aducanumab  is a great review of FDA snafus -- with deeper lessons about regulation in general. Yes t...

I wrote a piece for Project Syndicate, here,  on climate financial risk.  (This resulted from a presentation on a panel at the NBER summer ...

I gave the UCSD economic roundtable lecture Friday June 11 on inflation and the future of the Fed. It summarizes quickly a number of themes...

  Banks to Companies: No More Deposits, Please , says the puzzling headline at WSJ.  Why would bankers not want to take any amount of deposi...

Senator Ted Cruz wrote a blistering Wall Street Journal Op-Ed decrying CEOs who pander to Democrats by making profoundly uninformed public ...

I learned something from the New York Times lead editorial on Sunday. Why are we not shipping mega quantities of vaccines to countries like...

Secretary of the Treasury, and ex Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen recently hosted an important meeting of the Financial Stability Oversig...