The economics profession lost one of its most respected members this past week. Robert Solow became well known for formalizing analysis of the economics of growth as well as for making complex ideas understandable to non-economists. In a recent piece in the Conversable Economist, Tim Taylor highlights what distinguished Solow from other economists, trained in the neo-classical … More Robert Solow (1924-2023)
For the most part, this blog posting is devoted to summarizing a recent paper by Nicholas Stern and Joseph Stiglitz entitled Climate Change and Growth. The primary conclusion from this essay is that “…tackling climate change can unleash higher growth for at least the next two decades…” In this extensive essay, Stern and Stiglitz reach … More Climate Change and Economic Growth
The United States is now the only developed country that has neither a cap and trade program for carbon emissions nor a carbon price. Some, such as John Gage, believe that carbon pricing is inevitable, especially given the European Union’s recent implementation of a carbon border adjustment program. In this posting, I argue that not … More Cap and Trade versus Carbon Pricing
I just sent letters to two Republican Congressman (6th and 8th districts in Wisconsin) as well as to both Wisconsin Senators regarding raising the debt ceiling independent of future plans for spending and taxation. Below the letter, I’ve included some information regarding foreign holdings of US securities, both private and public. Feel free to copy … More Great Powers Don’t Default
In a February 2015 Povolny Lecture at Lawrence University, I talked on the subject “China Ranks Number One or Does It? Should We Care?” It’s time for an update. In that talk, I raised the following five questions: In this posting, I will indicate how I answered these questions in 2015 and my answers today. … More China as an Economic Competitor
In November 2021, after being a guest on Josh Dukelow’s Fresh Take program, I posted two related pieces: one on whether inflation was temporary or not and a second on the role of monetary policy. It’s time for an update, especially since the inflation rate has risen significantly since November 2021 (see the below chart) … More Sustained Inflation: Is a Monetary Policy Response Needed?
A visit to my son’s family often provides me with an opportunity to read a book from my bucket list. This time it was Climate Shock (2015), authored by the late Harvard economist Martin Weitzman and Columbia economist Gernot Wagner. I found this short (152 pages of formal text) book to be both informative for … More Climate Shock: The Economic Consequences of a Hotter Planet
This posting is largely a response to “Degrowth can work – Here’s how science can help,” authored by Jason Hickel and his colleagues. It relates to alternative strategies to reduce CO2 emissions and concentration. I agree with the authors’ notion that not all income growth has equivalent value, but that doesn’t mean that developed economies … More Degrowth: A Flawed Strategy to Address Climate Change
In a February 16th posting on the Resources for the Future blog, Burtraw and Fischer summarize key aspects of the Mistra Carbon Exit Swedish research project. This posting emphasizes three key observations in the report and then indicates why the US is unlikely to adopt the Swedish approach. To put the Swedish project in context, … More Will the US Follow Sweden’s Approach to Zero Carbon Emissions?
In Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy (1942), Joseph Schumpeter argued that economies grow through a process of creative destruction; that is, new ideas, products, and services drive out old versions since they offer better value. Schumpeter characterized capitalism as founded on such a process, but he concluded this book with the argument that eventually the process … More The Power of Creative Destruction
No Con Economics 