November 5
Environmentalism vs Homeownership
Edward Glaeser explains how the home-buyer tax credit and the tax deductibility of mortgage interest increases the size of the average American's carbon footprint.
Textbook References:
Pages 4-5 “Principle 1: People Face Trade-offs”Pages 7-8 “Principle 4: People Respond to Incentives”
Pages 204-209 “Externalities and Market Inefficiency”
Pages 209-215 “Public Policies Toward Externalities”
October 13
Pigovian Question of the Day
Stacy Dickert-Conlin, Todd Elder and Brian Moore find that motorcycle helmet laws reduce the supply of organ donations.
Textbook Reference:
Pages 209-215 “Public Policies Toward Externalities”May 7
The Auto Industry of the Future
George Will thinks that the government’s efforts to save GM and Chrysler amount to trying to extract sunbeams from cucumbers.
Textbook References:
Pages 8-10 “Principle 6: Markets are Usually a Good Way to Organize Economic Activity”
Pages 10-12 “Principle 7: Governments Can Sometimes Improve Market Outcomes”
Pages 208-209 “Technology Spillovers, Industrial Policy and Patent Protection”
Mar. 14
Reading the Tea Leaves on the Budget
Mankiw comments on Obama’s budget proposal, He finds that Obama is serious about climate change but not concerned about budget deficits.
Textbook References:
Chapter 10 “Externalities”
Pages 246-248 “The Fiscal Challenge Ahead”
Pages 581-582 “Some Important Identities”
Pages 589-593 “Policy 3: Government Budget Deficits”
Pages 654-655 “The Financial Crisis of 2008”
Pages 787-793 “How Fiscal Policy Influences Aggregate Demand”
Pages 793-796 “Using Policy to Stabilize the Economy”
Page 821 “Bernanke’s Challenges”
Pages 830-832 “Should Monetary and Fiscal Policymakers Try To Stabilize the Economy?
Pages 838-841 “Should the Government Balance Its Budget?”
Feb. 22
The Stimulus versus the Pigou Club
Politicians prefer stimulus money to raising the gasoline tax.
Textbook References:
Pages 32-33 “Why Economists’ Advice Is Not Always Followed”
Chapter 10 “Externalities”
Chapter 12 “The Design of the Tax System”
Feb. 5
My preferred fiscal stimulus
Mankiw gives his own view of what should be done.
Textbook References:
Pages 210-212 “Market-Based Policy 1: Corrective Taxes and Subsidies”
Pages 216-217 “The Case for Taxing Carbon”
Chapter 12 “The Design of the Tax System”
Pages 787-793 “How Fiscal Policy Influences Aggregate Demand”
Pages 793-796 “Using Policy to Stabilize the Economy”
Pages 830-832 “Should Monetary and Fiscal Policymakers Try To Stabilize the Economy?