tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post8759677412714841615..comments2024-03-22T02:37:15.030-05:00Comments on Macro Musings Blog: Brad DeLong, Jim Grant, and Milton FriedmanDavid Beckworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577612979801459194noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-1573716766081215042011-06-25T11:26:05.684-05:002011-06-25T11:26:05.684-05:00Great post. I'd like to introduce this post in...Great post. I'd like to introduce this post in my Japanese blog.<br />BTW, BoC link seems to be not working. Current link seems to be:<br />http://www.bankofcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/keynote.pdfhimaginaryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03409531853330541896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-8726814434618487342011-06-21T07:18:44.304-05:002011-06-21T07:18:44.304-05:00Way to go, Ralph.
The oft maligned and misundersto...Way to go, Ralph.<br />The oft maligned and misunderstood Friedman's ideas on monetary initiatives included the specific reforms needed today more than ever in his much earlier publication: A Fiscal and Monetary Framework for Economic Stability.<br /><br />In this piece he picks up where the Chicago Plan and 1939 Programs for Monetary Reform left off - that is having the government DIRECTLY joebhedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17113967013126217266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-83461648063469659952011-06-20T10:04:04.509-05:002011-06-20T10:04:04.509-05:00Would it be fair to say that Grant won this debate...Would it be fair to say that Grant won this debate? I don't see much support for DeLong in the comments. Nobody is buying the connection between continued ultra-easy money (a QE3 similar to QE2) and productive investment that will foster real GDP growth. I think that was the gist of Grant's argument.tinboxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12497368524093391053noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-1198965004599084752011-06-20T09:52:02.183-05:002011-06-20T09:52:02.183-05:00It seems to me that we're all so consumed with...It seems to me that we're all so consumed with the complexity and erudition of economic thought and policy that we have gotten the cart ahead of the horse. <br /><br />When collective monetary policy directly or indirectly controls the direction of prices, the pooling of capital, and the rate of growth, then your society is not free. <br /><br />Policies that are beyond the reach of average Tim Quasthttp://www.modernir.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-65027869832519820282011-06-18T17:18:51.339-05:002011-06-18T17:18:51.339-05:00Mr.Musgrave shows a lot more perceptiveness than m...Mr.Musgrave shows a lot more perceptiveness than most in his recommendation that monetary policy be used in support of fiscal transfers, or maybe even an employer of last resort program. After all, this is one perspective on what our military program is. In terms of social justice, Musgrave's suggestions are valuable.<br />Provided it is done as part of a reform package which addresses the ecbnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-71267462418683366592011-06-18T13:35:11.262-05:002011-06-18T13:35:11.262-05:00Ralph Musgrave:
I have been advocating national l...Ralph Musgrave:<br /><br />I have been advocating national lotteries, in which payouts exceed pay-ins. <br /><br />If ticket sizes are limited to some amount, and winning amounts (ie, lots of people win $7,000) this might be a way to put money where it will be spent, and yet avoid moral hazard--you cannot have a capital gain, without risking capital.<br /><br />So far, I have not even convinced Benjamin Colehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14001038338873263877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-22934793423943294722011-06-18T12:29:25.708-05:002011-06-18T12:29:25.708-05:00Blimey anon June 17, 5:52, Keynesianism is now suc...Blimey anon June 17, 5:52, Keynesianism is now such a hackneyed term practically anybody can use it I think. <br />Anyway, I was it using it to cover those like de Long/ Krugman who believe we are just having some temporary aggregate demand issues.<br />It looks a lot more like we have had both a gdp level and maybe a growth trend shock that suggest aggregate supply is the problem. The ecbnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-85699904285410319752011-06-18T09:10:31.706-05:002011-06-18T09:10:31.706-05:00This complements your post. And Andy Harless has i...This complements your post. And Andy Harless has it precisely right:<br />"The Fed should be isolated from the real economy and only adjust the supply of money to the demand given a target path for nominal spending".<br />http://thefaintofheart.wordpress.com/2011/06/18/contradictions/João Marcushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13658264244033012660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-10700391060323665092011-06-18T09:06:46.315-05:002011-06-18T09:06:46.315-05:00AndyfromTucson, I agree that interest rate adjustm...AndyfromTucson, I agree that interest rate adjustments are near useless, and for no less than ten reasons I set out in detail here (which include the reason you cite):<br /><br />http://ralphanomics.blogspot.com/2010/12/interest-rate-adjustments-are-useless.html<br /><br />But that is not a reason to throw out ALL forms of monetary policy.<br /><br />Re David Beckworth’s article and the rest of Ralph Musgravehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09443857766263185665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-46773052281752070682011-06-18T07:48:29.327-05:002011-06-18T07:48:29.327-05:00It still puzzles me why people think that monetary...It still puzzles me why people think that monetary policy can improve things when the economy has substantial excess capacity. If a business has excess capacity it has no reason to borrow money, and so making it easier to borrow money will have no effect on spending. Horse. Water. Drink. It seems to me that monetary policy should only be effective when business spending is being constrained by AndyfromTucsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-25611357041110642142011-06-17T17:52:53.403-05:002011-06-17T17:52:53.403-05:00Sorry esb, but that isn't Keynesianism. In a v...Sorry esb, but that isn't Keynesianism. In a very general view:<br /><br />Keynesiansim basically believes we are in a liquidity trap and only government spending through public investment and job programs, will break the trap. <br /><br />Nor is any "printing" going on. Everything is based on liquidity curves with QE. <br /><br /><br />Keynesians may believe QE could help, but onlyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-59550300660700811682011-06-17T15:29:15.982-05:002011-06-17T15:29:15.982-05:00Paul Kedrosky talks in an interview about the conc...Paul Kedrosky talks in an interview about the concept of "baseline drift". Its the idea that events unfold at a pace somewhat out of synch with human perception. Think about say April 1999 as the Dow hits 10K. If you had argued that over the next decade the US would not even achieve 2% trend real growth, have 10% unemployment and an insolvent banking system, deficit at 11% of GDP - you ecbnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-36998397286609111702011-06-17T15:28:43.657-05:002011-06-17T15:28:43.657-05:00"The real interest rate was positive; it was ..."The real interest rate was positive; it was not negative. What you needed in Japan was more liquidity."<br /><br />Japan's real rates were consistently positive throughout the ZIRP period. Our real rates are substantially negative, even out five years. I wonder what Friedman would have said about this. Should they be more negative? Negative for longer? Would they matter to him David Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-66132611925472199722011-06-17T15:13:40.004-05:002011-06-17T15:13:40.004-05:00AH: using Keynesian as broad brush for those who t...AH: using Keynesian as broad brush for those who think our problems today are about aggregate demand..<br /><br />Nominal GDP targeting...fine. Have it. Its deckchairs on the Titanic.<br />My concern is with the supply side issues of financial regulation, what we want the financial sector to be doing, political reform (public financing of all political campaigns perhaps) and educational reform, ecbnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-64744907089412509852011-06-17T14:59:45.352-05:002011-06-17T14:59:45.352-05:00The right-wing has lost its marbles, braying for t...The right-wing has lost its marbles, braying for tight-money when the current need is for stimulus. <br /><br />The left-wing doesn't know the argument is going on.<br /><br />These are frustrating times.Benjamin Colehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14001038338873263877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-87700969570527362192011-06-17T13:44:46.320-05:002011-06-17T13:44:46.320-05:00ecb,
I should let David (who I don't think is...ecb,<br /><br />I should let David (who I don't think is actually a Keynesian) answer for himself, but I, for one, would be happy to get the Fed entirely out of the business of dealing with real GDP. In my opinion, the only way to do that is to have the Fed target nominal GDP. Otherwise, the Fed's policy, for example if the objective is to stabilize the inflation rate, has to compensateAndy Harlesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17582263872850949568noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5713178645208582139.post-34202573608970564882011-06-17T10:39:27.599-05:002011-06-17T10:39:27.599-05:00I really don't know what the Keynesians such a...I really don't know what the Keynesians such as yourself and de Long think can be achieved with more money printing. How is that going to improve input growth or TFP growth, which as you must teach your kids, are the ultimate drivers of GDP.<br />Again, I'd say America's situation post-2000 has looked decidedly Olsonian, not Friedmanian.ecbnoreply@blogger.com