Krugman says the USA should borrow and spend itself into prosperity
Paul Krugman is on the austerity kick again, and in part, he is right. The austerity measures that have been imposed upon Ireland and Greece by the European Union, are awful, and they are imposing a lot of suffering. There More...
Natural Born (Economy) Killers
When it comes to the use of certain kinds of fuels, myths abound and especially myths created and nurtured by Progressives in academe, government, and the media. Given that Paul Krugman is a card-carrying Progressive, More...
Krugman, ‘National Greatness,’ and Boondoggles
One of the mantras for the Neo-Conservatives has been “national greatness,” which means that America ought to be producing huge, expensive public works projects. (One gets the sense that William Kristol More...
Krugman: More inflation and higher taxes will end the depression
In recent months, Paul Krugman has become an out-and-out cheerleader for inflation, claiming that throwing out more dollars somehow will revive the economy because people will quickly spend their depreciating money More...
Krugman, College, and the Higher Education Bubble
Paul Krugman claims (implausibly) that he was the first (or one of the first) economists to point out that the hot housing market really was a financial bubble. Of course, Krugman two years earlier had claimed that More...
Heading for double-digit inflation?
Whenever someone mentions inflation, Paul Krugman is all over the statement, trotting out the CPI which shows relatively low overall price increases at about three percent. (He holds this as “proof” More...
More economic illiteracy from the NY Times
Paul Krugman seems to be in a bi-partisan spirit in his latest column, claiming that Mitt Romney is a “closet Keynesian,” and he may be right. I’m not sure that Romney is a closet anything other More...
Sean Rosenthal on Krugman’s claim on British ‘austerity’
On a number of occasions, Paul Krugman has claimed that “austerity” measures are hurting the British economy and should be ended immediately in favor of more spending. Sean Rosenthal demonstratesthat More...
Will Krugman join the Democrats’ ‘It’s the speculators!’ chorus?
One of my main contentions with Paul Krugman is that I don’t believe the man understands even the basics of Price Theory. Yes, I am sure he can dazzle anyone with mathematical models on the subject, but nonetheless More...
Will inflation save the European economy?
In his latest column, Paul Krugman believes that he has the answer to saving the European economy from disaster. The solution? In a word, inflation. Yes, if the European Central Bank will show the “courage” More...
Stereotypes and Interpersonal Utility Comparisons: This is economics?
One of my criticisms of Paul Krugman is that he really has abandoned economics while claiming that he is analyzing things from an economic point of view, and he does it again in his latest NYT column. First, he More...
$8.50 an hour? Why be stingy? What about $85 an hour? $850 an hour?
Once upon a time, the editors of the New York Times used to editorialize against the establishment of the minimum wage, as they appealed to the arguments centering around the Law of Opportunity Cost. However, More...
Russ Roberts on ‘Postwar Austerity’
I know, I know, Keynesians never are wrong. Only government spending can give us prosperity, and that certainly is what the greatest of the Keynesians were saying as the end of World War II approached. Russ Roberts More...
Is government spending really ‘investment’?
In a recent blog post, Paul Krugman claims that the lack of spending by state and local government is undermining our “weak recovery.” Of course, he understands that the decline in state and local More...
Krugman changes his tune, just in time to shill for Obama
I have said many times that Paul Krugman is much more a political operative than an economist, and while that makes people mad, it also is true. And the day before President Obama’s State of the Union Speech, More...
Jobs, jobs and wealth creation
Mainstream economists like Paul Krugman have an administrative view of an economy, as though it can be managed centrally. All that matters in this viewpoint is the number of “jobs” that are created, More...
Don Boudreaux’s latest take on Krugman’s ‘austerity’ claims
I’m letting Don Boudreaux provide the answer today to Paul Krugman’s claim that Great Britain’s government is following a policy of “austerity.” (By the way, “austerity” More...
Should capital gains tax rates reflect ordinary income tax rates? Maybe in Wonderland
[Update]: In his column today, Krugman continues the theme that capital gains taxes should be higher, although he does not say HOW high. His reference toward Ronald Reagan invokes another logical fallacy, as More...
Jonathan Macey schools Krugman on private equity
There is life imitating art, art imitating life, and then there is make-believe. Not surprisingly, Paul Krugman chooses the third option, at least when it comes to his belief that Oliver Stone’s “Wall More...
Higher taxes on investment income = more investment, Krugman claims
In reading Paul Krugman for more than a decade, I have come to the following conclusions about his economic beliefs: State-sponsored investment is both morally and economically preferable to private investment; Higher More...
