Biden: Build Back Better or Going Bust?

18 September 2020 Presidential candidate Joe Biden's economic program is taking shape. His plan to "Build Back Better" following the pandemic will involve higher levels of government spending and taxation. My intention is not to project the numerical impact on the nation's public finances, as this is ably accomplished by Penn Wharton, the Committee for [...]

Trump’s Economy: The Best Ever!?

10 September 2020 With Labour Day celebrations marking the unofficial end of summer, the US electoral race now will enter its final (and likely most brutal) phase. We do not need President Clinton's 1992 campaign strategist James Carville, who famously coined the phrase "it's the economy, stupid", to remind us of the role the economy [...]

Global Fiscal Policy: Whatever It Takes

25 March 2020 In recent weeks, policymakers world-wide have repeatedly pledged "to do whatever it takes" to offset the economic damage wreaked by the Covid-19 outbreak. In general, the aim has been to provide needed medical resources, allocate compensation for sick leave, provide direct payments to workers losing their jobs, and to give support to [...]

State Of the Union: Jam Today, Cuts Tomorrow

23 January 2018 On 30 January, President Trump will deliver his first State of the Union speech.  To be sure, the state of the US economy is healthy  (I will leave it to others to assess the state of the Union). Indeed, GDP has  advanced at over a 3% clip during the past nine months.  [...]