Global Economic News and Analysis
by Timothy Taylor, Conversable Economist In the old days, like six or seven years ago, one could teach monetary policy at the intro level as consisting of basically one tool: the central bank would lower a particular target interest rates to stimulate the economy out of recessions, and raise that target interest rate when an …
Continue reading “Macroprudential Monetary Policy: What It Is, How it Works”
by Guest Author Timothy Taylor, Conversable Economist There’s a basic and often-told story about output and employment in the U.S. manufacturing sector: I’m sure I’ve told it a time or two myself. The story begins by pointing out that the total quantity of U.S. manufacturing output has actually held up fairly well over recent decades, …
Continue reading “Cautionary Details on U.S. Manufacturing Productivity: Susan Houseman”
by Guest Author Timothy Taylor, Conversable Economist Wikipedia aspires to a neutral point of view. How well does it succeed? Shane Greenstein and Feng Zhu tackle this question in the May 2012 issue of the American Economic Review. (The article is not freely available, but many academics will have access through their library websites.) They …
by Guest Author Timothy Taylor, Conversable Economist M. Scott Taylor (no relation!) offers a new and persuasive explanation of why the American buffalo population declined from 10-15 million in the early 1870s to about 100 by the late 1880s in “Buffalo Hunt: International Trade and the Virtual Extinction of the North American Bison.” The article …
Continue reading “How Globalization Nearly Exterminated the Buffalo”