Clark Center Forum

About the Clark Center Forum

The Forum for the Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets is home to the European, Finance, and US Economic Experts Panels as well as a repository of thoughtful, current, and reliable information regarding topics of the day.
Bloomberg

End Double Mandate to Save Fed’s Independence

There’s one prediction that can safely be made about the decision that the Supreme Court will render on the Affordable Care Act: The final vote will almost certainly be along party lines. The court’s progressive politicization in recent years is a natural reaction to the increasingly activist role it has adopted. As justices have weighed […] 
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Bloomberg
US

School Vouchers

Question A:

If public school students had the option of taking the government money (local, state, federal) currently being spent on their own education and turning that money into vouchers that they could use towards covering the costs of any private school or public school of their choice (e.g. charter schools), most would be better off.

Responses

Source: Clark Center Economic Experts Panel
Methodology
Question B:

The main drawback to allowing all public school students to take the government money (local, state, federal) currently being spent on their own education and turning that money into vouchers that they could use towards covering the costs of any private school or public school of their choice (e.g. charter schools) would be that some students would not make an active choice and would be left with much worse peers and a weaker school.

Responses

Source: Clark Center Economic Experts Panel
Methodology
 
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Clark Center Economic Experts Panel
Bloomberg

Consumer Protection Bureau Can Teach Financial Self-Help

by Robert H. Gertner The long gestation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was mandated by the Dodd- Frank Act, is over. Now that the bureau’s chairman, Richard Cordray, is in place and it is rolling out programs, it is a good time to think about how government intervention can improve outcomes in the […] 
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Bloomberg
US

Too Big to Fail

This week’s IGM Economic Experts Panel poll statements:

A) The average size of the 19 financial firms that just completed the Federal Reserve stress tests (i.e. the CCAR) would be substantially smaller if they did not have implicit government support.

B) The 19 financial firms that just completed the Federal Reserve stress tests (i.e. the CCAR) are big primarily because of economies of scale and scope, rather than because of implicit government support. 
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Clark Center Economic Experts Panel
Bloomberg

Austerity or Stimulus? What We Need Is Growth

Austerity isn’t working in Europe. Greece is collapsing, Italy and Spain’s output is declining, and even Germany and the U.K. are slowing down. In addition to their direct economic costs, these “austerity” measures aren’t even swiftly closing budget gaps. As incomes decline, tax revenue drops, and it becomes harder to cut spending. A downward spiral […] 
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Bloomberg
US

Free Trade

This week’s IGM Economic Experts Panel poll statements:

A) Freer trade improves productive efficiency and offers consumers better choices, and in the long run these gains are much larger than any effects on employment.

B) On average, citizens of the U.S. have been better off with the North American Free Trade Agreement than they would have been if the trade rules for the U.S., Canada and Mexico prior to NAFTA had remained in place. 
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Clark Center Economic Experts Panel
US

Bank Bailouts

This week’s IGM Economic Experts Panel poll statement:

Because the U.S. Treasury bailed out and backstopped banks (by injecting equity into them in late 2008, and later committing to provide public capital to any banks that failed the stress tests and could not raise private capital), the U.S. unemployment rate was lower at the end of 2010 than it would have been without these measures. 
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Business Cycles, Recessions, & Crises
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Topics

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Recent Polls

Europe’s Defense Sector

Europe’s Defense Sector

December 19th, 2024
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Tariffs, Technology, and Growth

December 18th, 2024
Investing in Private Assets

Investing in Private Assets

December 18th, 2024
Global Warming

Global Warming

December 4th, 2024
Department of Education

Department of Education

December 3rd, 2024

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