Clark Center Forum

 

By Amir Sufi The failure to address crippling household-debt burdens is leading local governments to embrace the radical idea of using eminent domain to seize and write down mortgages. Over the past month, two cities in California — Stockton and San Bernardino — have made moves to file for bankruptcy… Read article> 

This week’s IGM Economic Experts Panel statement:

Long run fiscal sustainability in the U.S. will require cuts in currently promised Medicare and Medicaid benefits and/or tax increases that include higher taxes on households with incomes below $250,000. 

On June 28, the Supreme Court upheld President Barack Obama’s health-care law. Opponents and supporters are still sparring over whether its mandate is a tax. It’s time to get over this debate. The mandate’s mild penalty was never this law’s central economic and policy flaw. The legal distinctions among a mandate, a tax, a penalty, […] 

This week’s IGM Economic Experts Panel statements:

A) Assuming that Germany eventually agrees to backstop the debt of southern European countries, the eurozone as a whole will be better off if that bailout is unconditional, rather than accompanied by the labor market reforms and future budget controls that Germany is demanding of countries in return.

B) If Germany fails to bail out the southern tier of Europe, its own economy will be hurt more — because of output and asset losses — than it would be by an unconditional bailout.

C) The main reason other eurozone countries need to worry about Greek banks losing access to ECB support is because the ensuing chaos in Greece could trigger bank runs in peripheral countries. 

As he challenges Barack Obama for the presidency, Mitt Romney may be inclined to leave the issue of income inequality to his opponent. That would be a mistake. The reason isn’t just that the country’s widening income gap over the past few decades is an issue any president should address. Romney should also talk about […] 

This week’s IGM Economic Experts Panel statements:

A) A cut in federal income tax rates in the US right now would lead to higher GDP within five years than without the tax cut.

B) A cut in federal income tax rates in the US right now would raise taxable income enough so that the annual total tax revenue would be higher within five years than without the tax cut. 

This week's IGM Economic Experts Panel statements:

A) Trade with China makes most Americans better off because, among other advantages, they can buy goods that are made or assembled more cheaply in China.

B) Some Americans who work in the production of competing goods, such as clothing and furniture, are made worse off by trade with China. 

by James Heaton and Nicholas Polson Market observers often divide investors into “smart money” and “dumb money.” Our research shows there may be a way to figure out which group you are in. The first place to look is prices… Read article> 

This week's IGM Economic Experts Panel statement:

An important reason why private college and university tuition has risen faster than the CPI during the past few decades is because competition for faculty members — whose potential earnings in other sectors have steadily improved — has driven up their pay faster than their productivity.