Does Innovation Lead to Prosperity for All?
Without a doubt, exciting new technologies, including in robotics, 3-D printing, and gene therapy, are impressive. Blood markers and the ability to reengineer genetic DNA have achieved fantastic...
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Time to Shift to the Supply Side
Download the PDF Key points: The apparent discrepancy between recent increases in US employment data and the shockingly low first-quarter 2014 growth rate has left many observers of the economy...
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Fed Chair Yellen Puts on a Brave Face
Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen, in her semi-annual monetary policy report to Congress on July 15, did her best to put some lipstick on the pig that is the US economy. She started with the...
View ArticleGDP for Second Quarter: Strong Headline, Weak Innards
“Surprise!” say the sell-side, upbeat economy touts. Second quarter GDP growth came in at a 4% pace, well above the expected 3% pace. But that’s as good as the news gets. It’s best to average two...
View ArticleDon’t Be Fooled: The Fed’s Exit Won’t Be Easy
The celebration of the second quarter growth “rebound” to 4 percent will be short lived as Thursday’s brisk stock market sell-off has already signaled. The headline number’s strength exaggerates the...
View ArticleYellen Vs. the Bank for International Settlements: Whose Thesis Makes Better...
For the first time since the monetarist vs. Keynesian debate of the 1970s, the economic policy world is in stark intellectual disagreement. At issue is the role of monetary policy and financial...
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The Federal Reserve’s Policy Dilemma
Download the PDF Key points: It is too soon to get excited about the US economy’s second-quarter growth rate of 4 percent; when averaged with the first quarter, year-to-date growth is only a sluggish...
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‘Whatever It Takes’ Breaks Down
Download the PDF The 2014 US economic outlook was less than sanguine in January. As I wrote that month, As we enter 2014, we are at a crossroads on the question of boosting sustainable growth. Monetary...
View ArticleThe BOJ’s Halloween Surprise
At its October 31 “Halloween” Monetary Policy Meeting, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) announced – preemptively, all market players were caught flat-footed – further quantitative and qualitative easing (QQE),...
View ArticleWill Other Nations Follow Japan’s Lead with More Easing?
Last week, the Federal Reserve announced the end of its bond-purchasing program, known as quantitative easing. Citing enough substantial improvement in the labor market and sufficient underlying...
View ArticleExperts Available: US Economy Adds 214,000 Jobs in October
CONTACT: mediaservices@aei.org / 202.862.5829 The US economy added 214,000 jobs in the month of October and the unemployment rate dropped to an six-year low at 5.8 percent. With another solid jobs...
View ArticleDeflation Complacency Is Dangerous
Today’s Wall Street journal includes a stimulating op-ed by the usually prescient John Cochrane of the University of Chicago entitled, “Who’s Afraid of a Little Deflation?” To this glib question I...
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America Can Afford Tax Rate Cuts to Boost Growth, Wages, and Employment
Read the PDF. Key Points US fiscal health is currently robust enough to support a package of $300 billion in tax rate cuts, which could help get the nation’s economy back on track. Lower marginal...
View ArticleJapan Back in Recession Signals Need for More Stimulus Globally
Markets were shocked by Japan’s -1.6% Q3 2014 growth pace which was reported over night. Forecast had been for +2.0% pace, so the negative rate was a big disappointment that puts Japan firmly in...
View ArticleWhat Will Increased US Debt Levels Under the Obama Administration Mean for...
The post What Will Increased US Debt Levels Under the Obama Administration Mean for the Future? Makin on Fox News’ ‘Special Report’ appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI.
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Happy Holidays from the Saudis and Shale Oil
While Americans were enjoying their thanksgiving feast this year, they received an extra blessing from two sources: the shale (cheaper) oil revolution and Saudi Arabia. Due to pressure from a surge of...
View ArticleWhat’s Not to Like?
Economists, myself included, didn’t anticipate the US growth surge to a 5 percent pace at mid-year. For those still wallowing in notions of underlying problems like middle class malaise, geopolitical...
View ArticleFed Too Complacent on US Deflation Damage
The Fed is in an awkward position, as was clear from Janet Yellen’s tough slog through her December 17 press conference. The Fed’s main message – that monetary tightening (interest rate boosts) will...
View ArticleSound Tax Reform Trumps ‘soak the Rich’— for Rich and Poor Alike
The president’s tax plan, aimed at helping middle class families (how are they defined?), would best be described as a modest step in the wrong direction. “Modest” because the proposed net tax...
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Deflationary Spirals
Here is the question: What do European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick have in common? Answer: Both are worried about deflationary spirals. In prices,...
View ArticleGoldilocks or Clueless Fed?
Today is Fed message day and the real message is already out for all to see in the front page headline of The Wall Street Journal – it says, “Strong Dollar Squeezes US Firms.” Turn to page 2 and...
View ArticleThe President’s Damaging Budget Strategy
The president’s budget is ridiculously out of sync with reality. It seeks to undo the sequester and raise tax rates on the rich – who shall become ever-more-broadly defined to include households making...
View ArticlePity the Fed
You should pity the Federal Reserve. Thanks to a string of fairly strong jobs reports (new jobs per month have averaged well over 200,000 for the last year and the unemployment rate has dropped to 5.6...
View ArticleAn Economist’s Outlook: Essays by John H. Makin from a Transformative Era
This collection is an invaluable guide for both the beginner who wants to understand economic history, concepts, and policymaking and the seasoned expert who will appreciate Makin’s impressive range...
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