Hoover Institution at Stanford University

Economic Crisis 2008–09

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  • Harvard historian sees banks, China dragging down U.S. (November 12, 2009)
    this article features Niall Ferguson
    Harvard economic historian Niall Ferguson, whose “The Ascent of Money” book and TV series traced the world’s financial system, last night painted a pessimistic prognosis for U.S. recovery unless the government takes decisive action. . . .
  • Lessons learned from the crisis: a view from the US (November 11, 2009)
    interview with featured guest Kenneth E. Scott
    Professor Scott was in the Grand Duchy to speak at the University of Luxembourg on lessons learned from the financial crisis. . . .
  • Architects of Ruin (November 10, 2009)
    this article features Peter Schweizer
    this article mentions Thomas Sowell
    With Architects of Ruin, Peter Schweizer again delivers a knockout punch of a book that is the must read of the season for conservatives and should be a main topic of conversation for conservative media. . . .
  • Geithner Saying Be Like Buffett Can’t Make Banks Lend (November 10, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is echoing billionaire investor Warren Buffett in telling banks “to take a chance again on the American economy.” . . .
  • Is the Dollar Dying a Slow Death? (November 6, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    The U.S. dollar seems to have as many lives as a cat. . . .
  • G-20 Ministers to Start Setting Timetable for Economic Reviews (November 4, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    Group of 20 finance ministers will start setting a timetable for measures to avoid the kind of lopsided trade and investment flows blamed for contributing to the global crisis, a U.S. Treasury Department official said...
  • Strauss-Kahn Sees G-20 Adopting Timeline, Method on Imbalances (November 4, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said he expects finance ministers from Group of 20 nations to adopt a timetable and plan to ensure the next global economic expansion is more balanced...
  • We of Little Faith (November 4, 2009)
    interview with featured guest Niall Ferguson
    It's said there are no atheists in foxholes...
  • Bush economist: Jobs 'created or saved' figure touted by Obama is meaningless (November 3, 2009)
    this article features Edward Paul Lazear
    Ed Lazear was the top economic adviser to President George W. Bush and much more of a free-marketer than the president, who ran up massive budget deficits...
  • Washington's inconvenient economic truths (November 3, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    Now that we're officially (if barely) out of the Great Recession, it's time for our nation's elected officials to get down to serious business -- that of taking credit, assigning blame, and calling each other liars...
  • Jobless may need to plan for recession's end (October 30, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John Shoven
    From Washington, the government has all but declared the "great recession" over...
  • Rogoff, Ferguson Say Global Financial Crisis Is Not Yet Over (October 29, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    The global financial crisis hasn’t ended, said Harvard University professors Kenneth Rogoff and Niall Ferguson, who challenged assertions made by Group of 20 leaders at their meeting in Pittsburgh last month...
  • Three Theories on Solving the 'Too Big to Fail' Problem (October 28, 2009)
    this article mentions George P. Shultz
    The biggest financial crisis in 70 years has bequeathed a to-do list of overwhelming length for bankers, regulators and politicians...
  • Panel takes on economy (October 27, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Caroline M. Hoxby
    The recuperating American economy still requires a structural upgrade, according to the panel of experts gathered for Stanford’s fourth annual Roundtable...
  • Innovation will deliver U.S. from recession, experts predict at Stanford's 2009 Roundtable (October 26, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Caroline M. Hoxby
    We have seen the worst...
  • Fed's Plosser calls for stricter rules on policy (October 21, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    A top Federal Reserve official said on Tuesday the U.S. central bank needs stricter policies dictating when it should step in with bailouts, saying such measures would have reduced confusion during last year's financial crisis...
  • Bank of America Posts Third-Quarter Loss on Defaults (October 16, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. lender, posted its second quarterly loss in less than a year, unable to shake off effects of the economic slump that led to two U.S. bailouts...
  • Obama Dollar Retreats Most Against Commodities in Wealth Shift (October 14, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    President Barack Obama’s effort to lead the world economic recovery by spending the U.S. out of its recession is undermining the dollar, triggering record commodities rallies as investors scour the globe for hard assets...
  • Bullard Says Lower Unemployment Condition to Tighten (October 13, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said a falling unemployment rate is a precondition for an increase in the benchmark interest rate from near zero...
  • So How Is the Stimulus Working Out? (October 9, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Robert J. Barro
    Give us money, and we’ll give you jobs...
  • Obama plan stirs little (October 8, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Robert J. Barro, Michael J. Boskin, John F. Cogan, and John B. Taylor
    Harvard economist Robert Barro expressed disbelief earlier this year when President Obama and his advisers forecast that his economic stimulus program would create or save 4 million jobs...
  • Not much bang for our bucks (October 8, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John F. Cogan and John B. Taylor
    With the economy showing slight signs of life, liberal pundits are crowing that the Obama administration’s stimulus package is working...
  • Stop the stimulus (October 8, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    The New York Times columnist and economist Paul Krugman recently congratulated the Obama administration for helping pull the U.S. “back from the brink” with its stimulus measures...
  • Much ado about multipliers (October 7, 2009)
    this article mentions John F. Cogan and John B. Taylor
    IT IS the biggest peacetime fiscal expansion in history...
  • Stimulus' impact disputed (October 6, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Michael J. Boskin and John F. Cogan
    The nation's nearly 10 percent unemployment rate has raised fresh doubts about the impact of President Obama's $787 billion stimulus plan, with some economic analysts arguing there is little or no evidence that it has helped create or preserve the millions of jobs Mr. Obama promised...
  • And You Say Conservatism Is Dying? (October 6, 2009)
    this article mentions John F. Cogan and John B. Taylor
    Strangely, chatter about the "death of conservatism" is circulating this fall. I say "strangely" because we are in the midst of the greatest left/liberal moment in living memory...
  • Look to China for economic balance (October 6, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    Not too long ago the observation that one in six people in the world was a Chinese peasant might have served as a conversational icebreaker at parties for economists...
  • The share surge looks overdone (October 5, 2009)
    this article mentions John F. Cogan and John B. Taylor
    On its own, the 4 per cent fall in US share prices over the last two weeks, following such a big rise, would not be cause for any concern...
  • G-7 Avoids Dollar Criticism, Warns Against Volatility (October 5, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    Group of Seven finance chiefs stopped short of singling out the weaker dollar for criticism and stuck to their mantra that “disorderly” swings in currencies threaten economic growth...
  • Trichet, Lagarde Push China to Let Currency Gain Against Euro (October 5, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    European Central Bank President Jean- Claude Trichet led the region’s finance chiefs in pushing China to let the yuan strengthen amid mounting concern the euro is shouldering too much of the burden of a sliding dollar...
  • Talk on economic 'exit strategies' dominates IMF meetings (October 5, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    It’s the issue the world’s leading economic policy makers and thinkers are talking about...
  • Big government a plague to growth (October 2, 2009)
    this article features Edward Paul Lazear
    A TOP US economist has questioned whether economic stimulus packages work, saying they struggle to achieve in the short term and tend to cause damage in the long run...
  • Reserve set to lift growth forecasts (October 2, 2009)
    this article mentions Edward Paul Lazear
    THE Reserve Bank is set to lift its growth forecasts again within weeks, as evidence increases that the global economy is recovering faster than expected...
  • Defusing the economic big bang theory (September 24, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John F. Cogan and John B. Taylor
    With the economy showing some slight signs of life, liberal pundits are crowing that the Obama administration’s stimulus package is working...
  • Fed May Signal Economic Recovery Has Begun, Affirm Low Rates (September 23, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    Federal Reserve officials may signal that the U.S. economy has started to recover while maintaining their pledge to keep the benchmark interest rate near a record low for an “extended period.”...
  • Last tango in Chimerica: the road to Splitsville (September 23, 2009)
    this article features Niall Ferguson
    The 'marriage' between the economies of frugal, savings-conscious China and spendthrift America is set for an imminent divorce, with profound implications for the two countries and the rest of the world, say economic historians and analysts...
  • ‘China’s unofficial empire’, as perceived by Niall Ferguson (September 22, 2009)
    this article features Niall Ferguson
    "We're in a period of transition of great powers becoming weak powers," said Professor Niall Ferguson in the keynote speech at the CLSA conference in Hong Kong yesterday...
  • Is The Stimulus Working? (September 22, 2009)
    by Charles Calomiris
    this article mentions John F. Cogan and John B. Taylor
    As time goes by and data piles up, the debate is heating up over whether President Obama's $787 billion stimulus bill is responsible for the apparent improvement in the economy...
  • Recession winners: historians and hedge funds (September 22, 2009)
    this article mentions Niall Ferguson
    That’s it, then...
  • Democrats on path to repeat housing disaster (September 22, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Russell Roberts
    With all the attention paid to the health care battle, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, and the president's "Full Ginsburg" appearances on five Sunday talk shows, few people noticed a hearing with an exceedingly boring title -- "Proposals to Enhance the Community Reinvestment Act" -- held last week in the House Financial Services Committee...
  • 'We Need New Banks' (September 16, 2009)
    interview with featured guest Niall Ferguson
    In a SPIEGEL interview, Harvard historian Niall Ferguson discusses the turbulent history of money, the inevitability of financial crises and the fatal influence mathematicians have on the monetary system...
  • Government's Trial and Error Helped Stem Financial Panic (September 14, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    It was only a year ago that the world economy was enveloped in a financial panic of such dimensions that, if one believes Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, it threatened to produce a calamity as bad as the Great Depression...
  • Government Spending Is Naked Without the Fed (September 14, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    President Barack Obama takes his show on the road today for what the White House says is a “major speech” on the financial crisis...
  • Political Economy: Back From the Brink (September 14, 2009)
    this article mentions Robert E. Hall
    President Obama and his chief economist, Christina Romer, took the plunge last week and announced in the most explicit terms yet that their stimulus and related proposals were truly working — that Washington had, in effect, saved the nation from an even worse calamity through a timely infusion of taxpayer-provided cash...
  • Top economist: Delayed stimulus a boon (September 14, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Robert E. Hall
    The head of the group that officially dates U.S. recessions said the Obama administration's delay of government purchases under the $787 billion economic stimulus will spur more growth than a rapid procurement plan...
  • Tax Inquiry Delays Pick by Obama at Treasury (September 11, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    President Barack Obama's nominee for the top international post at the Treasury Department has been sidetracked by a Senate committee's investigation into her personal tax returns...
  • Lehman Monday Morning Lesson Lost With Obama Regulator-in-Chief (September 11, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    Less than 24 hours after his swearing-in ceremony, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner surprised Camden R. Fine with an invitation to a one- on-one meeting about the financial crisis...
  • States Scramble for Reform to Get Stimulus Money (September 10, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Michael J. Petrilli
    Three cash-strapped states may find themselves left at the starting line in the competition for more than $4 billion in education stimulus funding if they don't amend laws that prevent student test results from being tied to teacher evaluations...
  • Reflecting On A Legacy Of Recessions: Job Losses (September 10, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    The financial system almost collapsed last September...
  • Research Shows $100 Billion Ed. Stimulus Likely Hurting Economy (September 9, 2009)
    this article mentions Eric Hanushek
    Tomorrow morning, the president’s Council of Economic Advisers will release a report assessing the short and long-term effects of the stimulus bill on the U.S. economy...
  • Fostering the 'Pictet Spirit' to Maintain Success (September 8, 2009)
    this article mentions Niall Ferguson
    When Jean-Claude Erne talks about his career at Pictet Group, a private Swiss bank with 19 offices world-wide that manages assets for institutions and wealthy individuals, he emphasizes "the Pictet spirit," which he says helps explain the bank's success since its founding in 1805...
  • Greenspan Says Capital Requirements Must Be Raised (September 8, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said banks should be forced to hold more capital on their balance sheets, reinforcing a weekend push by finance chiefs from the Group of 20 nations...
  • Nobel economist sees a roaring recovery (September 8, 2009)
    this article features Gary S. Becker
    While the banking crash no doubt had its frightening moments, the crisis has in his view been overstated to advance a sweeping collectivist agenda...
  • Six myths about the financial crisis (September 8, 2009)
    this article mentions Gary S. Becker
    A comfortable, corporatist consensus is building up about how to deal with the financial crisis...
  • How and When Will the Global Crisis End? (September 8, 2009)
    this article features Gary S. Becker
    I’m writing to you from Villa d’Este in Cernobbio, Italy, where I just finished moderating a panel at the annual Ambrosetti forum...
  • Analysis: At Lake Como forum, experts say the crisis may be easing — but warn of complacency (September 8, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Gary S. Becker
    As the world's top finance officials gathered Friday in London, an assembly of top business leaders and economists echoed the cautious but spreading optimism of politicians — while warning against prematurely celebrating the end of the world's economic woes...
  • China’s Exports, Not Altruism, Fund U.S. Deficit: Caroline Baum (September 2, 2009)
    this article mentions Niall Ferguson
    Any reference to the exploding U.S. fiscal deficit is almost certain to include a mention of China in the very next sentence...
  • Book Review: Dissecting the housing and financial crises (August 27, 2009)
    this article features Thomas Sowell
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    Since the financial/economic crisis that metabolized beginning last summer I have read several books and countless articles, from various points of view, that sought to describe how the debacle developed and (usually) to offer hints as to how to work our way out of this mess...
  • Failure Rewarded (August 26, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    The Federal Reserve's purpose, beyond monitoring the money supply, is to ensure the safety and stability of the financial system and to manage systemic risks...
  • Bernanke's Second Chance (August 26, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    When George W. Bush nominated Ben Bernanke to be Federal Reserve Chairman in late 2005, we wrote that there was "at least rough justice" in the fact that Mr. Bernanke would have to clean up a monetary bubble that he had helped to create...
  • Leadership in The New World (August 25, 2009)
    this article mentions Niall Ferguson
    In times of crisis, people's behaviors and perspectives--both in their personal and work lives--change irrevocably...
  • 'Clunkers' Impact Debated As Program Concludes (August 25, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Tibor R. Machan
    After wrapping up the popular "Cash for Clunkers" program on Monday, car dealers in Berkeley are anticipating the long-term effects and possible payoff of the plan that sparked sales increases for fuel-efficient vehicles and promised environmental benefits...
  • Letter: Unintended consequences (August 24, 2009)
    this article mentions Thomas Sowell
    In his book “Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One,” Thomas Sowell brilliantly explains how politicians often fail to consider (or inform constituents of) the potential adverse consequences of government policies...
  • New deficit projections pose risks to Obama's agenda (August 24, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    President Barack Obama's domestic policy proposals will face the reality of skyrocketing deficits on Tuesday when officials release two government reports projecting huge budget shortfalls over the next decade...
  • To Opponents Of The Stimulus (August 21, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    According to a recent USA Today poll, 57% of Americans think the $787 billion fiscal stimulus enacted in February either has had no effect or made the economy worse...
  • Insight: Solving the valuation problem (August 20, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    Amid the self-congratulations by global regulators for avoiding a second Great Depression and the bickering over the structure of future financial regulation, one troublesome fact remains...
  • If jobs don't return, is it really a recovery? (August 17, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Robert E. Hall
    Is the term "jobless recovery" an oxymoron?...
  • All that glitters / The bears come out of the woods (August 17, 2009)
    this article mentions Niall Ferguson
    This doesn't look like the sunniest of weeks on the stock market...
  • Worth Mulling: A Late-Summer Reading List (August 17, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Thomas Sowell
    IF, LIKE ME, YOU PLAN TO READ SIX BOOKS ON VACATION -- but never know which six, and you end up packing 20 -- try lightening your load by investing in a Kindle, the popular reading device that can hold more books than you could get through on a dozen vacations...
  • Our View: A commission with a charge (August 17, 2009)
    this article mentions Michael J. Boskin
    At this over-commissioned, deficit-budgeted bureaucratic time in the history of California's government, we'd be hard-pressed to name many new state commissions worth applauding...
  • Caution over upturn in US (August 13, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Robert E. Hall
    Declaring the US recession over may take more than a year because of the risk that signs of stabilisation will prove short-lived, according to the head of the group charged with making the call...
  • Did the Government Beat the Recession? (August 11, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Gary S. Becker
    Washington won...
  • Did regulations cause current crisis? (August 11, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    THE intellectual starting point for much of the conventional wisdom regarding the origins of the current financial crisis is that it was brought about by capitalism gone wrong and that it combined with the failure of the US government to prevent it through effective regulation of the financial system...
  • Is the Economic Marriage Between China and U.S. on the Rocks? (August 11, 2009)
    interview with featured guest Niall Ferguson
    Niall Ferguson is a professor of history at Harvard University and a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School...
  • Rich Prize, Restrictive Guidelines (August 11, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Michael J. Petrilli
    The U.S. Department of Education’s proposed guidelines for awarding $4 billion in Race to the Top Fund money send a strong message that any state hoping to land a competitive grant should expect to allow student test scores to be used in decisions about teacher compensation and evaluation...
  • China gets to rescue capitalism (August 10, 2009)
    this article mentions Timothy Garton Ash
    THE financial crisis has been around for over a year...
  • The sun also rises (August 7, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Robert E. Hall
    WHEN Barack Obama visited Elkhart, Indiana, in early February, a few weeks after his inauguration, it was a sombre affair...
  • How Will We Know The Recession Is Over? (August 7, 2009)
    this article mentions Robert E. Hall
    Officially, we won’t for a year or more after it actually happens...
  • Money Books for the Summer Bedside Table (August 5, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson and John B. Taylor
    While people in many other places are turning to a thriller, romance, or Harry Potter book for summer reading, lots of Washingtonians are trying to understand what’s happened to the economy and what Washington should be doing about it...
  • Morning in America Means a ‘Long Slog’ as Phelps Eyes Recovery (August 4, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Gary S. Becker
    Just as banks from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. rushed to raise their forecasts for U.S. growth in coming quarters, Nobel laureate Edmund Phelps warned the economy is in for a “long slog.”...
  • Dumb Money (August 4, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Eric Hanushek
    "If we want to become a strong economy again, the best thing we can do is have an educated workforce."...
  • Trade-In Program Tunes Up Economic Engine Of the nearly $800 billion of stimulus funds, the $1 billion "Cash for Clunkers" program may offer the most bang for the buck in terms of jump-starting the economy. (August 4, 2009)
    this article mentions John F. Cogan and John B. Taylor
    Of the nearly $800 billion of stimulus funds, the $1 billion "Cash for Clunkers" program may offer the most bang for the buck in terms of jump-starting the economy...
  • Why the Obama Stimulus Has Us on a Collision Course with Inflation (August 4, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Edward Paul Lazear
    Has the massive Obama stimulus plan put us on a collision course with virulent inflation?...
  • Stimulus has yet to really boost GDP (August 4, 2009)
    this video includes quotes from Edward Paul Lazear
    The nation's economy is starting to rebound, but the Obama administration's massive stimulus package had little to do with it...
  • Signs of Life in the Housing Market (July 31, 2009)
    this article mentions Thomas Sowell
    The economic crisis began with a housing downturn that spread to housing finance, and then to the entire economy in the form of a deep recession...
  • Lisbon Yes will make EU fit for global challenges (July 16, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Timothy Garton Ash
    If we want the European Union to respond effectively to international financial, energy and climate change crises we must empower it to do so...
  • Democrats For a Flat Tax? (July 16, 2009)
    this article mentions Michael J. Boskin and John F. Cogan
    Karen Bass is an unlikely tax cutter...
  • Racing for an Early Edge (July 15, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Michael J. Petrilli
    Even before they’ve finished spending their first block of federal stimulus aid, states are getting a head start in a national “race to the top” for better public education, without even knowing rules to the game...
  • Obama Playing Defense (July 15, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Edward Paul Lazear
    As he was traveling in Europe and Africa last week, President Barack Obama had to come out to defend his economic reactivation plan...
  • Debt and Deflation (July 14, 2009)
    this article mentions Robert J. Barro
    There is a reason I call this column Outside the Box...
  • Impatience builds over slow-moving stimulus (July 13, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Edward Paul Lazear
    The record-breaking $787 billion fiscal stimulus package that Congress passed in February is not breaking records on the job front...
  • Human capital development: Meeting the challenges of the global economic meltdown (July 13, 2009)
    this article mentions Gary S. Becker
    BEING text of a paper presented by Dr. Erastus B.O. Akingbola, OON, FCIB, Group Chief Executive, Intercontinental Bank Plc and President, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, at the Nigerian Institute for Training & Development Human Resource Development Forum, Lagos, July, 2, 2009...
  • Dollar Declines as Gold Rises (July 13, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    Yesterday, stocks went nowhere...
  • Two Authorities on Fed Advise Congress Against Expanding Its Power (July 10, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    Two economists with longstanding ties to the Federal Reserve warned Congress on Thursday that it would be a mistake to make the Fed a super-regulator in charge of reining in “systemic risk” and financial institutions considered “too big to fail.”...
  • Ascent of Money chronicles currency's intriguing past (July 10, 2009)
    this article features Niall Ferguson
    The year 2009 will be remembered for the global financial crisis. Regardless of other events in the news — wars, nuclear threats and the inauguration of a new U.S. president — all things money have remained front and center in the public's attention...
  • Congress Gives Fed’s Regulatory Restructuring Role A Once-Over (July 10, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    Congress took on the Obama Administration’s regulatory restructuring proposals today, with a hearing called to examine the expanded role envisioned for the Federal Reserve Board in the Obama plan...
  • Kohn: Monetary Policy Audits Would Hurt Fed Debate (July 10, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Donald Kohn said Thursday that while the Fed doesn't object to government audits of its emergency facilities, extending those audits to monetary policy could "cast a chill" on the central bank's deliberations...
  • Sowell's Uncommon Conviction (July 9, 2009)
    this article features Thomas Sowell
    In 1930, Thomas Sowell was born to a poor family in North Carolina...
  • Will Barney Frank's call for lower lending standards result in another housing crisis? (July 9, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Thomas Sowell
    Here we go again...
  • 'Bankslaughter': Should Execs Be Held Liable For Killing Banks? (July 9, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Timothy Garton Ash
    If you're driving and happen to kill a pedestrian, you may, of course, be slapped with manslaughter charges...
  • None Dare Call It Marxism (July 9, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Thomas Sowell
    All right already...
  • Sterling 'will strengthen to €1.19 in a year' (July 9, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    The pound is set to strengthen versus the euro this year to a level around €1.19, as the economy pulls out of recession, according to currency market analysts...
  • The Books Interview: Niall Ferguson (July 9, 2009)
    interview with featured guest Niall Ferguson
    Niall Ferguson, contributing editor of the Financial Times and author of The Ascent of Money gives his views on the current financial crisis...
  • The case against The Crash conspiracy theory (July 9, 2009)
    this article mentions Policy Review
    In a column earlier this week, New York Times op-ed writer Frank Rich perfectly articulates the dominant mythology of the 2008 market meltdown...
  • Staggering Budget Gap and a Reluctance to Fill It (July 8, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    No one argues that the staggering deficits run up by the American government in a bid to rescue the economy are desirable, healthy or even sustainable — not if the national debt continues to swell at its current pace...
  • The Almighty Bond Market: Niall Ferguson’s Concerns about the U.S. Deficit Explained (July 8, 2009)
    this article features Niall Ferguson
    Harvard Economist Niall Ferguson appeared on CNN’s GPS with Fareed Zakaria over the weekend...
  • Debt Burden Quickens Power Shift as G-8 Loses Clout (July 7, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    The world’s most affluent nations will take decades to work off the biggest buildup in debt since World War II...
  • Bernanke still a speed demon (June 30, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    The major reserve currency central banks escalated their monetary unorthodoxy over the past month...
  • How Golden State sank into budget morass (June 29, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Bill Whalen
    So how did it come to this - that powerhouse California, a nation-state of 33 million with a budget larger than most small countries, has again been brought to its knees in a life-or-death struggle for financial survival?...
  • Some say new constitution would solve state's woes (June 29, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Bill Whalen
    California is drowning in ever-deepening red ink...
  • Calfornia budget battle an opportunity for parties to set 2010 tone (June 29, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Bill Whalen
    At the end of a news briefing last week, Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg put his hand to his chest and said "this isn't political for me."...
  • Blame Not the Deregulator (June 29, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Charles Calomiris and Niall Ferguson
    Last month, Paul Krugman launched a campaign to pin the financial crisis on “Reagan and his circle of advisers.”...
  • Rates akimbo (June 25, 2009)
    this article features John B. Taylor
    The major change in this morning’s statement from the Federal Reserve is that the threat of disaster has been removed...
  • Case of Denial (June 24, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    John Berlau of the Competitive Enterprise Institute has taken issue with a recent editorial in which National Review supported giving the federal government the power to seize insolvent financial institutions and force them into receivership...
  • Pick of the Paperbacks (June 24, 2009)
    this article features Niall Ferguson
    Our reviewers' verdicts on the latest paperbacks, including The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson, and new books from Ali Smith, David Lodge and Jhumpa Lahiri...
  • Fiscal prudence, now and here (June 24, 2009)
    this article mentions Niall Ferguson
    Unlike the US and China, India may need to start fiscal consolidation soon...
  • What Caused the Financial Meltdown? (June 23, 2009)
    this article features Niall Ferguson
    Any list of inventions that have transformed the human condition would include the plough, the printing press, the steam engine, and the generation of electricity...
  • 'Obama Is Certainly a European' (June 22, 2009)
    interview with featured guest Timothy Garton Ash
    Oxford historian Timothy Garton Ash discusses the demise of Europe's social democrats, threats to the European Union posed by populist nationalists, the imminent change of government in Great Britain and America's rapid slide to the left...
  • Editorial: State should consider suspending K-3 class-size reduction (June 18, 2009)
    this article mentions Edward Paul Lazear
    THERE IS NO viable way to close the state's $20 billion-plus budget gap without painful spending cuts...
  • ECONOMIC SCENE: Will Fed’s stimulus send inflation soaring? (June 18, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Robert E. Hall
    How much money can the Fed create without stirring up rapid inflation and sharply devaluing the US dollar?...
  • How Stimulating Is Stimulus? (June 17, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Robert J. Barro and Thomas J. Sargent
    Last week's column elicited strong opinions from readers about government stimulus programs as a tool for promoting recovery, and led some to ask for another column on this topic...
  • Obama to Establish New Financial Regulatory Agency with Broad Powers (June 17, 2009)
    this article features Thomas Sowell
    President Barack Obama plans to make a detailed announcement on Wednesday about a plan for a new federal regulatory agency that would oversee credit cards and banking transactions but also reportedly give the federal government power to intervene quickly into myriad areas of the economy...
  • BRIC Leaders Aim To Build On Growing Economic Clout (June 16, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Michael S. Bernstam
    The name was coined by an economist to group together the world's biggest emerging economies...
  • A fine madness in the D.C. air (June 16, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    To borrow Niall Ferguson's metaphor -- if finance is an evolutionary process, then regulation is its intelligent design -- a cognate of faith, not science...
  • What history can teach us about financial crises (June 15, 2009)
    this article features Niall Ferguson
    At a time when the world is going through a financial crisis -- the likes of which has not been witnessed for at least a generation -- interest in all matters pertaining to the economy in general and money in particular has grown exponentially...
  • U.S. Fed in Trouble as Falling Dollar Risks Bond Investors Revolt (June 15, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    Frank Shostak writes: A growing concern for Fed policy makers is a weakening in the US dollar against major currencies...
  • The question: To tax or not to tax? (June 15, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Bill Whalen
    Are Californians overtaxed?...
  • Clues argue against Obama as revolutionary politician (June 12, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Shelby Steele
    ONE thing that drew people to Barack Obama’s candidacy last year was the promise his presidency would transcend race and partisan politics...
  • Permanent Tax Cuts: The Best Stimulus (June 12, 2009)
    this article features John B. Taylor
    When it comes to stimulating the economy, what works?...
  • Europe Lags as U.S. Economy Shows Signs of Recovery (June 12, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    There was more evidence Thursday that the United States economy might be stabilizing, if not rebounding, even as economic reports in Europe remained gloomy...
  • Can this man put Chrysler back on the road? (June 11, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Richard A. Epstein and Todd Zywicki
    Italian automaker Fiat SpA has finalized its government-brokered rescue of Chrysler LLC in a whirwind bankruptcy case legal scholars warn could destabilize investment markets while creating a new auto alliance with no guarantee of success...
  • Paul Krugman sees the recession ending this summer (June 11, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Robert E. Hall
    this article mentions Niall Ferguson
    Paul Krugman thinks the foundering economy may right itself this summer, he said in a speech today in London...
  • The Liberal Housing Crash (June 11, 2009)
    this article features Thomas Sowell
    The American people are pretty well convinced that the mortgage meltdown was the fault of greedy bankers, stupid borrowers, and the odd Friend of Angelo Mozilo like Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT)...
  • GOP seeks to trim stimulus, cut deficit (June 11, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John F. Cogan
    With the economy showing signs of recovery, fiscally conservative economists and Republican lawmakers are suggesting that the large unspent portion of the nearly $800 billion stimulus fund should be redirected to slash this year's nearly $2 trillion annual deficit...
  • It will take Wells Fargo longer to repay TARP (June 10, 2009)
    this article mentions John Shoven and George P. Shultz
    Remember when Wells Fargo & Co. had to be dragged kicking and screaming into taking TARP money, said it couldn't wait to pay back the $25 million, and Chairman Richard Kovacevich called the government's stress test asinine?...
  • Trust remains the key variable (June 10, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Victor Davis Hanson
    Victor Davis Hanson, a historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, writes: "After the junk bond meltdown, the S&L [savings-and-loan] debacle, and now the financial panic, in just a few years the financial community destroyed the ancient wisdom: deal in personal trust; your word is your bond; avoid extremes; treat the money you invest for others as something sacred; don't take any more perks than you would wish others to take; don't borrow what you couldn't suddenly pay back; imagine the worse case financial scenario and expect it may well happen; the wealthier you become the more humble you should act."...
  • Stimulus Funding for States Could Bolster Status Quo (June 10, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Williamson M. Evers and Michael J. Petrilli
    Education funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed into law this winter by President Barack Obama, includes spending for pre-K-12 programs and specifically allocates $2.1 billion in additional funding for Head Start programs, among other initiatives...
  • Chrysler sale to Fiat stalled by high court (June 9, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Richard A. Epstein
    In a surprise move, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a temporary delay Monday in the bankruptcy sale of Chrysler to Italian automaker Fiat, saying it needed more time to decide on complaints that the government-engineered deal is unfair to some bondholders...
  • Who Will Buy Our Debt? (June 9, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    For the financial cognoscenti, the cause of our fiscal and monetary crisis is very clear: deflection of responsibility...
  • Cash in on the war between inflation and deflation (June 8, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    Some of the world’s highest-profile economists and investors are warning that inflation may be on its way back and could hit double figures in the next five years...
  • Obama Aid Signals Deal With ‘Devil’ as Bankers Get New Rules (June 8, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    President Barack Obama, in less than five months in office, kicked out the head of General Motors Corp., scored a majority stake in Chrysler LLC for the United Auto Workers and stiffened U.S. fuel-mileage standards...
  • NBER’s Hall Says ‘Way Too Early’ to Declare Recovery (June 8, 2009)
    this article features Robert E. Hall
    While the U.S. economy is showing signs of stabilizing from a recession that started in December 2007, it’s “way too early” to say the contraction is over, said the head of the group that officially makes the call...
  • Human Rights in the Economic Crisis: A Powerful Amnesty Report (June 5, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    For those who believe that progress on human rights in the world has been adequate, Amnesty International has a sobering and powerful response in their 2009 Report - State of the World's Human Rights...
  • Zuma will have to disappoint allies to create prosperous SA (June 5, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    After all, it was as recently as January that then president Kgalema Motlanthe told the World Economic Forum SA would be able to grow at 4% on the back of strong infrastructure spend...
  • No amount of reshuffling will solve the mess Labour has made (June 5, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    As a guide to the scale of Gordon Brown's problems, it is hard to beat the call by Lord Mandelson for Labour MPs to cut out the treachery...
  • Immaturity in power (June 5, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    A sign of immaturity - most often found in children and certain politicians - is being in denial or even unaware of the consequences of one's actions...
  • 'Recovery Unlikely Until Banks Restore Ability' (June 3, 2009)
    this article features Thomas J. Sargent
    A noted economist has claimed the global economy will not see a meaningful recovery until banks' ability to lend to companies and individuals is fully restored, indicating that there might be a "double dip" downturn down the road...
  • Governor: 'Our wallet is empty' (June 3, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Bill Whalen
    Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger dusted off his first-term playbook Tuesday in a rare legislative budget address...
  • Systemic trouble (June 3, 2009)
    this article mentions Thomas Sowell
    Every day, some businesses fail...
  • Say It Ain't So, Larry (June 2, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    Ninety years ago the Chicago White Sox intentionally lost--dumped, to you sports fans--the World Series...
  • Tangle of weeds awaits to strangle US green shoots (June 2, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    America will not go bust...
  • Is there a calm after the economic storm? (June 2, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    GLOBAL panic subsides, but what's next?...
  • European Nations ‘as Bad as Argentina,’ Ferguson Says (June 2, 2009)
    this article features Niall Ferguson
    Many European governments’ finances are as risky as Argentina’s were at the height of its worst financial crisis, and the U.K. gives cause to be “extremely nervous,” Harvard University professor Niall Ferguson said...
  • A Pessimistic Assessment, Especially for Europe (June 1, 2009)
    interview with featured guest Niall Ferguson
    A PROLIFIC AUTHOR AND MEDIA STAR, NIALL FERGUSON has become one of the most prominent academics in the world...
  • All that glitters / King Kong takes on Godzilla (June 1, 2009)
    this article mentions Niall Ferguson
    Quite a drama raged last week, though it slipped under the radar of most pundits...
  • Ten Thoughts on the Causes of the Bubble and Bust (June 1, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Thomas Sowell
    "When it comes to the home mortgage boom and bust, who was to blame? The borrowers? The lenders? The government? The financial markets? The answer is yes. All were responsible." (Thomas Sowell, The Housing Boom and Bust, 2009.)...
  • Ireland is set to go bust, claims Harvard prof (May 29, 2009)
    this article features Niall Ferguson
    A dire warning that Ireland is a prime candidate to go bust has come from one of the world's leading economic historians...
  • Chicago Booth to host live webcast of ‘Future of Markets’ (May 29, 2009)
    this article mentions Gary S. Becker
    How much regulation do financial markets really need?...
  • Will he be back? (May 29, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Bill Whalen
    For a man who is already enjoying his third incarnation - bodybuilder, movie star, politician - Arnold Schwarzenegger has been remarkably consistent about his approach to public life...
  • Not so risk-free (May 29, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    LIKE London buses, big events in America’s Treasury market all seem to come at once...
  • 'Price Is Good, Market Is Good' - OPEC Announced To Keep Production Unchanged (May 29, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    As expected, OPEC decided to keep production unchanged again at the meeting today...
  • Geithner to reassure China on investment (May 29, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    US President Barack Obama's top economic official will reassure China that its massive US bond holdings are safe despite Beijing's concerns about Washington's rising debt, officials said...
  • The Housing Boom and Bust (May 29, 2009)
    this article features Thomas Sowell
    Hot off the press is my colleague Dr. Thomas Sowell's 43rd book, "The Housing Boom and Bust."...
  • Buy Commodities, Pay Off Debt as Inflation Looms: John F. Wasik (May 27, 2009)
    this article features Niall Ferguson
    The fallout that has irradiated highly leveraged Western economies has started a King Kong versus Godzilla battle...
  • Economists: Recovery requires oversight (May 27, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    Managing a market turnaround and an economic recovery may be the next daunting task on the Federal Reserve's agenda, several economists said...
  • US Morning Briefing (May 27, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    JGB's fell below 136.30, a seven-month low, on Wednesday as the Nikkei rose 1.4% after a sharp rebound in US consumer confidence boosted hopes for the global economy...
  • German State inflation lower across the board (May 27, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    European Market Update: China says global economy might not have bottomed out yet; German State inflation lower across the board...
  • Fed's Next Task: Reeling In Lifelines (May 26, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    As if the worst recession since World War II, the near collapse of the financial system, and the prospect of double-digit unemployment weren't enough to deal with, the Federal Reserve now has something else to worry about: success...
  • Compromise seen as elusive in budget battle (May 26, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Bill Whalen
    Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh called last week's shattering defeat of five budget-related measures a "political nuclear bomb" hitting California, while one of the state's most progressive legislators, Democratic Sen. Mark Leno, appeared to agree for entirely different reasons...
  • Historian Niall Ferguson warns of debt calamity threatening the west (May 26, 2009)
    this article features Niall Ferguson
    Major western countries could go bankrupt in the wake of the financial crisis, one of Britain's most celebrated historians has warned...
  • Op-eds don’t bring change (May 26, 2009)
    this article mentions William J. Perry and Michael McFaul (on leave)
    On November 10, the (Weimar) republic only a day old, (future Reichsbank governor Hjalmar) Schacht was invited to a meeting and asked to help found a new moderate party, the Deutsche Demokratische Partei (DDP), which would oppose alike the socialism of the left and the nationalism of the right...
  • Author uses plain, straightforward language (May 26, 2009)
    this article features Thomas Sowell
    The country has nearly continuous growth for 25 years, with only mild downturns, and low inflation...
  • The Crisis and How to Deal with It (May 26, 2009)
    this article features Niall Ferguson
    Following are excerpts from a symposium on the economic crisis presented by The New York Review of Books and PEN World Voices at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on April 30...
  • Unemployment rate dips slightly in valley, to 10.9 percent, in April (May 26, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John Shoven
    For the first time in a year, Silicon Valley's jobless rate dropped slightly in April, but there wasn't much to cheer about as the region lost 5,200 more jobs, the state Employment Development Department reported Friday...
  • Budget mess and its fallout may define governor's legacy (May 26, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Bill Whalen
    Elected six years ago on a promise to put California's financial house in order, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger now confronts a fiscal calamity far worse than the one he inherited, and he is running out of time and options to deal with it...
  • YOMIURI INTERNATIONAL FORUM / Experts discuss avoiding world depression (May 22, 2009)
    this article features John B. Taylor
    Leading economists from Japan, China and the United States offered opinions on the outlook for the global economy at the opening session of the Yomiuri International Forum 2009 held on March 24 in Tokyo...
  • Chimerica: Consensus or Chimera? (May 22, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    At the London G-20 Summit in April, British prime minister and host Gordon Brown asserted that "The Washington Consensus is over."...
  • How Government Caused, Prolonged, and Worsened the Financial Crisis and the Implications for Regulatory Reform (May 21, 2009)
    this article features John B. Taylor
    What caused the financial crisis?...
  • 4 economic pitfalls for Obama (May 19, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    President Barack Obama may be making a broadly decent fist of tackling the financial crisis and the recession...
  • Will Canada's economic plan work for america? (May 19, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    When world-class economists recommend books with titles such as The Great Inflation, the middle-class citizen with something to lose is entitled to ask: could America go bust?...
  • Thomas Sowell: Regulators Started Housing Crisis (May 18, 2009)
    this article features Thomas Sowell
    Respected economist Dr. Thomas Sowell, author of the new book "The Housing Boom and Bust," tells Newsmax that the current housing crisis can be blamed on pressure from government officials seeking to remedy a "problem that didn't exist."...
  • California budget woes may force government overhaul (May 18, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Bill Whalen
    California's government may see a dramatic overhaul because its budget is in such disarray and on track for a staggering shortfall of at least $15.4 billion, lawmakers and analysts said on Friday...
  • Schwarzenegger's vaunted salesmanship tested (May 18, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Bill Whalen
    In the wildly diverse worlds of bodybuilding, movies and politics, Arnold Schwarzenegger has consistently marshaled one critical skill - an uncanny knack for salesmanship - to catapult him to the top of his class...
  • Measures disrupting traditional political ties (May 18, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Bill Whalen
    Tomorrow's statewide special election has produced crazy-quilt battle lines that unite natural opponents and divide natural allies...
  • Rates traders brace for potential Fed rate hike (May 15, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    Short-term interest rate traders are bracing for the possibility the Federal Reserve could begin raising interest rates later this year, even though many economists don't see the Fed moving any time soon...
  • Model of reinvention (May 15, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    KEVIN Rudd was a fiscal conservative, then a neo-interventionist, now he's an instrumental rationalist, but for how long?...
  • Landlord of last resort ponders eventual open house (May 15, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    If Federal Reserve officials think U.S. homeowners are having a tough time selling into a depressed market, just wait until they try to offload the mother of all jumbo mortgages: a $366 billion portfolio of real estate bonds that continues to grow...
  • Economist urges: Avoid protectionism (May 14, 2009)
    this article features Russell Roberts
    In tough economic times, the tendency is to take care of yourself, even at the expense of others...
  • Fed's easy money has not spurred the economy (May 14, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    These days, borrowing is hard, but money is easy...
  • UPDATE:Former Bush Treasury Official Blames Govt For Fincl Crisis (May 13, 2009)
    this article features John B. Taylor
    A top former Treasury official under the Bush administration laid the blame for the financial crisis at the foot of the government Tuesday, and said the government is itself the biggest risk to the economy in the months and years ahead...
  • Taylor Says Fed May Not Have Much Time Before Rate Rise Needed (May 13, 2009)
    this article features John B. Taylor
    The Federal Reserve may soon need to raise interest rates, said John Taylor, the former Treasury official who devised the “Taylor Rule,” a formula for rate- setting based on the outlook for inflation and growth...
  • Taylor Says Government Biggest Systemic Risk (May 13, 2009)
    this article features John B. Taylor
    Economics, Stanford University offered a keynote address at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's 'Financial Innovation and Crises' conference, addressing the role of the government in reducing systemic risk in the financial markets...
  • MONEY MARKETS-Dollar spreads tighten despite fresh concerns (May 13, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    Short-term dollar money markets showed no sign of stress in Asia on Wednesday even as the U.S. dollar tumbled, owing both to a recovery in risk appetite and to a fresh debate about the risks to the U.S. credit rating...
  • Treasuries Rise After Retail Sales Unexpectedly Drop in April (May 13, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    Treasuries rose after a government report showed retail sales unexpectedly fell in April, suggesting the economy remains mired in recession...
  • Greenspan Sees ‘Seeds of a Bottoming’ in U.S. Housing (May 13, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said that the decline in the U.S. housing market may be bottoming and it’s “very easy to see” financial markets continuing to improve...
  • Former U.S. official slams Fed for inflation risk (May 13, 2009)
    this article features John B. Taylor
    A sharp critic of the Federal Reserve and prominent authority on monetary policy on Tuesday slammed the U.S. central bank for risking inflation and warned that government action had "caused, prolonged and worsened" the country's financial crisis...
  • Deputy Secretary Pick Brings Business Background (May 12, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Michael J. Petrilli
    In naming Tony Miller to fill the No. 2 slot at the U.S. Department of Education, President Barack Obama has turned to a manager with extensive business experience as the department tackles the challenge of overseeing some $100 billion in economic-stimulus aid to education...
  • Stress among the stress testers...and its benefits... (May 11, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    As many including myself have often written, the Obama administration's economic team contains some really exceptionally smart and talented individuals...
  • Central banks must target more than just inflation (May 6, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    Did inflation targeting fail?...
  • Should congress pass the Employee Free Choice Act? (May 4, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Richard A. Epstein
    Not since the Carter administration has the American economy been so stressed...
  • Mexico's economy gets slammed by flu epidemic (May 4, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Stephen Haber
    The potentially deadly H1N1 flu virus is delivering a harsh blow to a Mexican economy and millions of poor workers already crushed by an economic contagion from the United States...
  • Same Data, Conflicting Forecasts (May 4, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    In the month since I last wrote in this space, there has been a surge of financial optimism...
  • Stanford faces significant financial challenges, president says in 'State of the University' (May 1, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John Shoven and John B. Taylor
    Stanford University will need to significantly restructure its budget to weather an unprecedented dip in the school endowment, college President John Hennessy said in his State of the University address Thursday...
  • The Trillion Dollar Fix (April 29, 2009)
    this article mentions Richard A. Epstein
    Facing the biggest financial crisis of our generation, the Obama administration has certainly been busy...
  • U.S. faces too many regulators, fear of new rule hurts (April 28, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Michael J. Boskin
    Too many regulators currently watch over U.S. companies and a fear that some industries may soon face even more rules could be hurting the U.S. recovery, two top financial industry executives said...
  • Fed's behavior led to today's crisis, risks inflation later (April 24, 2009)
    this article features John B. Taylor
    More often than not, you get what you pay for...
  • Mortgage Bondholders Form Battle Lines Over Obama Housing Plan (April 23, 2009)
    this article mentions Hoover Institution
    The head of Greenwich Financial Services LLC warned bond investors in Washington last month that government efforts to reverse the housing slump are doing more harm than good by undermining debt contracts...
  • Hennessy to address financial state of the university (April 23, 2009)
    this article mentions John Shoven and John B. Taylor
    Faculty, staff and students are invited to join President John Hennessy at the annual meeting of the Academic Council at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, April 30, in Kresge Auditorium, where he will review the accomplishments of the past year and discuss Stanford's financial situation...
  • It's the household debt, stupid (April 23, 2009)
    this article mentions Niall Ferguson
    The last month or so has seen great sighs of financial relief in markets around the world...
  • Corporate America’s Counter-Stimulus Strategy (April 22, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Robert E. Hall
    “Is it too late? I hope not,” said an exasperated Anthony Fortunato, president of the 260-worker United Steelworkers (USW) Local 2604 at an ArcelorMittal steel mill in Lackawanna, New York, as he and his members watched the mill being systematically taken apart...
  • Yesterday's disasters help form models for the future (April 21, 2009)
    this article mentions Niall Ferguson
    In the wake of crises when familiar points of orientation are obscured, we turn to commentators...
  • How to Get Back to Normal (April 20, 2009)
    by Michael J. Boskin

    What the government should do now—and what it most definitely should not. By Michael J. Boskin.

  • Permanent Tax Cuts: The Best Stimulus (April 20, 2009)
    by John B. Taylor

    Rebates come and go. Only pervasive, predictable measures can truly stimulate economic growth.By John B. Taylor.

  • Magic Multipliers (April 20, 2009)
    by Robert J. Barro

    Is government spending the stimulus that keeps on giving? Or economic sleight of hand? By Robert J. Barro.

  • Change We Can Invest In (April 20, 2009)
    by Russell Roberts

    Imagine a road to recovery paved not with vague intentions but with tax reform. By Russell Roberts.

  • Against Regulations (April 20, 2009)
    by David R. Henderson

    Deregulation caused this crisis? In many ways, the markets are more regulated than ever—to our detriment. By David R. Henderson.

  • Autoworkers Need to Get Real (April 20, 2009)
    by Richard A. Posner

    Rigid, excessive union contracts are a big part of the Detroit catastrophe. By Richard A. Posner.

  • Why Detroit’s Next Chapter Should Be Chapter 11 (April 20, 2009)
    by Todd Zywicki

    Bankruptcy could bring the auto industry back to life. By Todd J. Zywicki.

  • Stimulus money should go to lowest bidders, economists say (April 20, 2009)
    this article mentions Robert E. Hall
    A group of Stanford economists is pressing the government to streamline the process for doling out $7.2 billion in economic stimulus money slated for high-speed Internet development...
  • Worst-case scenario survival guide (April 20, 2009)
    this article mentions Robert J. Barro
    So is this just a really, really bad year?...
  • G20 a circus for clowns (April 17, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    THE Group of 20 meeting in London produced plenty of media hype and uncritical commentary but very little to resolve the global financial difficulties...
  • Two dukes and three lessons for property investors (April 17, 2009)
    this article mentions Niall Ferguson
    Fifty large wars, 20 deep recessions, more than 20 severe stock market crashes: now that’s what I call a stress-test...
  • The Snap Judgment on Crime and Unemployment (April 15, 2009)
    this article mentions Gary S. Becker
    On the morning of April 3, 41-year-old Jiverly Wong parked his parent's car next to the back door of an immigrant-services center in Binghamton, N.Y., blocking it shut...
  • Tea, anyone? (April 14, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Michael J. Boskin
    THE ORIGINAL Boston Tea Party has become an icon of protest, invoked even by such a faraway activist as India's Mahatma Gandhi...
  • Book Review: How the Fed got the economy off track (April 14, 2009)
    this article features John B. Taylor
    John B. Taylor, in his latest, 59-page microbook, "Getting Off Track," presents a concise explanation of how the Federal Reserve's efforts to macromanage the U.S. economy's contraction following the tragedy of 9/11 sowed the seeds for an inevitable catastrophe: the recent "credit crisis."...
  • Risks of straying from the prudent path (April 13, 2009)
    this article features John B. Taylor
    The literature on the causes of the economic breakdown will soon be vast...
  • How "the Troubles" Really Ended (April 13, 2009)
    by Thomas H. Henriksen

    It wasn’t British force alone that secured Northern Ireland’s uneasy peace. Offering decent lives to ordinary people—jobs, houses, education, and local control—proved even more important. By Thomas H. Henriksen.

  • China, the New Good Neighbor (April 13, 2009)
    by William Ratliff

    Beijing has now declared a strategic interest in the Americas, and that interest (so far) is trade. By William Ratliff.

  • A Deeper Kind of Revolution (April 13, 2009)
    by Stephen Haber

    In most of Latin America, living standards are rising and stability is growing—no thanks to populist rhetoric. By Stephen H. Haber.

  • The Burdens of Obama's Deficits Will Fall on All of Us (April 10, 2009)
    this article features Michael J. Boskin
    Michael J. Boskin's deeply disturbing projection of President Barack Obama's budget deficits and their tax implications ("Obama's $163,000 Tax Bomb," op-ed, April 3) is flawed in one respect -- it's impossible to measure left-wing social progress in dollars and common sense...
  • A Turning Point for Taiwan (April 10, 2009)
    by Tai-Chun Kuo

    Newly released volumes of the Chiang Kai-shek diaries illuminate a pivotal moment: the generalissimo’s turning away from a command economy. By Tai-chun Kuo.

  • What’s to Become of "Chimerica"? (April 10, 2009)
    by Niall Ferguson

    Will China end its partnership with a weakened America and strut alone across the world stage? By Niall Ferguson.

  • The Most Polarizing President (April 8, 2009)
    this article mentions Michael J. Boskin
    Who has been the most polarizing new president of recent times?...
  • In Obama’s World, Accountability Is Only for the Private Sector (April 6, 2009)
    this article mentions Michael J. Boskin
    Just last week, in exchange for government assistance to General Motors, President Obama demanded – and received – the resignation of GM Chairman Rick Wagoner...
  • It Really Is All Greenspan's Fault (April 3, 2009)
    this article features John B. Taylor
    It's been quite a spectacle for those who have followed Alan Greenspan's career for decades...
  • G20 Leaders Meet To Chart Next Steps In Crisis (April 2, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Michael S. Bernstam
    The comparison was a grand one...
  • Geithner plan a radical step away from system (April 1, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    During the campaign, I wrote a column saying that Barack Obama was not a socialist, when the accusation that he was became pervasive in certain conservative haunts...
  • The incredible shrinking economy (April 1, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    It sometimes seems as though every day another bank or building society needs to be shored up as fast as possible - or else life as we know it will come tumbling down...
  • Left and Right Against the Military Industrial Complex (April 1, 2009)
    this article mentions Niall Ferguson
    President Barack Obama plans to keep as many as 50,000 troops in Iraq for an indefinite period of time and send thousands more to Afghanistan...
  • A Hayekian recession with Fisherian consequences (March 31, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    Fisher blamed over-indebtedness on 'easy money'-a succinct explanation of the current crisis...
  • Did the Fed Cause the Housing Bubble? (March 31, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    What Savings Glut?...
  • Obama’s radicalism (March 30, 2009)
    this article mentions Michael J. Boskin
    Obama’s radicalism is killing the country...
  • How a Modern Depression Might Look -- If the U.S. Gets There (March 30, 2009)
    this article mentions Robert J. Barro
    In the wake of the biggest financial shock since 1929, economists say the odds of a depression are less than 50-50 -- though still uncomfortably high...
  • Bankers to get keys to kingdom (March 30, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    Senior policymakers from the Group of 20 nations, led by those in Washington, are likely to agree this week to give their central bankers more power to ensure there's no return of the type of credit crisis that has rocked the global financial system...
  • Options Turn Most Bullish on Aussie, Kiwi Since 2003 (March 30, 2009)
    this article mentions John B. Taylor
    Investors are the most bullish on Australian and New Zealand dollars since 2003, anticipating that spending on commodities will increase as central banks print unprecedented amounts of cash to rescue their economies...
  • G-20 Targets Hedge Funds as Leaders Near Consensus (March 30, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    Leaders of advanced and emerging economies are closing ranks behind plans for tougher rules on financial markets to prevent another collapse like the one that wiped out much of Wall Street...
  • World Finance Expert Charles Calomiris to Give Rogge Lecture (March 27, 2009)
    this article features Charles Calomiris
    One of America’s leading authorities on world finances, Charles Calomiris, will present the 2009 Benjamin A. Rogge Memorial Lecture at Wabash College...
  • Mr Darwin goes to the bank (March 27, 2009)
    this article mentions Niall Ferguson
    It seems a bit ironic that on one hand we are celebrating the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of his book On the Origin of Species, while on the other, we are desperately trying to prevent his theory of “evolution by natural selection” from working in our current financial system...
  • US policies and the housing bubble (March 27, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Gary S. Becker
    It is a well established fact that the current ‘great recession’ was triggered by the US housing bubble that burst some 18 months ago...
  • Nobel Prize Winners Clash on Geithner Plan Prospects (March 26, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Michael Spence
    Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has a good chance of succeeding with his plan to cleanse banks of toxic assets, says A. Michael Spence, co-winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics...
  • The case for optimism (March 25, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from Niall Ferguson
    In 2004, Paul Kasriel fired a shot across the bow of American optimism...
  • J Taylor Book Blames Fed, Govt For Causing, Prolonging Crisis (March 25, 2009)
    this article features John B. Taylor
    The Federal Reserve comes in for sharp criticism in a just-released book authored by John Taylor, one of the world's most renowned monetary economists...
  • Careful with that language (March 25, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    No doubt about it...
  • Yomiuri International Forum / Top economists offer insights at Yomiuri forum (March 25, 2009)
    this article includes quotes from John B. Taylor
    Leading economists from Japan, China and the United States offered expert opinions on the outlook for the global economy on the opening session of the Yomiuri International Forum 2009 held Tuesday in Tokyo...
  • Beyond the Age of Leverage: Alternative Cures for the Global Financial Crisis (February 12, 2009)
    by Niall Ferguson
    It began as a sub-prime surprise, then became a credit crunch and is now a global financial crisis...
  • There's No Stimulus Free Lunch (February 10, 2009)
    by Gary S. Becker
    How much will the stimulus package moving in Congress really stimulate the economy?...
  • Beyond the age of leverage: new banks must arise (February 3, 2009)
    by Niall Ferguson
    Call it the Great Repression...
  • 'Think Long' to Solve the Crisis (January 30, 2009)
    by George P. Shultz
    The current economic crisis must be viewed as a gigantic wake-up call...
  • What Are They Buying? (January 27, 2009)
    by Thomas Sowell
    Everyone is talking about how much money the government is spending, but very little attention is being paid to where they are spending it or what they are buying with it...
  • Money for Nothing — and Corruption for Free (January 27, 2009)
    by Peter Schweizer
    “He comes to Washington and tells me a sad story,” Franklin D. Roosevelt once said of New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia...
  • A Radical Re-Imagining Of The Tax System (January 26, 2009)
    by Russell Roberts
    President Obama is eager to attack the economic crisis...
  • Government Spending Is No Free Lunch (January 22, 2009)
    by Robert J. Barro
    Back in the 1980s, many commentators ridiculed as voodoo economics the extreme supply-side view that across-the-board cuts in income-tax rates might raise overall tax revenues...
  • Thomas Sowell on the Economic Stimulus Plan (January 7, 2009)
    interview with featured guest Thomas Sowell
    As we begin the new year, one of the biggest problems that Americans face is, of course, the economy...
  • Options for Stimulating the Economy (December 10, 2008)
    by Robert E. Hall
    In 2009, GDP in the U.S. is expected to be about $900 billion below its normal growth path...
  • Why Permanent Tax Cuts Are the Best Stimulus (November 25, 2008)
    by John B. Taylor
    this article mentions Milton Friedman
    The incoming Obama administration and congressional Democrats are now considering a second fiscal stimulus package, estimated at more than $500 billion, to follow the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008...
  • The left's coming economic overreach (November 7, 2008)
    by Thomas Sowell
    "The economy is sound."...
  • Left preys on economy fears (November 5, 2008)
    by Thomas Sowell
    The truest thing that Senator John McCain said during this election campaign is what got him into the most trouble: "The economy is sound."...
  • Obama's taxation will reduce nation's wealth (October 29, 2008)
    by Thomas Sowell
    Chief Justice John Marshall said it all in one sentence: "The power to tax is the power to destroy."...
  • We're Not Headed for a Depression (October 7, 2008)
    by Gary S. Becker
    In order to promote a much smoother functioning of the financial system, it is paramount to distinguish between the immediate steps needed to cope with the present crisis and the long-run reforms needed to reduce the likelihood of future crises...

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