Category Archives: Macroeconomic policy

Piketty’s Rising Share of Capital Income and the US Housing Market

The rising share of income accruing to housing is a key feature of the changing US income distribution. This column examines the determinants of this phenomenon. The rise occurred due to an increasing share of income accruing to owner-occupiers through imputed rent, it is concentrated in states that are constrained in terms of new housing supply, and it is closely associated with the long-run decline in real interest rates and inflation.

The Nobel Prize in Economics: How It Took a Hard Neoliberal Turn

How the so-called Nobel Prize in economics came to validate neoclassical thinking, even as it failed in Sweden.

Rethinking Macroeconomic Theory Before the Next Crisis

Only after the US subprime financial crisis began have the macroeconomic and monetary theories of mainstream economists been questioned.

The Private Debt Crisis

Why private debt is so dangerous, and why that risk looms large, particularly in China.

Political Foundations of the Lender of Last Resort

The Global Crisis has raised concerns over how far ‘lender of last resort’ policies by central banks should go. This column examines the history of the development of these policies throughout the world. Last resort lending is a locus of political power, and as such, its creation should be viewed as the outcome of a political bargain. It is therefore not surprising that countries differed in their propensity to create such policies, and in the powers with which they chose to endow them.