Bloomberg (January 26)
“Why are economists so willing to declare to the world that free trade is good?” Their consensus flies in the face of popular opinion and “powerful evidence that industries and regions that have been more exposed to Chinese import competition since 2000—the year China joined the World Trade Organization—have been hit hard and have not recovered.”
Tags: China, Competition, Consensus, Economists, Evidence, Free trade, Imports, Industries, Popular opinion, Regions, WTO
Institutional Investor (September 3)
“Is 3 percent economic growth a thing of the past?” In the U.S., “gross domestic product (GDP) growth has averaged 3 percent a year since 1960, but only 2.1 percent since the global financial crisis ended in 2009.” Economists increasingly think that “sluggish labor force expansion and productivity may stymie the kind of U.S. economic growth seen in the second half of the 20th century.” Many now “expect growth of about 2 percent to prevail for the next decade.”
Tags: Economists, Expansion, GDP, Global financial crisis, Growth, Labor force, Productivity, Stymie, U.S.
Institutional Investor (June 15)
“For economists who complain about the distortions and deficits caused by energy subsidies, 2014 was a godsend.” Over 25 countries made progress in curtailing “their fuel subsidy programs…in favor of aligning domestic prices with global prices. But the recent rebound in oil prices threatens to undo much of that good work.”
Tags: Deficits, Distortions, Domestic prices, Economists, Energy subsidies, Global prices, Oil prices, Rebound
Washington Post (June 6)
“Vying for the title of the United States’ most progressive city, Seattle this week decided to raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour.” Amidst the applause and the doomsayers, however, lies the truth. Nobody knows how this experiment will end. “Despite literally hundreds of studies focusing on the minimum wage, top economists are still uncertain about the consequences of raising it.”
Tags: Consequences, Doomsayers, Economists, Experiment, Minimum wage, Progressive, Seattle, Studies, U.S., Uncertain
Council on Foreign Relations (February Issue)
“Economists have long argued that taxing oil consumption would be the most efficient way to address U.S. vulnerability to overpriced and unreliable oil supplies. Yet energy taxes are a third rail in American politics.” This may change, however, amid increasing focus on narrowing the deficit. “It might be possible to reconsider oil taxes not only as an unwelcome burden, but as an alternative to something worse.” If done optimally, taxing oil consumption “can improve economic performance while reducing oil consumption.”
Tags: Consumption, Deficit, Economists, Oil tax, Performance, U.S.
