Occupation: Economist Birth: February 28, 1953
You know that Republicans will yell about the evils of partisanship whenever anyone tries to make a connection between the rhetoric of Beck, Limbaugh….
Political figures who talk a lot about liberty and freedom invariably turn out to mean the freedom to not pay taxes and discriminate based on race; f….
The science fiction world has a lot of people doing seriously imaginative thinking..
I have friends, political scientists, sociologists, who all share an interest at least in certain kinds of science fiction..
Our popular economics writers, however, are not in the business of giving their readers a ringside seat on the research action; with no exception I c….
Our grandfathers lived in a world of largely self-sufficient, inward-looking national economies - but our great-great grandfathers lived, as we do, i….
Coming up with a good idea, with an insight into the way the world works that is really new and that you really believe in, is a deeply satisfying ex….
Now, it’s true that some of the protesters are oddly dressed or have silly-sounding slogans, which is inevitable given the open character of the even….
The federal government is basically an insurance company with an army..
[I]n America, at least, we have a pretty good record for behaving in a fiscally responsible fashion, with one exception - namely, the fiscal irrespon….
What Republicans have actually put on the table is almost nothing. All of the rest is just big talk. So how is the president supposed to negotiate wi….
In fact, I'd say that the sources of the economy's expansion from 2003 to 2007 were, in order, the housing bubble, the war, and - very much in third ….
The world economy is in a nosedive, and understanding what I call "depression economics" - the weird world you get into when even a zero interest rat….
What the Depression teaches us is that when the economy is so depressed that even a zero interest rate isn't low enough, you have to put conventional….
The planet will continue to cook..
The fact is that the two years or so after 9/11 were a terrible time in America – a time of political exploitation and intimidation, culminating in t….
As I've often said, you can shop online and find whatever you're looking for, but bookstores are where you find what you weren't looking for..
It's a funny thing, by the way, how people who love free markets are also quite sure that they know that investors are being irrational..
The Obama campaign seems dangerously close to becoming a cult of personality..
If you want to understand opposition to climate action, follow the money..
You really have to go searching desperately to find any contemporary examples of good, old-fashioned runaway inflation..