Economism on Marketplace
By James Kwak David Brancaccio of Marketplace has started a new radio project called Econ Extra Credit: reading a first-year economics textbook, one chapter per week, along with his listeners. Luckily,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Take Back Our Party, Print Edition
By James Kwak I’ve never wanted to write a book as much as I wanted to write Take Back Our Party. And I’ve never wanted people to read one of my books as much as this one—in particular, before the 2020...
View ArticleAbout that Democratic Primary …
By James Kwak Today is the day of the New Hampshire primary, and, perhaps more importantly, lots of people in California are getting their ballots around now. Before you cast your vote in the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Thoughts About COVID-19: PPE
By James Kwak PPE, as we now know, stands for Personal Protective Equipment, like face masks and gloves. Right now there isn’t enough of it, and that’s one of the constraints on being able to test...
View ArticleClik here to view.
COVID-19: Who Bears the Losses?
By James Kwak Our business and household sectors are losing lots of money every day, and will continue to lose money for the foreseeable future. People no longer spend money at restaurants. Restaurant...
View ArticleClik here to view.
COVID-19: Not One Penny
By James Kwak The airline industry is trying to hold up the federal government for $29 billion in grants and another $29 billion in loans. They threaten that if they don’t get the grants they will lay...
View ArticleClik here to view.
COVID-19: The Statistics of Social Distancing
By James Kwak It seems that social distancing is the primary strategy for slowing the propagation rate of COVID-19. That and widespread testing are the key tools for containing an outbreak, for reasons...
View ArticleClik here to view.
COVID-19: The Butcher, the Brewer, and the Baker
By James Kwak “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.” —Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations Image...
View ArticleClik here to view.
COVID-19: Inequality
By James Kwak By some measures, in the short term, COVID-19 will surely reduce inequality of wealth, and probably inequality of income as well. As a purely mechanical matter, the rich have a lot more...
View ArticleClik here to view.
COVID-19: Winners and Losers
By James Kwak I think it’s highly likely that the dust will clear eventually and that our economy will come back to life at some point in the next two or three years. I know there are certain disaster...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The COVID-19 Economy: What Can We Do?
By James Kwak Today, the Washington Post’s Outlook section published my article on the future of the American economy in the wake of the pandemic. They invited me to write it because of my earlier blog...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Leverage
By James Kwak One of Congress’s top priorities this week and next is to pass some kind of funding bill that will keep the federal government operating past December 11. There are basically two ways...
View ArticleMoving On
By James Kwak I’ve decided not to post on The Baseline Scenario anymore. I’ve thought about this on and off during the several years that the site has been mostly dormant, but I never pulled the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Quick Housekeeping Note
By James Kwak I’ve been asked if you can sign up for email notifications when I write stories on Medium. Apparently you can, but the option is a bit buried. (One of the nice things about Medium is the...
View ArticleA Few Quick Announcements
By James As I wrote a couple of years ago, I don’t post here anymore. I just have a couple of updates for people who subscribe and may be interested in my work. I upgraded my personal website to the...
View Article