Sunday, September 30, 2012


Obamanomics: A Counterhistory by David Leonhardt

The Problem is a Collapsed Housing Bubble, Not a Financial Crisis #4306 by Dean Baker
However, contrary to what is widely asserted, for example by David Leonhardt in hiscolumn today, consumption remains high, not low. The saving rate averaged more than 8.0 percent of disposable income in the years prior to the rise of the stock bubble in the 90s. Currently, it is between 4 and 5 percent of disposable income. If anything, we should be asking why consumption is so high, not why it is low. 
It would be to absurd to expect bubble levels of consumption in the absence of the bubble. However this is what proponents of the financial crisis theory seem to be arguing. In short, the collapse of the bubble led to a gap of more than $1 trillion in lost demand due to the plunge in construction and the falloff in consumption. What if any part of this requires a story about the financial crisis?
This is a bit tricky for me. One way to think of the issue is to imagine an alternate timeline where there had not been a housing bubble.

Could there have been a bubble without the shenanigans in the financial industry?

NGDP (or short run versus long run)

The Short Run Is Short by Eli Duardo

The bottleneck by Ryan Avent

Oh NGDP, is there anything you can't do? by Angus

NGDP in the Long Run and Economic Plasticity by Karl Smith

The NGDP Dilemma Is a Good Dilemma by Yglesias

Economy, Heal Thyself by David Glasner

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