Archive for Financial Economics

Debt Financing of Present Transfer Payments: May I Have Another, Sir?

[Note: I’m going to focus on Daniel Kuehn here, because this issue again sheds more light on all this stuff. I realize that we are all still not seeing what each person brings to the table in this debate.] Ahh, now (I think) I finally get why Daniel Kuehn didn’t accept my wager: It’s not […]

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The Economist Zone

Don’t worry everyone, all that stuff about government debt and future generations is out of my system. After several colleagues have told me repeatedly that I am being obtuse on this, I realize that I’m not cut out for economics and commentary on public policy. Instead, I’ll turn to writing for TV. I have an […]

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The Arrogant American Makes a Wager on the Debt Stuff

After spending yet another hour of my life trying to enlighten those of you who still don’t see the debt stuff, what do I get? Gene Callahan still “explaining” why I’m wrong by claiming things about my model that aren’t true. And, as a special treat, here was the first comment by Daniel Kuehn after […]

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We Will Not Solve the Debt Issue During This Generation

[Second UPDATE: Gene Callahan wants to be clear that he did acknowledge that he had initially misunderstood Nick Rowe’s model. Now that he gets what Rowe was describing, Gene concedes that it is possible, but points out (correctly) that we can achieve the same impact on everyone in the model through government tax-and-transfer actions, rather […]

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Future Generations Will Be Indebted to Me for the Clarity of This Exposition

OK my piece de resistance. I’m going to post this on Facebook, so let me start from scratch: I am responding to Paul Krugman’s recent claims on why the standard political debate on the government debt is totally wrong-headed. (For a good summary of his position, see this NYT piece.) Specifically, Krugman conceded that if […]

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Murphy Watching Out for Freedom Tonight

Just finished taping with the Judge. Topic: Paul Krugman and “we owe the debt to ourselves.” Since some of you seem unmoved by crystal clear counterexamples, perhaps my soundbite on Fox will move you.

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Another Debt Installment

OK I think I’ve come up with even more obvious ways to make the point. (If you are stumbling on this as an innocent newcomer, see this post and its link to get up to speed.) Before I do so, I want to be clear on what I’m trying to prove: Paul Krugman and others […]

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My Resolution of the Dastardly Debt Debate

OK I think I’ve boiled down the issues to their essence. In the debate of Nick Rowe and Don Boudreaux versus Paul Krugman and Matt Yglesias (I’m leaving people out for sure, like Landsburg and John Carney because I’m not sure where to plug them in), the former are basically right. The irony here is […]

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