Archive for Scott Sumner

Scott Sumner on Taxes

I had urged him to write up an “explainer” type piece, summarizing key lessons on taxes. He came through. So far, his is the single best piece I’ve seen on the issue of border tax adjustment. I am working on some blog posts / podcast episodes to walk through these things as well. I’m not […]

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Trump Is So Awful He Defies Reason

…from his critics, that is. I really didn’t expect that in 2017, I would bother commenting on Scott Sumner’s crusade against Donald Trump. But after reading a recent post from Scott, I can’t help myself, and I can only hope that you will see why. On January 10, Scott opened a post like this: “There […]

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Questioning Scott Sumner’s Numeracy

Don’t worry, this isn’t (directly) about Trump. In a blog post titled, “Innumeracy drives me nuts,” Scott Sumner lists several examples of people (allegedly) being innumerate. I definitely agree with some of his examples, but others are stretching it. However, one of Scott’s arguments in particular seemed flat out wrong to me. Here’s what Scott […]

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Hitler Bothers Me As Much as a 3-Second Violation

[UPDATE: I intended this post for humor value, for the regular readers who know the history of my exchanges with Scott Sumner. Let me clarify for newcomers: I am very wary of what could happen with civil liberties under Trump. (In the piece we discuss in this post below, I mentioned that if he builds […]

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Reactions to the Trump Victory: B

Scott Sumner gets a B. At first I was ready to give him an A, because he has repeatedly admitted he was totally wrong about Trump’s chances in the election. (Incidentally, I wasn’t predicting a Trump victory. I heard his speech in Florida the Friday [?] before and was texting some people saying, “Trump is […]

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A New Front in My War Against Scott Sumner

BTW for newcomers: The reason I attack Scott so much is that he writes on issues I care about. E.g. I don’t think Bryan Caplan is winning in his debate with Michael Huemer on why we can kill bugs (if we can), but I have little to say on such matters. On a carbon tax, […]

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Fellow Economists, Please Explain Sumner’s Analysis to Me

I know it sounds like I’m being sarcastic or trollish, but I mean this sincerely. Over the years I have seen other economists use national income accounting identities to make points about saving and investment, and I am not deft in such things. I think it’s because in my undergrad days I was at an […]

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Potpourri

I am back from the Contra Cruise but have to catch up on my day job stuff. In the meantime: ==> On November 1st I’ll be at American University. ==> The episode of Contra Krugman taped in front of a live audience on the Contra Cruise turned out awesome, if I do say so myself. […]

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