Articles

Articles and analyses from the INET community on the key economic questions of our time.

Article

​Blanchard, the NAIRU, and Economic Policy in the Eurozone

Mar 31, 2016

A recent policy brief by Blanchard (2016), based on an earlier paper (Blanchard, Cerutti, Summers 2015) raises a number of interesting points concerning the NAIRU and the Phillips Curve, which are further discussed in the comment on the paper by Ball (2015).

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Three Questions with Matthew Desmond

Mar 3, 2016

HCEO’s new three-question series will regularly publish quick Q&As with members who will discuss their work, frontiers in the field of inequality that could use more knowledge, and advice for emerging scholars.

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Economic Forecasting Models & Sanders Program Controversy

Feb 26, 2016

The Romer/Romer letter to Professor Gerald Friedman marks a turning point. It concedes that there are indeed important issues at stake when evaluating the proposed economic policies of Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders. These issues go beyond the political debate and should be discussed seriously between and among professional economists.

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Let Them Drink Pollution?

Jan 26, 2016

The tragic crisis in Flint, Michigan, where residents have been poisoned by lead contamination, is not just about drinking water. And it’s not just about Flint. It’s about race and class, and the stark contradiction between the American dream of equal rights and opportunity for all and the American nightmare of metastasizing inequality of wealth and power.

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The SDR is the Catalyst for China’s Currency Internationalization

Dec 7, 2015

There is a deeper story to be told about the inclusion of the Renminbi.

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Global Tax Dodging Just One Part of Pfizer’s Corrupt Business Model

Dec 3, 2015

Why are we paying for corporate behavior that crushes innovation, cheats taxpayers, cost jobs, and heightens inequality?

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The Wesley Clair Mitchell medal : the AEA award that never came to be

Nov 11, 2015

Throughout its first 10 years operation, the John Bates Clark medal was constantly challenged. Many young economists found it biased toward theory, and demanded the establishment of a distinct award for applied work.

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Want to Grow the Economy? Might Be Time to Unleash the Devil.

Oct 27, 2015

Is an ancient financial taboo keeping us from prosperity? Adair Turner, author of a new book on global finance, explains.

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Is the Devil in the Details? Estimating Global Poverty

Oct 3, 2015

Economists’ assumptions, even about seemingly “small” matters, make an enormous difference to global poverty estimates but their impact often goes unnoticed, and the choices made have been badly justified. We must stop pretending that the World Bank’s “$1 per day” estimates are at all reliable.