Archive

“What is the motivation for tax avoidance? To maximize profits and juice the stock price, of course. A research team led by William Lazonick at the University of Massachusetts reports in Harvard Business Review that from 2009 to 2019, S&P 500 companies spent over 90% of net income on buybacks and dividends, with the highest levels achieved after the 2017 tax cuts, in 2018 and 2019. Taking on corporate debt to finance share repurchases has become commonplace. Never mind that share buybacks deplete corporate treasuries of cash to weather setbacks and to fund productive investment in labor and R&D.”

Should the government regulate personal behavior, or are the irrational choices of people actually reasonable?

VIDEO

A new global economic system has to be based on a key principle of Bretton Woods: multilateralism

In a new book, How Novelty and Narratives Drive the Stock Market, economist Nicholas Mangee examines the influence of stories on stock market outcomes in an uncertain world.

US regulators can step in to ensure drug pricing both supports patient access and drug development

US regulators can step in to ensure drug pricing both supports patient access and drug development

Against the backdrop of frequent calls for debt cancellation and reorganization, the Private Debt Initiative of the Institute for New Economic Thinking is convening a conference on “Debt Restructuring” in New York City on Thursday, February 3rd and Friday February 4th, 2022, hosted by Richard Vague (Secretary of Banking and Securities, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania), Rob Johnson (INET President), and Moritz Shularick (INET Fellow).

How do we make economic development work for everyone?

Professor Glenn Hubbard, professor of Finance and Economics at Columbia Business School, talks about his just-released book, “The Wall and the Bridge: Fear and Opportunity in Disruption’s Wake,” and how society and policymakers can help those who are left behind in the wake of today’s competitive world.

The youth paradox is accentuated by the effects of Covid-19, while the concrete short- and medium-term prospects for young people remain unclear.

A formal argument that Kahneman and Tversky’s compelling empirical findings, and those of other behavioral economists, do not provide a basis for a general approach to specifying participants’ “predictable errors.”

In a society where asset ownership is incredibly unequal, social mobility becomes severely diminished

In a society where asset ownership is incredibly unequal, social mobility become severely diminished

A review of regional integration in Africa