Keynesians know that if US austerity advocates had received just a few more votes in the November 2008 election, there would have been no fiscal stimulus or financial rescue in 2009 and the Great Recession would have turned into a second great depression. ‘Keynesian’ means...

A sobering lesson from the Great Recession is that widespread worry about government debt generates strong political resistance to enacting a fiscal stimulus large enough to overcome a severe recession. Fortunately there is a way to implement fiscal stimulus without increasing government debt....

Medicare for seniors has been evolving for half a century and has performed very satisfactorily. Extending Medicare to cover everyone regardless of age would have several advantages. It would provide automatic coverage and portability for everyone regardless of employment, health status, income,...

This article recommends a tax reform strategy that can accomplish three objectives: (1) raise sufficient revenue to deal with long run budget challenges; (2) promote long run economic growth; (3) provide progressivity in the face of increasing inequality. The strategy for overcoming this fiscal...

This article recommends a tax reform strategy that can accomplish three objectives: raise sufficient revenue to deal with long-run budget challenges, promote long-run economic growth, and provide progressivity in the face of increasing inequality. The strategy for overcoming this fiscal trilemma...

This paper provides a numerical illustration of how an international carbon treaty might work. The simulations in this paper using 2004 data on carbon emissions and per capita GDP from 178 countries suggest that high-income countries might be much better off collectively compensating low-income...

It has been recognized that conversion of an income tax to a consumption tax can increase aggregate saving even if each household maintains a constant propensity to save. The reason is heterogeneity: the variation in the propensity to save among households. How much of an increase in saving is...

The new Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, has inherited a hot seat. This economist analyzes four of his key speeches in recent years to try to explain his theoretical view of fiscal and monetary policy. Bernanke's writings are far more lucid than Alan Greenspan's. Seidman concludes that...