Plain Sense Economics

This is a supplement to our discussion, in Principles of Macroeconomics, about unemployment.
In this piece, by Univ. of Oregon professor Mark Thoma, you will find a review of the three kinds of unemployment and a discussion of what “normal” or “natural” employment is.
Will There be a “New Normal” for Unemployment?
Thoma also writes in his very [...]

Hat tip to U of Oregon prof, Mark Thoma, for pointing to this piece by Jeffrey Sachs in the Financial Times.
Obama Has Lost His Way on Jobs
The Obama administration’s stimulus policies are not well-targeted. The Republican alternatives are even worse. Both sides are missing the key fact: the US economy needs structural change that requires [...]

An old economist joke. This version courtesy of this link:
Three men went off on a sailboat together, a physicist, a chemist, and an economist. Unfortunately they ran into a storm and the boat was wrecked on an uninhabited island. The only food they were able to rescue from the wreckage was a case of baked [...]

In Principles of Macroeconomics we compare the dueling strategies of John Maynard Keynes and supply side advocates. Keynesian strategies rely on government spending to stimulate demand during recessions. Supply siders argue that we should reduce tax rates, and let income earners (individual and corporate) keep more of what they earn, thereby increasing their incentive to [...]