Why is the economy growing so slowly? Is this a temporary phenomenon or a new normal? Chris Farrell and Steve Cecchetti had a nice discussion about these questions this morning on Minnesota Public Radio (MPR). Larry Summers first applied the term "secular stagnation" to these questions and there's been much debate about the idea ever since. (VoxEU published an e-book on the subject that is … [Read more...]
Should governments subsidize or build broadband networks? This question is being posed throughout the US; Brian Lambert summarizes the Minnesota landscape in “How the Legislature is cheating Greater Minnesota on broadband.” Economists aver that to answer this question, we need to know whether the rate of return to private businesses investing in broadband networks is less than or equal to the … [Read more...]
Every Monday I watch for an e-mail with the subject line “The Latest NBER Research.” Inside there are links to new working papers from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) across all of the topics economists analyze. I always learn something interesting, especially with regard to real-world policy making. I’ve often wondered, why doesn’t someone summarize the cool stuff in these … [Read more...]