Economists sharply disagree on what many are now calling “the austerity debate.” Some prominent economists (for example, INET Advisor Kenneth Rogoff) believe that cutting deficits and reducing debt is essential to inspire confidence in financial markets and to ensure that long-term economic growth is not damaged. Others (for example Paul Krugman and Robert Skidelsky, who spoke at INET’s inaugural conference) think that any attempt to reduce expenditures today will be self-defeating since it will further weaken the economy, lead to lower growth and reduced tax revenues in the future, and so greater deficits and debt in the end.
What do economists like Kenneth Rogoff and Richard Koo think? Watch their interventions for the Institute of New Economic Thinking here.
dinsdag 17 augustus 2010
Economists React: Consumer Can’t Drive Recovery
Read the complete post on the WSJ Real Economics blog here.
The Communist Approach to Obesity
This is today's freakonomics post (http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com)
"Here’s one way to fight obesity: mandatory exercise, as Beijing has commanded again, after a three-year break. “The short-term goal is to involve 60% of the workforces in Beijing by 2011, and 70% of the workforces of the government,” says Zhang Yujing of the Beijing Federation of Trade Unions. “We want all state-owned enterprise workers to have restarted this routine by next year.” The city’s residents seem to support the policy: “I think this [resumption] is really necessary, because people’s living habits are very bad now. They sit in the office the whole day,” said one 30-year-old, who works in marketing. “I have my own exercise plan, but I never put it into practice because I am too busy.”"
"Here’s one way to fight obesity: mandatory exercise, as Beijing has commanded again, after a three-year break. “The short-term goal is to involve 60% of the workforces in Beijing by 2011, and 70% of the workforces of the government,” says Zhang Yujing of the Beijing Federation of Trade Unions. “We want all state-owned enterprise workers to have restarted this routine by next year.” The city’s residents seem to support the policy: “I think this [resumption] is really necessary, because people’s living habits are very bad now. They sit in the office the whole day,” said one 30-year-old, who works in marketing. “I have my own exercise plan, but I never put it into practice because I am too busy.”"
Het verloren decennium en het foute kompas
Enkele economen voorspellen dat we een verloren decennium tegemoet gaan in Europa en de VS. De waarheid is nog straffer. We hebben al een verloren decennium achter de rug. En het kompas is niet meer betrouwbaar. De werkelijkheid is veel erger dan de cijfers doen uitschijnen. Lees de column van Geert Noels in Trends hier.
Royaume-Uni : Osborne va défendre sa politique de réduction des déficits
Le ministre britannique des Finances George Osborne va répondre aux critiques sur sa politique de réduction des déficits, accusée par certains de mettre en danger la croissance, en assurant qu'elle est le seul moyen de garantir la reprise.
Lisez cet article sur lesechos.fr ici.
Economy Led to Cuts in Use of Health Care
"The economic crisis in the United States has reduced the use of routine medical care, and the cutbacks here are much deeper than in countries with universal health care systems, researchers say in a new report. The study, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, finds that “Americans, who face higher out-of-pocket health care costs, have reduced their routine medical care” much more than people in Britain, Canada, France and Germany." Read the complete article in The NYTimes here.
Unnoticed potential output revisions and their impact on the “stimulus/austerity debate”
Fiscal stance is this summer’s hot topic. This column highlights that significant revisions have been made to output estimates for the 2008-2011 period without being made clear and discussed in public, while the economic foundations for applying such revisions are questionable. The debate should take the impact of these revisions into account.
Read this article on Voxeu.org here.
Le gaz sera plus cher pour les clients wallons
La Région wallonne vient d'adopter une nouvelle redevance sur le gaz "pour occupation du domaine public par le réseau gazier", une mesure qui coûtera en moyenne 54 euros par an en plus à un ménage qui se chauffe au gaz, indique mardi le quotidien L'Echo.
Lisez l'article dans LLB ici.
Augmentation du nombre d'écoles proposant de l'immersion
L'enseignement immersif séduit de plus en plus d'écoles, selon les chiffres de la Direction de l'enseignement obligatoire de la Communauté française.
Lisez l'article dans LLB ici.
"Responsabilisons les Régions"
Robert Deschamps (FNDP) estime que le fédéralisme à la Belge ne responsabilise pas assez les régions. Il propose plus d’autonomie fiscale.
Lisez cet article dans LLB ici.
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