The State of U.S. Manufacturing

A nice piece by Jeff Jacoby.

The Lucky Break of Rent Control

For those instructors teaching about the economics of rent control (Chapter 6 of my favorite textbook) or the Coase Theorem (Chapter 10), this article about buyouts of rent stabilized tenants should generate a good class discussion.

The Jobs Report

One for My Photo Album

From last week's conference at MIT:

Photo by Dominick Reuter for MIT

Update: One of my Harvard colleagues suggests a caption contest and proposes the first two entries.  Readers should feel free to email me others, and I will add them to the list.  My favorite in in bold.

1. "He really is a socialist!"
2. "I'm thinking of writing a principles text."
3. "Freshmen really are a faster study than Presidents."
4. "Goolsbee wanted me to ask you how to adjust the lumbar support on his office chair."
5. "Buy GE."
6. "I voted for Obama."
7. "Your tie hasn't matched my outfit this well since your wedding."
8. "CDO's were my idea...."
9. CR: "Lend me twenty bucks for cab fare home."  GM:"I'll give you 15. You can model the other 5."
10. "I'm sorry, Greg, but I just don't think Brad wants to be friends."
11. "'Mr. President,' I said, 'if I were you, I wouldn't sign this thing into a law'. 'Really? Then I won't sign it!', he answered." Christina Romer tells her dream of how she stopped the President from signing the Healthcare Bill.
12. “I was wondering, Greg, where does that bottled water fit in your ten principles?”
13. "Water or diamonds, Greg?"
14. "I'm going green. I use cap-less bottles now and assume away the spills!"
15. "Greg, hasn't the government increased taxes enough to prevent you from attending these conferences?"
16. "I understand what you're saying, but let me show you the supply side of things."
17. “And then I told him WTF doesn’t stand for Win the Future.”
18. "Really, snow on your roof?  We don't get that in Berkeley."
19. "Seriously, the weather in Boston is not REALLY that bad. So, the job swap is still on?"
20. "I wish we had hired you to explain our policies in plain English.  Instead, Paul Krugman is the closest thing we have to a spokesman."

Donald Marron on Tax Reform

Some very sensible congressional testimony.

Moral Hazard

With the tremendous amount of snow we have had lately, my roof has started to develop some ice dams.  So a little while ago, I climbed out onto the roof to shovel off as much snow as I could.  The conversation as I exited through the window went something like this:

My wife: Be careful.

Me: I will.

My wife: It's slippery out there.  I don't want you to fall.

Me: Well, remember that I have a lot of life insurance.

My wife: Ha. Ha.

Me: But I don't have nearly as much disability insurance.  So if I do have an accident, make sure the fall kills me.

Fix the Economy, Win $15,000

The Hamilton Project is running a contest for good economic policy ideas.