Economics and International Affairs Blog

Monday, July 3, 2017

America’s Complicated Political Future

America’s Future Is Texas by Lawrence Wright

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/07/10/americas-future-is-texas

Local Councils versus State Governments - Political Divide

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/in-austin-the-air-smells-of-tacos-and-trees--and-city-state-conflict/2017/07/01/682eb420-54f7-11e7-ba90-f5875b7d1876_story.html

https://www.wsj.com/articles/divided-america-standsthen-and-now-1498851654
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/07/01/new-florida-law-lets-any-resident-challenge-whats-taught-in-science-classes/

Fiscal Policy Experiments – Kansas versus California

Kansas or California? By LAURA TYSON & LENNY MENDONCA

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/increase-earned-income-credit-and-minimum-wage-by-laura-tyson-and-lenny-mendonca-2017-07

LAURA TYSON & LENNY MENDONCA note:

“Countless international, national, and state comparisons have demonstrated overwhelmingly that trickle-down economics is a regressive fantasy. The latest evidence of this comes from Kansas, where tax cuts signed by Governor Sam Brownback in 2012 have utterly failed to deliver growth.

Before making the same costly mistake, Trump should take a lesson from California – a progressive state that he loves to hate. California raised taxes for top earners in 2012 and has since enjoyed one of the strongest growth rates in the country. And now, California is significantly expanding its earned income tax credit, CalEITC, building on the proven record of the federal earned income tax credit (EITC).”

Stock Market Update

What Stock Investors Need to Know, and Why by Mohamed A. El-Erian
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-07-03/what-stock-investors-need-to-know-and-why

Zillow Learns a PR Lesson

How Zillow Became an Internet Villain by Megan McArdle

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-07-03/how-zillow-became-an-internet-villain-targeting-mcmansion-hell

McArdle notes:
“I’ve now been writing for the web for 16 years, and yet, I am still capable of wonder at the vast opportunities this technology offers to make a fool of yourself. In the old days, fools were made on a local, artisanal basis, strictly for the entertainment of the neighbors. Now, thanks to the miracle of electronic communications, with a few keystrokes, we can become fools to the world.”