AUTHOR'S BIO

Michael Boskin

Michael Boskin, currently Professor of Economics at Stanford University and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, was Chairman of President George H. W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisors, 1989-1993.

RECENT COMMENTARIES

FEATURED COMMENTARIES

The Fiscal Crisis Down Below

Michael Boskin Series: Transatlantic Perspectives

2010-01-22

Sub-national governments – states, countries, cities, provinces, towns, and special districts – play different roles from country to country, but usually deliver important public services. In many countries, their fiscal position has collapsed under the combined weight of mismanagement and the global economic and financial crisis.... read

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Industrial Policy Returns from the Grave

Michael Boskin Series: Transatlantic Perspectives

2009-11-24

One of the worst responses by officials to the financial crisis and deep recession has been to revive “industrial policy.” Governments' use of subsidies, mandates, regulation, and capital investment to pick industrial winners and losers failed in the 1970's and 1980's, and it is just as bad an idea today.... read

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The Government Debt Bomb

Michael Boskin Series: Transatlantic Perspectives

2009-09-23

As the world economy begins to recover, renewed attention is being paid to enormous fiscal deficits and vast expansion of government debt. Fiscal exit strategies must be planned and implemented soon, before stimulus programs become permanently entrenched, develop powerful constituencies, and greatly increase the risk of rising interest rates, inflation, and taxation.... read

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Of Banks and Bailouts

Michael Boskin Series: Transatlantic Perspectives

2009-07-23

PALO ALTO – Early signs of a manufacturing rebound, already strong in Asia, lend hope for some modest recovery from today’s deep global recession. But a strong and durable economic expansion is unlikely until progress is made in dealing with the toxic assets poisoning the balance sheets of financial institutions and bedeviling policymakers almost everywhere.... read

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Grading Obamanomics

Michael Boskin Series: Transatlantic Perspectives

2009-05-25

It is too soon to gauge the full economic impact of Barack Obama’s economic policies, but a preliminary read indicates limited short-term benefit at large long-term cost. The administration is exploiting a crisis atmosphere to enact a vast agenda that would reengineer the American economy, from autos and financial services to health care, energy, and the distribution of income.... read

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Global Disaster Recovery

Michael Boskin Series: Transatlantic Perspectives

2009-03-23

The bottom line in the current global recession is that full recovery will not come any time soon, and that government policies can at best mitigate the economic consequences. Sometimes, strong recoveries follow recessions, but recovery following financial crises is always immensely painful, time-consuming, and traumatic.... read

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The Euro at Ten

Michael Boskin Series: Transatlantic Perspectives

2009-01-23

As the euro marks its tenth anniversary, low inflation, no currency risk, decreased transaction costs, and greater transparency have made the common currency a success. But euro-zone members' decreased flexibility in response to economic shocks will certainly test it in the months and years ahead.... read

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