Michael Spence

Writing for PS since 2008
121 commentaries
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Michael Spence, a Nobel laureate in economics, is Professor of Economics at New York University’s Stern School of Business and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He was the chairman of the independent Commission on Growth and Development, an international body that from 2006-2010 analyzed opportunities for global economic growth, and is the author of The Next Convergence: The Future of Economic Growth in a Multispeed World.

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Which Wealth Tax?
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Which Wealth Tax?

Oct 28, 2019 Michael Spence explains what a levy on investment returns would really mean for effective tax rates in the United States.

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Hong Kong in the Balance
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Hong Kong in the Balance

Sep 30, 2019 Michael Spence thinks all sides need to reaffirm the “one country, two systems” framework enshrined in Chinese law in 1997.

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The End of Shareholder Primacy?
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The End of Shareholder Primacy?

Aug 26, 2019 Michael Spence welcomes the Business Roundtable's decision to embrace the multi-stakeholder approach to corporate governance.

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The Inequality of Nations
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The Inequality of Nations

Aug 1, 2019 Michael Spence thinks Adam Smith’s failure to consider the market's distributional effects has come back to haunt us.

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The “Digital Revolution” of Wellbeing
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The “Digital Revolution” of Wellbeing

Jun 28, 2019 Michael Spence considers the impact of new technologies on how we think – or should think – about economic benefits and costs.

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Germany Can Reduce Its External Surplus

Dalia Marin

For years, Germany's ballooning current-account surplus has rankled the rest of the world, and German policymakers have thrown up their hands as if powerless to do anything about it. But the external imbalance is a result of policies that are fully within the government's power to change.

Abolish the Billionaires?

Edoardo Campanella

Even many of the wealthiest Americans would agree that the United States needs to overhaul its tax policies to restore a sense of social justice. But, notes Edoardo Campanella, Future of the World Fellow at IE University's Center for the Governance of Change, such reforms would not be enough to restart the engines of social mobility and promote greater equality of opportunity.